The time for mourning the loss of Midtown Plaza will come later. Right now, it's time to celebrate what was a stunning announcement - and the biggest news for Rochester that I can remember in a very long time.

At a mid-day press conference today, Governor Eliot Spitzer announced that the city will buy Midtown, the state will provide $50 million to demolish it and remediate the site, and PAETEC will build a new building and put its world headquarters there.

A new building will replace Midtown.

Six hundred telecommunications workers will be added to the downtown workforce. And PAETEC thinks 400 more will follow soon.

The boost to the city's psyche will be enormous.

This ramps up, way up, the momentum that individual new housing projects have been providing.

Duffy administration officials must be grinning from ear to ear. They didn't get what they wanted in increased state aid, but this may be more important.

Many of us will indeed shed tears when Midtown comes down. We remember Midtown at its most glorious: packed with people, decorated for the holidays.

The loss of Midtown is significant in another way, too: it's a genuinely important complex, historically and architecturally.

But there are times when we have to let go of things. Public officials have tried for years to find a developer to reuse Midtown. Before that, some good and brave retailers tried for years, and suffered a lot, to make Midtown a success, in spite of the suburban sprawl that sapped downtown of much of its life.

It's time to let go of Midtown. Its death may very well spur the revitalized downtown many of us have hoped for. (And - dare I say it? - this looks like a much better project than Ren Square.)