A multimillion dollar student housing project that forced the popular bar Hungry Chuck’s to temporarily close earlier this year remains on track, a developer said.

“I’m not worried at all,” said Jared Hutter, an owner of Syracuse 727 LLC, a real estate development company. Syracuse head basketball coach Jim Boeheim is a partner in Syracuse 727 LLC, Hutter said.

Chuck’s and several other businesses along South Crouse Avenue, including the Orange Crate Brewing Co. bar, were demolished in May to make room for Syracuse 727 LLC’s new eight-story luxury student apartment building called The Marshall.

In an interview with The Daily Orange, Hutter confirmed that Chuck’s will not be a tenant at The Marshall. Steve Theobald, owner of Chuck’s, originally planned to move into the new building.

Jerry Dellas, president of the Crouse Marshall Business Improvement District, said he heard Theobald is still looking to a rent a spot for Chuck’s either on the Hill or farther off campus. Theobald did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Dellas sold Syracuse 727 LLC the property where Chuck’s was located for $2.5 million, Onondaga County property records show. Syracuse 727 LLC also paid more than $4.5 million for an adjacent property owned by 727 South Crouse LLC, records show.

“This area is just going to look great,” said Dellas, who also is the owner of Faegan’s Cafe & Pub and Varsity Pizza along South Crouse Avenue.

A steel construction contractor will probably start work at the site by mid-October or November and the building will quickly take shape, Hutter said.

Currently, there’s only a hole in the ground: the property was excavated and blocked off by fencing.

Contractors worked on underground utilities this summer, Hutter said. The developer said he expects the building to be ready for the fall 2018 semester.

The first floor of The Marshall is planned commercial space. Hutter will announce “fairly soon” the national retailers that are moving in there, he said.

Apartment rents will be competitive for the area, Hutter added. He declined to give specific numbers.

The developers recently launched a website for The Marshall that lists rentable apartments named after local streets. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite is called the “Ostrom.” A studio apartment is called the “Westcott.” Rent prices were not available on the website.

“Live where you work and live where you play,” Hutter said about the building’s theme.

Courtesy of Jared Hutter 

A walking path will open to pedestrians Friday between South Crouse Avenue and the Marshall Square Mall, past DJ’s On The Hill, so students can look at construction progress, Hutter said.

SU students and alumni took to social media earlier this year to protest the destruction of Chuck’s.

Theobald, initially appearing open to the development, ended up suing Syracuse 727 LLC and filed a temporary restraining order against his new landlords over an asbestos abatement. The lawsuit was dismissed in court, Hutter said.

Syracuse 727 LLC, set up by Hutter and fellow SU alumnus Brian Rosen in late 2016, is owned by Aptitude Development LLC, a New Jersey-based real estate development firm.

Aptitude Development LLC was created after Hutter’s company BLVD Equities merged with two property groups, one run by Rosen.

The SU alumni, who both graduated from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, caught Boeheim’s eye. The basketball coach partnered with Hutter, Rosen and another SU alumnus to build #BLVD404.

That development, the team’s first Hill housing project, is located near the intersection of University Avenue and Genesee Street. A lounge there is named after Boeheim. A fitness center at The Marshall also will be named after Boeheim.

#BLVD404 was later renamed U Point after Texas-based American Campus Communities Inc. bought the property in 2016. American Campus Communities Inc. is one of the country’s largest student housing developers.

“Our business plan is to hold onto this,” Hutter said about The Marshall, though. “At the end of the day, location trumps everything.”

Courtesy of Jared Hutter 

Published on August 27, 2017 at 11:33 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek