Midtown Plaza's Final Holiday Season?

On December 1st, the City of Rochester will host a holiday celebration in Midtown Plaza for the second consecutive year. The event will consist of the annual tuba concert, a second stage for other performers, free monorail rides, and the event will conclude with the lighting of the Liberty Pole. This event was extremely successful last year, and it could be even more successful this year.

The reason it could be is this may be the final holiday season for this historic retail center--the first downtown indoor mall in the country. Earlier this year, it was announced that PAETEC Communications will utilize the site to locate its corporate headquarters. It's wonderful news for the most underutilized section of downtown, even if it's a little sad since it marks the end of Midtown.

The fact the property has been largely abandoned by its current ownership mixed with that announcement has left Midtown as lean as ever in terms of stores. Hopefully its remaining loyal stores like Fauna's Gifts and Peebles will be helped with finding space nearby. The good news for these businesses is the addition of hundreds of new workers should make their stores as viable as ever.

Update: I visited the event late in the afternoon, and like last year, it was packed. Here is a Democrat & Chronicle article on the event.