Due to the high level of interest in this project, this website was created to provide you with the relevant and accurate information associated with plans to enhance Eastview Mall. The project will be carried out in two phases. During the first phase, $12 million will be invested in capital improvements and upgrades to the Mall’s existing space to reposition and improve the tenant mix over the next five years. During this time, the Company that owns the properties involved in this application is asking the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency for modest assistance in the forms of sales tax abatement on construction materials only and an exemption from mortgage recording taxes. The sales tax abatement on construction materials will not impact the sales tax revenue stream envisioned under the project. Phase 1 will also fix the property tax payment from a base year (e.g. current tax year) and then increase the payments to each tax jurisdiction by 2% per year in the first year and each year thereafter during Phase 1, which runs for five years. Also during Phase 1, the tax jurisdictions will collectively receive approximately $1.1 million more in payments from those properties that have been participating in the Town’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program established in 1994.  Of this amount, approximately $813,000 will come from the Company’s properties involved in the application.  The Town TIF program expires in 2014.

Phase 2 of the project is the attraction and development of signature retail tenants, which includes an additional investment of $40-$45 million. This phase, which will run for 25 years, also involves assistance in the forms of sales tax abatement on construction materials only and an exemption from mortgage recording taxes, as well as continuation of the full/fixed property tax payment program.  During Phase 2, payments from the Company’s properties involved in this application to all the tax jurisdictions will increase by 3% per year, which will continue to assure certainty in future tax payments with guaranteed annual increases.  Central to Phase 2 is the use of additional future payments beyond that needed for the full/fixed tax payment program, with this amount, or “increment,” used to pay for some of the improvements needed to attract the new signature retail tenants. Under the full/fixed tax payment program in Phase 2, the total tax payments form the Company’s properties to the county, town and school district will still grow from approximately $1.9 million in 2016 to over $3.8 million over the following 25 years.

This project will also assure the continued growth of sales tax revenue for the county and the town. Ontario County sales tax revenues generated at the Mall have increased from $1.8 million in 1971 to $9.2 million in 2008. This project is projected to result in additional annual sales tax revenue of $3.8 million, according to a county report.

Further, this project will create and retain employment. The development of new signature retail tenants is expected to create 100 new jobs. Eastview Mall has grown to be a major employer in the county and the town. For example, employment at the Mall has grown from about 1,500 in 1971 to approximately 3,600 jobs today. Also during the first phase, it is projected that 120 construction-related jobs will be created over a several year period.

While there are some public costs associated with this project, an independent study conducted for the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency concluded that the total public revenues and benefits are significantly greater than the public costs for the county, town and school district.

Retail commercial development is a fluid industry. Success is only sustainable through continued investment and improvements to the asset. Not only must Eastview Mall be on the leading edge of Rochester’s retail landscape, but upstate New York’s as well. To accomplish this goal, we must have the necessary resources.

We are proud of our nearly 40-year public-private partnership with Ontario County, the Town of Victor, and the Victor School District. We hope this relationship will continue to prosper for the next 30 years. 

Please explore the information in this website to better understand the scope of the project, the details of the application, and why it is important to the affected local communities, Ontario County and the Rochester region.