The city of Rochester is set to begin $1.6 million in planned improvements to High Falls Terrace Park and the Brewery Line Trail.
The park and the trail sit along the eastern edge of High Falls, with the trail leading to the nearby Genesee Brew House. Plans to renovate the two-acre park and fix up the trail have been in the works for four years. They’re part of the city’s ROC the Riverway initiative, which is intended to make better use of the Genesee River waterfront through Rochester, including High Falls.
“Rochester’s the only major city in the nation with a 96 foot waterfall in the middle of its downtown, and this is something the mayor always promotes,” said Rich Perrin, commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Services. “...This is all wonderful, but unfortunately we’ve been neglecting the public access to views of it beyond the Pont de Rennes bridge.”
In the summer of 2018, former Mayor Lovely Warren announced the start of ROC the Falls, a festival hosted in conjunction with the Genesee Brewery at High Falls Terrace. The city, alongside Genesee employees, began improvements at the park, including new benches and a mural painted at the overlook by local artist Shawn Dunwoody.
But since then the project has not made any visible progress.
“There were some enhancements made to the overlook (in 2018) that I think Shawn Dunwoody helped spur by painting there,” said Vinnie Esposito, regional director of Empire State Development. “Otherwise there was just a general cleanup of the park. This project is going to transform the park.”
Perrin, standing in front of heavy machinery owned by Villager Construction, which will be working on the trail, said the difference between then and now is that the city is prepared to start work.
“Here’s the difference: you’re seeing fence, you’re seeing construction equipment, we’re breaking ground,” Perrin said.
The High Falls Terrace Park projects coincide with another recent city initiative to turn the Water Works buildingon Brown’s Race into a visitor center, a plan that carries an estimated cost of $5 million. The city and state are working to advance a broader goal of turning the High Falls gorge into a state park. Gov. Kathy Hochul included $6 million in her budget proposal for next year, though as of Thursday lawmakers were still debating the annual spending plan.
ROC the Riverway, which was announced publicly in 2018 with a $50 million commitment from the state, consists of a series of projects on the banks of the Genesee River, including the Roc City Skatepark, redevelopment of the Joseph A. Floreano Riverside Convention Center, and renovations at the BlueCross Arena.
Many of those projects are already underway. For example, the first phase of the skatepark was completed in November 2020.
For locals, the projects are long overdue.
“We were just up here earlier looking at High Falls, the scenery is great, you can see deer down there, It’s a beautiful place,” said Jim Sandorski, who estimated that he’s been going to the Genesee Brewery for he estimated going on 60 years. "I’ve been coming here since before they even blacktopped it, and was coming years ago before they even had a tasting room here. It’s all been fantastic.”
The city characterized Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony as the official start of “construction season.” If all goes according to plan, the Brewery Line Trail and High Falls Terrace will be completed by the fall.
Gino Fanelli is a CITY staff writer.