Syracuse Mayor Walsh returning to downtown building for next State of the City

Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh will go back to the place where he delivered his 2019 State of the City address for the 2024 version of the annual speech.

Walsh announced this week that his next State of the City address is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at the City Center on South Salina Street. The site of the former Sibley’s Department Store in downtown Syracuse reopened in October as a mixed-use commercial building with more than 200 people working on site.

Walsh was in the same building for his address in 2019 when developer Hayner Hoyt Corp. was in the early stages of the $40 million project. At the time, he spoke at the Red House theater, which moved into a portion of the building in the project’s first phase.

Walsh used that speech to announce his administration’s Syracuse Surge initiative, which has served as a blueprint for the city’s economic development efforts. In a news release, Walsh said returning five years later to the fully renovated site, which for many years was vacant, is “the right location to reflect on our progress and to outline our plans for the future.”

Syracuse mayors are required by the city charter to present an annual report to the common council. This will be Walsh’s seventh State of the City presentation. Past venues have included PSLA at Fowler High School, SUNY Upstate Medical University, the Salt City Market, JMA Wireless and Corcoran High School. The speech will be broadcast on WCNY’s public channel 24.

City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at jboyer@syracuse.com, (315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.