Work is ongoing on the $100 million, 125-unit affordable senior public housing development as part of the East Adams Neighborhood Transformation Plan.
The East Adams project is a multi-phased reinvestment strategy led by the Syracuse Housing Authority (SHA) that will build or preserve about 1,500 homes at several SHA properties. The effort will create a mixed-use community and reconnect the neighborhood as New York advances the plan to remove the city's elevated viaduct of Interstate 81.
The future housing development is called The Simmons at East Adams, named in honor William Simmons, the former executive director of the Syracuse Housing Authority.
RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, credits the work of SHA in pursuing the phases of these projects. The local agency is replacing aging public housing with state-of-the-art modern apartments and working toward reversing decades and decades of injustice and disruption in this neighborhood for the people who lived here and the housing stock, she said.
Visnauskas made her remarks at the Sept. 29 groundbreaking ceremony for The Simmons at East Adams, noting that the overall effort is about trying to help the community.
"And creating a diverse array of types of housing for people to live in so they can remain connected to this community. When we're done, we'll have more than 1,000 homes that will have replaced obsolete public housing," Visnauskas said.
The HCR commissioner also told those gathered that New York is under a five-year housing plan.
"Projects like this are exactly the kind that we want to be doing community by community, transforming, working with partners across the state with local government to have affordable, modern, sustainable homes, especially for seniors to want to stay and live independently and comfortably in neighborhoods that they lived for a very long time," Visnauskas said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul didn't attend the Syracuse ceremony, but her office announced details about the groundbreaking later that day.
"This latest phase of the East Adams Transformation plan builds on the promise we made to this important Syracuse neighborhood -- to reverse decades of injustice, replace aging public housing, reconnect a community to its city, and invest in the East Adams neighborhood and its current and future residents," Hochul said in the Sept. 29 announcement. "With this new senior housing development, we are ensuring that New Yorkers can thrive in this rejuvenated neighborhood, with modern, sustainable homes and the ability to access all that Syracuse has to offer. This project reflects our commitment to delivering the kind of transformative investment this community has long deserved."
Developed by St. Louis, Missouri-based McCormack Baron Salazar and SHA, the apartments at The Simmons will be reserved for residents aged 62 and older. Priority will go to seniors relocating from Pioneer Homes, which is set for future demolition and redevelopment as part of the Transformation Plan, followed by former residents of McKinney Manor, which was demolished in 2025. Additional availability will be open to other SHA seniors. All units will be affordable to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income.
East Adams Phase I is currently under construction and will replace the outdated McKinney Manor public housing complex with 117 affordable homes, per Hochul's office.
Financing includes a mix of public and private sources, including federal and state low-income housing tax credits from HCR that are expected to generate more than $45 million in equity, as well as $36 million in HCR subsidy. The site is participating in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's brownfield cleanup program. When completed, it would be eligible for $11 million in tax credits that the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance is administering.
All 125 units are supported by section 8 project-based vouchers administered by the Syracuse Housing Authority, Hochul's office said.
