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Syracuse Development Center $28.2 Million Lease

By Ryan Morden

Oswego, NY – Students and Staff at Syracuse's Doctor Weeks Elementary and H.W. Smith Schools are one step closer to temporarily moving to the former Syracuse Development Center Campus next year.

The Syracuse Common Council approved a 15-year $28.2 million lease with the Development Center Campus.

The State is expected to pay for most of the cost of the lease. The council will take a second vote on the deal once the state commits to the funding.

Councilor-at-large Lance Denno said the deal is far from perfect. He would have used buildings that the district owns rather than go to the private market.

"The different way to go about it would have been to have a master plan researched and developed a couple of years ago. So that we would know exactly five years, ten years from now, what facilities we are going to need and then have those facilities renovated," said Denno.

According to the Post Standard, District Officials looked at alternatives to the Syracuse Development Center and found that location to be the best.

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