100 Students Have Moved In, High-Speed Fiber Internet for all Tenants

Rochester, NY – October 20, 2021 – In September of 2020, Gallina Development acquired the former Xerox Square campus with massive redevelopment plans. Now those plans are coming to fruition. Over 100 students have moved into four (4) floors of apartments at the newly named Innovation Square and all completed units have been fully leased. The population includes upperclassman and graduate students from University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, St. John Fisher College, SUNY Brockport, and RIT.

 

The concept for Innovation Square is a collaborative campus in which students from multiple academic institutions can live, learn, and innovate in an urban environment. The entire Innovation Square site consists of a full block in center city with a 30-story tower totaling 580,000 square feet, a 350-car parking garage, a 700-seat auditorium, a 17,000 square foot free-standing office building and a free-standing retail building. In addition, the tower is currently home to EFPR Group on the 14th and 15th floors.

 

Today, Gallina Development is proud to announce a partnership with Greenlight Networks to power Innovation Square. “In today’s world, high speed internet is a requirement for all college students,” said Robert Gallina, Senior Project Manager for Gallina Development” That’s why at Innovation Square, we saw the importance of a relationship to install the fastest high-speed internet in the region. Innovation Square is proud to partner with Greenlight Networks to provide students and businesses on campus high speed fiber-optic Internet service. Every apartment is fiber-ready with speeds up to 2 Gbps”

 

As part of the partnership, “Innovation Square powered by Greenlight Networks” monument signage is already displayed on the S Clinton and Broad Street sides of the building.

 

“We are thrilled to join forces with Gallina Development to provide the fastest Internet speeds available to enable the ingenuity and economic growth that Innovation Square offers the city of Rochester,” said Andre Green, Director of Sales and Strategic Growth at Greenlight Networks.

 

In September, Innovation Square hosted CollegeFEST, a program of CampusROC. The all-day event brought over 500 college students to the Innovation Square campus, many of whom were coming downtown for the first time, to celebrate all that Rochester has to offer and provide internship and job opportunities for students. Twelve (12) students, and counting, have received job offers from the connections they made at CollegeFEST.

 

In addition to the student housing component, Innovation Square has welcomed two new tenants to the campus, both of which are also powered by Greenlight Networks. The Theater at Innovation Square has opened its doors, as well as Bite, an all-day eatery on the corner of Clinton Avenue and Broad Street. As part of the development project, the former Xerox Auditorium has been reenergized into a 700-seat performing arts center that will host community-produced and touring music, theater, and dance performances as well as community talks and eSports. The new Theater at Innovation Square will provide a home for local and regional organizations and help bring additional arts programming to downtown Rochester through year-round events and performance series. The vision for the theater tenant is driven by Innovation Arts Management LLC under the direction of Natalie Fuller and Karl Stabnau.

 

For more information on The Theater at Innovation Square, rentals, and upcoming events you can visit www.theaterais.com or contact executive director Natalie Fuller at natalie@theaterais.com.

 

For more information about Innovation Square, visit InnovationSquareRoc.com.

 

About Gallina Development: Gallina Development is a family owned and operated commercial real estate development company with investments primarily in Monroe County, consisting of office/warehouse space, distribution facilities and suburban and downtown office space. Gallina Development’s first major acquisition in center city was the purchase of One East Avenue in March 2012. Gallina Development then purchased, renovated and redeveloped the former Chase Tower into The Metropolitan beginning in 2015, which is currently in its final phases of construction. The Metropolitan now houses over 85 residential units, 16 floors of commercial office space and a restaurant, Bar Bantam, in the lobby of the building. Gallina also owns and manages the Seneca Building on Main Street, home to the Democrat & Chronicle and Windstream.