The abandoned former Ramada Plaza Rochester Airport Hotel in Gates is being torn down to make room for a new Erie Materials facility.
On Sept. 21, a portion of the hotel was already being taken down, and excavators were knocking down additional sections while hoses were sprayed to keep dust down.
The hotel has had issues over the years, including arrests, health inspection issues, foreclosure. Vacant since 2020, the new proposal would revitalize the parcel located on Brooks Avenue and visible from Interstate 390.
Syracuse-based Erie Materials is looking to construct a 49,000-square-foot warehouse and 13,000-square-foot office and showroom on the site following the demolition. The company distributes building materials for residential remodeling
and new construction, including roofing, windows, doors, gutters and decking. It would be the first location in the Rochester market for the business, which has eight existing locations across the state, including Syracuse, Albany and Auburn.
Erie Materials sought and received $2.2 million in incentives, including sales tax exemption, mortgage recording tax exemption and real property tax abatement. The company committed to creating 35 full-time jobs as part of the $18.7 million project, within three years.
The former hotel is full of asbestos and unusable, Erie Materials said in its application for incentives to the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency. Site work to prepare for new construction, including the demolition, is expected to cost $6 million to $7 million, the company said.
Erie Materials purchased the property for $1.3 million, according to the deed filed with the Monroe County Clerk’s Office on Aug. 31.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Remember this abandoned Gates hotel? It's coming down
