On Monday, Syracuse common councilors agreed to a first-of-its-kind lease between the city and the county. All seven councilors who voted on Monday approved the lease.
Ownership of the old Central Tech High School will be transferred from the city to the county and the city will then lease the building from the county for the next 15 years. The state will pay the city for the cost of construction and renovations done at the school. That money will then be paid from the city to the county, who is arranging the construction and renovations.
The high school has been a centerpiece and top priority of the Syracuse Surge, Mayor Ben Walsh’s technology-focused development plan that’s expected to drive the city’s growth for the next decade and beyond.
The project was expected to cost at least $74 million, though officials have called that number a “placeholder.” The cost of the project is expected to be higher, Syracuse City School District Chief Financial Officer Suzanne Slack said at a recent council meeting.
The $74 million projection was set in early 2021 and inflation and the cost of building materials have each increased since then, Slack said.
As of last year, the state planned to pay for about 98 percent of the cost of construction and renovation at the school.
District officials did not immediately respond to questions from Syracuse.com about whether that’s still the case.
The STEAM school had been projected to open in the Fall of 2022 but the pandemic and other factors have delayed construction. Last year, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said he expected construction to start in 2021. Construction has not yet started.
Building plans for the school will likely be submitted early next year, Slack said at the council meeting. That would mean the school will likely not open until at least Fall of 2023.
STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The school will focus on the arts and sciences.
The district aims to enroll 250 students per grade, meaning the school would have a total of 1,000 students. At least 60 percent of the students would come from the city school district.
©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
