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Joe Minicozzi, urban planning expert and principal at Urban3 LLC, of Asheville, N.C., speaks to reporters Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse.

(Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, NY - Urban Planning expert Joe Minicozzi says he knows what the best type of development is for financially troubled cities, and it's not big-box retail stores.

Minicozzi, principal at Urban3 LLC, an urban planning consulting company in Asheville, N.C., said mixed-use developments that put residential units, offices and storefronts in the same buildings produce the most property tax revenues per acre of land than any other type of developments.

"Mixed use is the most efficient development, by far, for downtowns," he said prior to delivering the keynote address at the annual meeting of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, attended by 350 people Wednesday at the Nicholas J. Pirro Convention Center.

Minicozzi said the density of mixed-use buildings - packing a lot of activity into small spaces - gives them substantial value that, in turn, generates much-needed property tax revenue for cash-strapped cities.

Big-box retail developments, on the other hand, usually do not produce as much property taxes per acre of land, he said. They do produce sales tax revenues, but those revenues are often more than offset by the cost of providing roadways, sewer and water service, and other municipal services to such projects, he said. Those are costs that cities often ignore, he said.

"I'm not saying don't do them," he said of big retail developments. "Just be aware that they don't produce, per-acre, a lot of property taxes."

Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee, said mixed-use development are driving much of the $210 million in development that is occurring or is planned for downtown Syracuse.

That development includes the Pike Block, Merchants Commons, Syracuse Creekwalk Commons and the Marriott Hotel projects, she said.

The developments are creating new uses for many vacant and underused buildings, she said.

"It's a very sustainable re-use of these buildings," she said.

Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148. Follow him on Twitter @RickMoriartyCNY and on Facebook at rick.moriarty.92.