There was plenty of news in last week's unveiling of the latest vision for Renaissance Square.

The project's footprint has shrunk by at least a quarter. The latest plan excises most, if not all, the properties on the west side of the original plan, including the historic Granite Building at the corner of Main and St. Paul Streets. And the plan eliminates the Mortimer Street Garage on the northeast corner of the project. (Originally, the garage was to have been torn down for Ren Square, but city officials now believe it'll be needed because private development in the area is increasing.)

The small theater planned for the complex has been dropped. Ren Square, if it is built, will consist of a 2800-seat theater, facilities for Monroe Community College, and a transit center serving RTS, Trailways, and Greyhound buses.

Despite those changes, the team of architects and engineers working on the project have found some innovative ways to stay true to the general initial concept - even true to star architect Moshe Safdie's concept - and save money. The team, known as The Associates, consists of LaBella Associates, Bergmann Associates, SWBR Architects, and DeWolff Partnership. They were originally contracted to work with Safdie, and after Safdie's contract expired, they were hired to revise Safdie's plan.

At an April 24 public forum, representatives of The Associates presented four versions - "concepts" - of how the three facilities could fit together on less land than had been intended. The placement of the theater and the MCC facilities varies, and the broad, open walkway toward the transit center has been narrowed. But all four concepts keep the three elements connected, forming one complex. And all keep Safdie's idea for the transit center: an enclosed facility located at the rear of the complex, with a center waiting area.

The Associates will take what they learned at last week's forum, come up with a final concept, and present it at a public forum on May 20. Then work will begin on the architectural design.

County Executive Maggie Brooks is insistent that the project can't cost more than the $230 million originally planned, and presumably this latest downsizing saves a significant amount of money. The Granite Building, which was to have housed some MCC facilities, is privately owned. Now, it won't have to be purchased. And the new concepts drop Safdie's plans for a rooftop garden at the transit center, some expensive construction materials, and a large expanse of glass along Main Street.

Some of the most significant questions about the project remain, however. Among them:

Even at this scaled-back level, is the project affordable?

Officials are blaming rising construction costs for the reductions - and for dropping Safdie from the project. But the cost of construction materials continues to rise. Will $230 million be enough to build the complex?

County officials say that much of the money for the transit center and MCC has already been secured, but that's not the case for the theater. And while planners haven't come up with a new cost estimate for the theater, much of that funding will have to be privately raised. Brooks said Thursday night that about $30 million of the committed federal funds can be used for the theater - in part because the theater is part of a project that involves a transit center. And she said that she believes some $25 million to $30 million in private funds can be raised.

"We've had multiple conversations with individuals and corporations that are interested," she said. "The problem is, until you do have something that you can show that says ‘This is what we want you to invest in,' it's very hard to get a commitment."

Construction costs, however, are just part of the problem. It will cost money to operate Ren Square. MCC is already operating a downtown campus; since it will simply move that facility from the Sibley Building to Ren Square, the operating costs may not increase substantially. But the transit center and the theater are new projects. Heating, cooling, cleaning, staffing, insuring, providing for safety and security: all of those are new costs that somebody will have to pay. And despite numerous media requests over several years, Ren Square planners have not provided estimated costs or an indication of how they would be financed.

Officials have said in the past that taxpayers will not have to subsidize the operations, that rental of retail space could help finance the cost of the bus station and the common areas, for instance. And presumably, they're counting on the theater to be self-sustaining. That there is a risk, however, is clear.

Can an affordable Ren Square also be an architecturally significant building?

Ren Square sits on one of the most important blocks in downtown Rochester, and two of the buildings on the original site plan - the Granite Building and the Cox Building - are important architecturally. That's also true of neighbors such as the Sibley Building and the Michaels Stern Building. Ren Square does not need to mimic the architecture of the past, but it should fit nicely with its neighbors.

In addition, the project itself is one of the biggest developments proposed for downtown Rochester in decades. Given that significance, county officials and Ren Square planners will be ignoring an important opportunity if they don't insist on exceptional architecture.

That opportunity existed with Moshe Safdie in charge of the design, but exceptional architecture does not come only from star, out-of-town architects. The question is whether this is now a goal for Ren Square planners. If the result is a mundane design, with cost the principal driver, downtown may be better off without the project.

Is there a need for Ren Square?

This newspaper has maintained for more than a decade that a downtown bus station for the Regional Transit Service was a construction project in search of a rationale. It will be expensive to build and expensive to operate, and if providing a single indoor waiting area is important, there may be less expensive ways to do that.

But it is the bus station that was the sperm, if you will, that led to the conception of Ren Square. Before former Governor George Pataki's surprise announcement of a plan for Ren Square - right after Maggie Brooks took office in 2004 - county officials had considered building a new MCC facility farther west on Main Street, near Plymouth Avenue. A performing arts center - with three or four theaters - was being planned for elsewhere downtown, perhaps at Midtown Plaza. And Bill Nojay, then the head of the transit authority, was pushing for an enclosed downtown bus station.

The transit center could attract federal funds that the other two projects might not. And so the three were pulled together into one complex: Ren Square.

The availability of the transit funds has undoubtedly benefited the plans for the theater and MCC. And it's possible that the three projects together, as Ren Square, can help spur downtown development. It's possible, also, that Ren Square - for all of its problems getting off the ground - has already spurred development (the Paetec headquarters, the ESL project, for example) simply by being on the drawing board - a sign that public officials were investing in downtown Rochester.

But significant downtown housing development has been growing independent of Ren Square. (And, in fact, word of the transit center briefly threatened housing development prospects for nearby buildings.)

Has downtown development reached the point that Ren Square is no longer needed as a prod? Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, president of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation, noted Thursday night that the Granite Building won't suffer from being removed from the Ren Square plans. The private marketplace is filling it up. The building is an office condo, with three owners: the Harris Beach law firm (under the name Granite Building Associates); Office Building Associates, and the CGI communications firm. CGI is expanding and has been buying floors from Harris Beach, which has moved almost all of its offices to Pittsford.

In one of his presentations in Rochester, Safdie seemed particularly excited about the role that downtown college campuses like MCC's can play in downtown revitalization. But none of the new Ren Square concepts seem to integrate the MCC facilities as fully and as openly as Safdie's design did. If the MCC facilities are simply classrooms and offices on upper floors of Ren Square, there may be little more impact than there is now, with MCC located on upper floors of the Sibley Building. Maybe downtown would be better off if MCC stayed put. (Whether that's the best use of the historic Sibley Building, long term, is a different question.)

The strongest claim for the need for a new facility may be that of the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, which is to be the principal tenant of the 2800-seat theater. While RBTL has invested heavily in its current home, the Auditorium Theatre, its leaders have been working for a new facility for at least 12 years. Despite RBTL's upgrading, the Aud's acoustics aren't great. Events promoters complain that the lobby is far too small for the concessions areas they need. Parking is nearly non-existent. And the theater isn't air-conditioned.

Can those problems be solved? There's been little public focus on that question. And if RBTL moves out, the architecturally important Auditorium building is certain to be in jeopardy.

Given the uncertainty about costs, it might be worthwhile to reassess the need for Ren Square. There's been no suggestion for such a study, however.

If Ren Square has only one theater, should it be the big one?

At this point, the question seems moot. Some of the performance groups that were to have occupied the smallest of the original Ren Square theaters have settled into other homes. Other small theater groups could still benefit from a venue that might offer lower rent and absorb some of the maintenance and security burdens. But they've been cut out of the project.

The renovation and expansion of two existing performance spaces - the Eastman Theatre and the Nazareth Arts Center - seem to meet much of the need for a midsize theater. And, in fact, Ren Square lost substantial state funding to those projects.

So perhaps the large theater wins the Ren Square space by default. Still, it's important to recall that before Ren Square was a gleam in county officials' eyes, some public officials were already lining up behind the idea of a new theater for RBTL. When community leaders were studying the idea of a true performing arts center, one that would include a new home for the Rochester Philharmonic, some public officials argued that RBTL's needs should take precedence over the needs of classical music and other arts groups. It was entertainment - Broadway road shows - those officials argued, that would draw large audiences, excitement, and money.

An early plan for the performing arts center, backed by a consultant's study, recommended putting RBTL in the Eastman Theatre and building a new, mid-sized facility for the RPO and other groups. But RBTL officials and Albert Nocciolino, who brings the Broadway shows to Rochester, insisted that the Eastman Theatre couldn't meet RBTL's needs.

In a letter to then-County Executive Jack Doyle, Nocciolino said that if a performing arts center included a new theater for the touring Broadway road shows, he would be "more than willing to take on additional risk in presenting more large-scale, multiple-week engagements." But if the productions were put in a renovated Eastman Theatre, he wrote, "I am not willing to make the same commitment."

Now, nearly 10 years later, the plan is for the RPO to continue to share space with the Eastman School of Music in the Eastman Theatre. And RBTL is expected to be the principal tenant of the sole theater in Ren Square.

Ownership of the new theater has yet to be decided, Ren Square spokesperson Mike Power said late last week. But RBTL is expected to play a prominent role, Power said, and it's likely that RBTL will be the theater's operator, deciding who will perform there.

After years of study and planning, county and Ren Square officials are now working under a tight deadline. Earlier this month, New York Senator Chuck Schumer gave them a series of ultimatums:

They must decide by January 31, 2009, whether they'll build Ren Square. They must come up with best-case and worst-case budgets. And they must come up with an operating plan and budget.

Brooks has agreed with Schumer's demands - even welcomed them. And county and project officials have laid out a schedule that would meet them.

Ren Square planners will complete the federal environmental assessment - which will require "minor modifications" to reflect the recent changes, Brooks said -by July 30.

Preliminary design plans and estimates will be ready by September 30, the operations plan will be ready in October, and the planners will submit development plans to the Federal Transportation Authority in January 2009. Approval of the development plan would be expected in April 2009, officials say.

At this point, some $10.2 million in taxpayers' money has been spent on Ren Square. In addition, the transit authority spent $5.2 million planning for a downtown transit center before Ren Square was conceived.

In February, project officials voted to extend the contracts with The Associates so that they could complete preliminary design work on new concepts. That commited taxpayers to spending another $1.9 million for those contracts. And project officials will likely have to authorize additional funding for the final architectural and engineering plans.

Public investment in downtowns such as Rochester's can bring enormous dividends. And any public investment in a big project - the unfairly maligned ferry being the prime local example - carries a big risk.

As public officials decide whether to take that risk, they need to ask - and the public needs to ask - questions like these:

• Is it likely that this project will benefit the public?
• Are the cost projections - not only for construction but also for operations - solid?
• Do public officials know the extent of the risk for the public?

In an interview the day the new Ren Square concepts were unveiled, Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy praised county officials for responding to Senator Chuck Schumer's concerns. But Duffy reiterated that he will withdraw his backing if the theater component - the one component, according to county officials, that isn't fully funded - is removed from the project.

Duffy serves on the board of Main and Clinton LDC, the local development corporation that is planning Ren Square. The other board members are Maggie Brooks, transit authority head Mark Aesch, MCC President Tom Flynn, and Arts Council head Sarah Lentini. But Ren Square is, after all, a county project. The county is driving Renaissance Square, Duffy said last week, and in the end, he's just one vote.

"While I certainly have influence," Duffy said, "it remains to be seen whether my influence can have major influence on the project, because it's not being driven by the city. But I will certainly never be shy about expressing myself."

Ren Square and its friends

Renaissance Square has been plagued by rumors since its inception. Among them have been suspicions that the project was designed, at least in part, to benefit the Republican Party's friends. Here's some of what has fed those rumors.

The theater: Originally, Ren Square was to include three or four performing-arts theaters. All have been dropped from the project except one: a 2800-seat theater whose principal tenant will be the Rochester Broadway Theatre League.

While building a large theater, rather than a mid-sized and a small one, may be the best decision - and while RBTL may be the logical principal tenant - county officials and Ren Square planners have left themselves open to charges of favoritism. RBTL's board members include Robert Weisner - security director of the Monroe County Water Authority and the husband of County Executive Maggie Brooks. Weisner has served on the RBTL board since 2002.

The properties: The project's original footprint included the Granite Building at the corner of Main and St. Paul Streets - one of whose owners is the Harris Beach law firm, which has moved most of its offices to Pittsford. Harris Beach partners have wanted to get rid of the building for years. And those partners include some prominent Republicans - among them, former County Legislature Majority Leader Bill Smith. Smith is now seeking to become president of Monroe Community College, whose downtown campus was scheduled to include the Granite Building.

Ren Square was also to occupy land once owned by the late Max Farash, a longtime Republican. Farash donated to the county the former Blue Cross Blue Shield building on Main Street (once the Edwards department store) and a building that was formerly an Edwards annex. Under the latest plans, part of that property may be included in Ren Square, and part may be made available for private development.