Surprise move leaves Syracuse Housing Authority with new role in East Adams: Landlord

Syracuse has been banking on a Missouri company with a 50-year, national track record to turn rows and rows of old, government-owned public housing into East Adams — a new neighborhood for all.

McCormack Baron Salazar, a private developer, has transformed blighted neighborhoods all over America with its signature brand of new housing supported by social services, better schools and parks.

The model typically works like this: Government turns concentrated public housing over to a private developer that can rebuild and manage new apartments for both the current residents and people willing to pay market-rate rents.

Now, as the first phase of the Syracuse project begins, the details are changing.

The Syracuse Housing Authority, the government agency that owns the land, will take a bigger role than MBS, SHA Director Bill Simmons told Syracuse.com.

MBS officials have not agreed to an interview, but Simmons said the investors in this project told him MBS has too many other projects in motion to own and manage the Syracuse project.

It is a different role for MBS, a developer with its own management division.

Instead, SHA is poised to own and manage 1,400 apartments after the Missouri expert develops them.

SHA’s grip on the project is growing stronger at a time when local leaders, including the likely next mayor, have lost faith in SHA’s leadership.

Nationally, government is more often getting out of the public housing business, shifting low-income tenants instead into privately owned buildings with rent subsidized by a government voucher.

In Syracuse, the housing authority is expanding.

There is another motivation for this: It ensures SHA’s survival.

Simmons said the housing authority needs to keep its rental income to avoid layoffs, to have enough money to maintain the rest of its housing and to pay for its “legacy” commitments like pensions and union contracts.

“We’ve been doing it for years. Why would we just give it all up?” Simmons said. “When we have employees and an operation, why would we give it all up and walk away? It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Simmons broke the news to board members in private meetings in recent months.

After years of thinking MBS would own the buildings, Board President Calvin Corriders said he was surprised.

The news will also be a surprise to community members who have questioned in recent months whether Simmons is the best leader to even get the project started.

There are a lot of partners involved in this transformation. As the financing comes together, even more companies have come into the picture as investors and partners in management.

Simmons has been under fire in recent months from critics, including Mayor Ben Walsh and Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, who is likely to be the next mayor. The mayor appoints five of SHA’s seven board members and Walsh has pressured the board to remove Simmons.

A non-profit group called Blueprint 15, funded by the Allyn Foundation, has also cast doubt on Simmons. Earlier this year, that group suddenly stopped plans to build a $31.5 million children’s learning center and YMCA in the new neighborhood.

Allyn Foundation Director Meg O’Connell has said she has no confidence in Simmons as the head of SHA. O’Connell said she has not met with SHA or MBS since February.

Investors started to notice the criticism, Simmons said.

And investors want stability, he said.

“The state had discussions with the city. Our board had discussions with the city. Can we chill out with all this public bashing of Bill Simmons?” Simmons said. “It’s not helping the project.”

Even without the Children Rising Center, SHA is moving forward with the first phase of new housing.

In the next few weeks, they will tear down the first 75 units of McKinney Manor.

SHA built the McKinney Manor apartments in the 1990s with plenty of grassy space for kids to play. Now, that space can be used to build hundreds of new apartments.

It is the first step in a proposed $1 billion redevelopment.

SHA and a New York City housing investor, Hudson Housing Capital, have settled on a financing deal that includes Hudson’s investment and millions of dollars in state help and federal tax credits. They are expected to sign the deal in July.

This is the ownership and management structure, according to interviews and public documents:

MBS is still the developer.

Early documents submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showed MBS and SHA would own the properties together along with an investor.

In a 2023 interview with Syracuse.com, MBS founder Richard Baron described the model his company has been using for 50 years to exist as a private landlord on public land.

MBS uses a combination of government subsidies and private capital to transform blighted public housing developments. Once new housing is built, the developers set up three different tiers of rental income – covered by HUD subsidies, federal tax credits and market rents – to make it profitable.

Now, MBS will have zero stake in ownership, Simmons said.

SHA will own the properties along with Hudson Housing Capital. Hudson is a privately owned New York City investment company that provides equity for low-income housing projects in exchange for federal tax credits.

The group claims to have invested $258 million in just the first quarter of 2025, according to its website.

SHA officials are also negotiating a deal that that would have SHA manage and maintain the properties along with Cornerstone Group, of Rochester.

Cornerstone is also working with SHA to renovate Eastwood Heights, a public housing complex for seniors. Hudson is also the investor in that project

Eventually, SHA would like to phase out Cornerstone and own and manage all of the new mixed-income units built to replace public housing, Simmons said.

Simmons said owning and managing the properties was SHA’s goal all along. He said SHA has the experience and the team already in place to manage and maintain hundreds of apartments. It’s what they’ve been doing since 1935.

SHA staff is also familiar with the hundreds of tenants who will be given the option to move from public housing into the new apartments, using Section 8 vouchers to pay the rent.

The arrangement also means SHA can stay afloat.

The public authority must maintain enough income to honor its union contracts and pension contributions for 150 employees and maintain its other apartment units around the city, Simmons said.

SHA already owns and manages 2,500 apartment units in 15 buildings in the city. Losing the 672 public housing units in the new East Adams unit would put a significant dent in SHA’s rental income, he said.

The deal is supported by a list of state and federal grants, tax credits and loans worth $69.6 million.

SONYMA, a state mortgage financing agency, approved the deal in May.

Bea Gonzalez, a former city councilor who serves on the state financing agency’s board, voted in favor of the deal. But she warned the other board members to “pay close attention to issues regarding the Syracuse Housing Authority,” according to the meeting minutes.

The public rift over Blueprint 15’s Children Rising Center exposed conflicts that had been brewing privately for years about Simmons’ ability to meet deadlines and keep partners in the loop.

Michael Collins, the city’s commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development, said he recently met with SHA and MBS. He said Cornerstone Group’s new presence on the project boosts his confidence.

Though he was surprised by the change, Corriders, SHA’s board president, said he has confidence in SHA’s ability to own and manage the properties with MBS as the developer only.

“It’s something that is going to happen. It has to happen,” Corriders said. “I haven’t seen anything yet for me not to be confident that this is going to happen.”

Contact Michelle Breidenbach | mbreidenbach@syracuse.com | 315-470-3186.