Developers with the 63-acre CityGate Project are moving forward with a plan they say is a substantial development for the city of Rochester. The project for the former Iola site has been in the works since 2003.

"We're finally getting to the point where we have finalized a plan for it," said Terry Slaybaugh, senior vice president with Anthony J. Costello & Son Development, LLC.

The development firm is planning the largest housing development in Rochester on the location of the former Iola campus built in the early 1900s. It is the former site of the Monroe County Tuberculosis Sanitorium. Two-thirds sits in the city of Rochester while the rest is in the town of Brighton.

"We're really trying to create an urban feeling here and a very dense development with over a thousand housing units and almost 300,000 square feet of retail and commercial," said Slaybaugh.

The $160 million development means most of the existing buildings and structures will be taken down to make room for the retail and commercial development.

"I think the conclusion is that we will save some significant architectural features of the site like the smoke stack, the power plant building," he added.

Slaybaugh said the topography will determine which buildings stay and which ones go.

"We're still continuing to look at some of the buildings for reuse,” said Slaybaugh.

Developers are optimistic about this site. It is only a mile from the University of Rochester and its medical center, and public transportation will be a major player.

"We'll have 150 buses a day that will come through this site. We're going to have a satellite transit facility here,” added Slaybaugh. “So people can literally live here and not use their automobile except when they want to leave the area or leave the region."

The updated plan should be approved in the next couple of weeks, with zoning changes taking place within the next couple of months. After that, the plan will have to be approved by both the city of Rochester and the town of Brighton.

If all that goes as planned, Rochester could see a brand new development completed in 10 to 15 years.

Anthony J. Costello & Son Development, LLC