Rochester to seek proposals to develop housing at former St. Elizabeth Seton School

ROCHESTER — The city of Rochester will soon put out a request for proposals from developers to create housing, including 10% affordable units, at the former St. Elizabeth Seton School at 16 Bridge Street.

The city bought the property in 2023 after the school was closed by the Diocese of Manchester.

Rochester to issue RFP for housing at St. Elizabeth Seton School

Michael Scala, Rochester's economic development director, said they are currently working on a request for proposals (RFP) for a developer to create housing in the former Catholic school.

The exact mix of housing will be determined through the RFP process, but the units will likely be rentals, Scala said.

"We are going to send out RFPs sometime in August," said Scala. "The plan is for a developer to create apartments there, with a guaranteed 10% of those being priced for affordable housing. They will not be any different than the other units there, so no one will know which are priced for affordable housing. That way, as long as the developer maintains that 10% ratio, he can rent any of the units as he sees fit."

Since the proposal will include ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding assistance, Scala said that percentage of affordable housing units must be in the plan when developed and must be maintained, or the developer will be required to return the ARPA funds to the city.

City Councilors previously voted to enter into a purchase and sale agreement to acquire the property from the Diocese of Manchester for a total of $1.7 million, using $750,000 from American Rescue Plan Act funds and $950,000 from a Rochester Economic Development Commission's reserve fund previously approved for affordable housing projects.

Another component of the city RFP will require the developer to give an easement for the Riverwalk project, another part of the city's efforts to revitalize the downtown. Scala said the city would like to see the project move forward as quickly as possible.

More parking in downtown Rochester

City officials have several ideas about how to bring in more parking to the downtown. Among them is a 10-year lease the city entered into with the owners of the vacant Ben Franklin store, a lease that will allow the city to use the 100-plus parking spaces in the old retail lot.

Mayor Paul Callaghan said the owners of the vacant property were not willing to sell, so the city negotiated a $2 million lease over 10 years. The lease is exclusively for the use of the building and parking lot, which includes approximately 110 spaces that will be used to alleviate downtown parking concerns.

Scala said he sees a mix of public and permitted spaces at the Wakefield Street lot.

"We have begun trenching the lot for electricity, for lights and metered kiosk needs," he said. "When that is complete, we'll repave the lot. It was pretty rough after standing there for so many years. We got CIP funds to do the work. We hope to have it available to renters, employees and business owners for permitted spaces and metered kiosks for the public."

Scala said he has been meeting with area municipal parking experts to formulate plans for metered kiosks. He said eventually other downtown areas will likely be metered spaces.

"We have limits on parking now in some places, a two-hour parking limit," Scala said. "But the ticket is $15. That's easy to absorb in many cases. If we raise that, we might have better compliance. We have also hired two part-time parking enforcement persons."

Union Street lot also to see upgrades

There are also plans to redo the Union Street lot, a public lot behind North Main Street, near Revolution Taproom.

"We have decided to hold off on the Union Street project until the spring," said Scala. "That way, we can get all the work completed in one year."

The Union Street lot will be closed temporarily to allow for a complete redesign, utility upgrades, and other refurbishments. The new design includes additional parking spaces, rain gardens for better drainage, landscaping, and a dumpster corral for nearby businesses to share. Construction for the project is expected to last up to 12 months.

More: Rochester YMCA to close Oct. 1, childcare services moving to Somersworth Learning Center

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Rochester to seek proposals to develop housing at former St. Elizabeth Seton School