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Midtown monorail finds home at Artisanworks

Midtown monorail finds home at Artisanworks
From
Brian Sharp
Staff writer

Midtown’s monorail sits in storage today in an out-of-the-way building in northwest Rochester.

The sentimental relic of Christmases past is destined for Artisanworks, a Blossom Road warehouse jam-packed with collections of paintings and photographs, sculptures and vintage vehicles.

Workers likely will take much of the next year retrofitting and installing the monorail into one of the venue’s two dining halls. In addition to being the last significant piece of Midtown memorabilia to find a home, the monorail represents — according to Artisanworks founder Louis Perticone — a goodwill gesture from the city as the two sides near resolution of a three-year property tax dispute.

Artisanworks’ dispute with the city involved whether the nonprofit should qualify for property tax exemption.

The $1.5 million-a-year operation, which includes the nonprofit Artisanworks and the for-profit Artisanevents, operates almost entirely on revenue from banquets and meetings. A catering business also operates out of the space.

Artisanworks, which files its nonprofit tax forms under the name Metal Arts of Upstate New York Inc., reported no paid staff last year and more than $1 million in debt, including a mortgage and a loan from Perticone. This is the first year, in its 10 years of operations, that Artisanworks did not borrow money to remain open, Perticone said.

During the ongoing dispute, Artisanworks stopped paying its property taxes, at the court’s direction, Perticone said. Records show it currently owes the city more than $36,000.

“We’re going to be paying some of our taxes but obviously we are going to be getting some breaks,” Perticone said of the proposed settlement terms, which remain confidential and must be accepted by a judge.

Mayor Robert Duffy doesn’t see the monorail as part of the potential settlement but calls the deal “reinforcement of … Artisanworks’ value to our city.”

The monorail is not the Midtown artifact Perticone initially wanted.

He would have preferred and still is interested in the Clock of Nations, currently at the Greater Rochester International Airport and possibly headed to Golisano Children’s Hospital, though a hospital spokeswoman says those plans are now uncertain with an expansion still in development.

When the city first offered Perticone the monorail two years ago, he refused. Since then, Artisanworks has taken on more local memorabilia and developed more themed rooms while gradually paring down its artist studios — currently at 10 or fewer, compared to 25 when the facility opened in 1999.

The monorail will be split and installed on an elevated track with two cars running back and forth along either side of a dining hall that includes the old Midtown Deli sign and the American eagle statue that sat in Midtown as a memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Perticone said he expects to put statues of children inside, and light the monorail.

“Just kind of doll it up, dress it up a bit,” he said.

Perticone grew up in Rochester and thinks demolishing Midtown is “a travesty.” His father worked 30 years doing the window displays for McCurdy’s department store at Midtown. Perticone thought the plaza could have been turned into a massive visitors’ center, with attractions such as the Eastman House having a location.

He has heard critics who claim he should not have the monorail at Artisanworks, as this particular piece of Rochester’s past will no longer be easily accessible or usable.

Artisanworks is open to the public each weekend; admission is $12 for adults and $8 for children.

“People were harassing us about the Strong Museum (of Play)” as a preferred home, Perticone said. But, he notes, that venue is not free either.

Neither is viewing the Clock of Nations at the Rochester airport, as people need a plane ticket to get past the security checkpoint. The county, however, has allowed people to pre-register and, with a driver’s license or valid passport, go through security and see the clock last weekend and this weekend.

Another vestige of Midtown, Santa’s chair, went at auction to Arlene’s Costumes and is used in store displays. It was rolled out, however, for the city’s holiday kick-off downtown this month.

“I don’t just pass that around,” said store owner Arlene Stephens, who paid $3,200 for the chair at the Midtown auction last year. “I think it’s something special. I don’t want to see it destroyed.”

Midtown, she recalls, “was just the Christmas thing to do, to go there. We don’t have anything like that now.”

Magic Mountain remains in Midtown’s basement. The structure was in poor shape, and the city determined it was unlikely to be re-used.

That piece of Christmases past will be hauled away in the demolition debris when Midtown is razed next year.

Check Out at Democrat and Chroniclehttp://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20091216/NEWS01/912160350/1003/Midtown-monorail-finds-home-at-Artisanworks