Editor’s Note: This story has been updated for clarity after city of Syracuse officials objected to the characterization of whether Syracuse Housing Authority missed deadlines.
McKinney Manor residents were asked to vacate their homes in June to pave the way for the redevelopment of public housing on the Southside.
Months after residents moved out, demolition has yet to begin because the Syracuse Housing Authority has missed more self-imposed deadlines. City and nonprofit officials have repeatedly called out SHA in the past for missing key deadlines to move forward with the redevelopment of public housing.
SHA had planned to close on the first of the 11 phases of public housing redevelopment by the end of August or early September.
The first phase entails demolishing Angelou Terrace to pave the way for new apartments.
SHA is now projected to close on the first phase at the end of October 2025. The housing authority could close on the second phase at the end of December 2025. Those dates were provided to the city by SHA at a meeting on Sept. 15.
The second phase of the East Adams transformation project would see a new apartment building on a vacant lot at the intersection of Oakwood Avenue and Burt Street.
MBS referred Central Current to SHA for a comment. Multiple emails, calls, and text messages to SHA were previously unanswered before they confirmed the city’s statement after the publication of the story.
After Central Current published the article, the city objected to the characterization of whether SHA missed deadlines.
“When you’re dealing with HUD, because of HUD’s requirements to ensure that the rights that tenants have, are protected, this is a longer and different looking process than if it was simply a private developer with a privately owned building,” Michael Collins, the Commissioner of Neighborhood & Business Development, told Central Current.
Closing dates for projects often shift, Collins said.
“We will [set goals] from a timing standpoint, there’s goals that we’re going to hit, there’s goals that we’re not and it’s so often out of the control of any one,” Collins added.
Residents at Angelou Terrace were given notices on March 10 to vacate their homes by June 10. Construction was scheduled to begin in July, Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard reported. However, there were delays.
During a sitdown interview with Central Current in August, Executive Director William Simmons said that the first phase would be closed by early September. It would then take 18 months for the project to be complete, he added.
However, SHA and McCormack Baron Salazar, the Missouri-based private developer in charge of demolition, have now told Mayor Ben Walsh that they are now on track to close by the end of October or early November.
MBS, known for several neighborhood redevelopment projects across the nation, was initially also set to manage the property.
However, the housing authority made a surprise move by committing to taking on property management responsibilities once public housing in the Southside is redeveloped. SHA said that was always meant to be the case.
“SHA always anticipated taking over management,” SHA Deputy Executive Director Jalyn Clifford told Central Current in August. “It’s just sooner than originally anticipated. So it’s really nothing new.”
SHA’s increasing responsibility in the project comes as faith in the agency and Simmons has publicly wavered. City officials and local nonprofit leaders lambasted SHA over missed deadlines, which led to the pause of the Children Rising Center.
Both the city and Blueprint 15, the nonprofit working with public housing residents in the neighborhood, blamed SHA for failing to finish its plan to redevelop public housing in time to apply for $7 million in tax credits. Simmons and SHA denied missing any deadlines.
The Syracuse Common Council recently approved plans for several SHA purchases, which also included the swap of Eastwood Heights and Latimer Terrace. The state, too, confirmed the sale of Eastwood Heights, the city learned on Sept. 12.
SHA is now back in charge of the Eastwood Heights project while the city would own Latimer Terrace because of the deal. Counsel for both the city and SHA are working finalize the details to close in the next 30 days, the city confirmed.
Blueprint 15, too, is waiting for the transfer of the land and a ground lease to be executed before the board and staff delves into the viability of continuing the CRC project, their new interim Executive Director Sarah Walton LaFave told Central Current.
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