Downtown Rochester's tallest and most recognizable privately-owned office tower is getting a new second life. In February 2026, the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) approved $4,621,106 in tax incentives for Riedman's plan to convert the upper seven floors of Clinton Square at 75 South Clinton Avenue into 102 market-rate residential apartments. The Rochester Business Journal reported that the approval includes a 10-year PILOT agreement, a sales tax exemption on construction materials, and a mortgage recording tax exemption — clearing the financial path for the $42.6 million renovation to move into design development and construction.

What Happened

Riedman, a Rochester-based real estate developer and management firm, acquired the 14-story Class A office building through a foreclosure auction in July 2025, paying $11.5 million — a significant discount from what was owed on the building's non-recourse notes after the prior owner defaulted on the mortgage in 2024. At the time of acquisition, Riedman announced its intent to maintain office space on floors 1 through 7, where tenants including law firms and commercial users remain, and convert the upper seven floors into residential units.

Nixon Peabody's departure from the building had left approximately 145,000 square feet of the roughly 300,000-square-foot building vacant. The configuration of the upper floors, including floor plates and ceiling heights, makes residential conversion feasible — a key consideration that Riedman's team confirmed through schematic design work in late 2025 before submitting the COMIDA application.

COMIDA approved the incentives in February 2026 based on an MRB Group analysis showing a benefit-to-cost ratio of 9:1 based on projected property tax and sales tax revenue from the project and the jobs it supports.

Key Project Details

• Address: 75 South Clinton Avenue, Rochester (14-story Class A building, Clinton Square)
• Conversion scope: Floors 8–14 converted to residential; floors 1–7 remain office
• Total project cost: $42.6 million
• Units: 102 apartments
• 25 studios (697–937 sq ft) — rents $1,799–$2,483/month
• 51 one-bedroom units (841–1,139 sq ft) — rents $2,018–$2,863/month
• 22 two-bedroom units (1,293–1,727 sq ft) — rents $2,974–$4,145/month
• 4 penthouse apartments (2,618 sq ft) with private patios — $7,854/month
• Developer: Riedman
• COMIDA incentives approved: $4,621,106 (10-year PILOT $2,978,070; sales tax exemption $1,365,845; mortgage recording tax exemption $277,191)
• Amenities: Fitness center, yoga studio, lounge, maker space, dog wash, 14th-floor conference space
• Construction start (estimated): Late spring 2026; 24–30-month construction period
• Parking: Over 400 private underground spaces remain with building

The project also includes minor adjustments to the building's office tenant configuration: law firm Ernstrom and Dreste will relocate from the eighth floor to the fifth to accommodate the residential conversion, and the ground-floor Acorn Exchange restaurant will roughly double its footprint to 2,750 square feet.

Why This Matters to Construction Professionals

Clinton Square is not a distressed second-tier asset — it is one of downtown Rochester's premier addresses, and the conversion of its upper half represents a meaningful test of whether market-rate (not just affordable) office-to-residential projects can pencil out in upstate New York without the benefit of low-income housing tax credits.

The challenge for conversion projects in Class A buildings is different from those in older structures: the floor plates are typically efficient for office use but not necessarily ideal for residential layouts, and MEP systems designed for commercial tenants must be completely rebuilt for residential code compliance. On a 14-story building with seven commercial floors still occupied, the construction team will need to manage active office operations below while executing full MEP replacement, partition demolition and rebuild, new plumbing stack penetrations, elevator modifications to serve residential floors, and facade or window upgrades on the upper floors — all without disrupting tenants on 1 through 7.

Renovations were expected to begin in late spring 2026 with a 24 to 30-month construction period, putting completion in late 2028 to early 2029. No general contractor has been publicly announced as of the COMIDA approval date.

The Broader Office Conversion Trend in Rochester

Clinton Square joins a growing roster of downtown Rochester adaptive-reuse projects. Riedman recently completed The Neisner at 49 East Avenue, converting a five-story historic retail/office building into 54 apartments. The Gateway Apartments project at 150 East Main Street — a $72.3 million affordable housing conversion — broke ground May 5, 2026. State-level legislation advancing a 10% upstate office-to-residential conversion tax credit could further accelerate the pipeline if passed.

Rochester leads upstate New York in affordable housing construction, but the Clinton Square project is notable precisely because it is not affordable — it is market-rate. That means the project will succeed or fail based on whether the Rochester rental market can absorb 102 units at $1,799 to $7,854 per month in a building that offers office-building amenities (underground parking, conferencing, proximity to downtown employers) rather than the features of a purpose-built luxury residential tower.

Implications for Owners and Developers

For office building owners across WNY watching the Clinton Square transaction, the key financial takeaway is the discount acquisition price. Riedman paid $11.5 million for a 300,000-square-foot Class A building — roughly $38 per square foot. That basis makes a $42.6 million conversion investment viable in a way it would not be at prevailing pre-distress values. The path to conversion often runs through distressed debt or foreclosure, which means construction professionals and developers need to monitor commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) default activity in upstate markets to identify the next wave of conversion candidates.

What to Watch Next

Riedman has not yet publicly announced a general contractor for the Clinton Square conversion. The next major public milestones will be building permit filings with the City of Rochester and any required approvals from the Rochester Landmarks Preservation Commission, given the building's prominent downtown location. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with a 24 to 30-month build program.

Bottom Line

With COMIDA incentives in hand and construction expected to begin later this year, the Clinton Square conversion is the most significant market-rate adaptive-reuse project in downtown Rochester in years. It is a direct test of whether the city's strengthening residential demand can support luxury rents at scale in a converted office building — and the construction process itself, managing active commercial tenants below a residential conversion above, will be a complex and instructive undertaking for any contractor in the region.

Sources

• Rochester Business Journal — COMIDA backs Clinton Square conversion, February 17, 2026
• Rochester Business Journal — $42.6M redo of Rochester office space, February 4, 2026
• Rochester Business Journal — Riedman buys Clinton Square, July 2025
• Riedman — New Residential Plans for Clinton Square
• WXXI News — New York lawmakers look to turn vacant upstate buildings into housing, March 2026