On Watching Construction
Hello, readers! Welcome to the inaugural post at Rochester Construction Watch (the website). The name tells you everything you need to know about what the site will be doing, so I’m going to use the rest of this space on how we got here and where we’re going.
To begin, I’m Matthew Denker. I fell in love with construction when I moved to New York City in 2007 and have been chronicling it ever since. Here’s one of the earliest digital photos I took of construction when I lived on Roosevelt Island.
Riverwalk Crossing at 405 Main Street under construction on Roosevelt Island in 2008.
In the 6 years I lived in NYC, I took thousands of photos of construction, a practice I continued in Rochester when I visited, Colorado when I lived there, and finally full-time in Rochester when I moved back 7 years ago. Here’s one of the first photos I took when I moved back, and *checks tape* It looks like the best laid plans don’t always come to fruition in this field.
Citygate c. 2018 (soon to be a double drive-thru Chick-Fil-A)
Five years ago, I started the RCW Facebook group. It has grown into a place for over 20,000 Rochester and/or construction enthusiasts to gather and discuss new buildings in the region.
With the launch of this website today, I am creating a space for curated posts about the most impactful local projects. They won’t always be the largest ones, but they will be jobs that stand out for their importance. Posts here will cover, as best as possible, three phases of a given project: Groundbreaking, mid-construction, and completion. I’m planning for approximately two posts a month here. Content on this site will continue to be shared to the Facebook group, so that the conversation about construction in Rochester can continue there unabated.
Additionally, with the launch of the website, more content will be available across a number of platforms. In no particular order:
The original Rochester Construction Watch Facebook Group (in case you missed it and are here first) - Home to multiple photo posts and group member content submissions. Start your journey here.
The Rochester Construction Watch Instagram - A place for single photo updates about smaller projects or small observations about larger ones.
The Rochester Construction Watch Bluesky Feed - A spot for text updates that did not previously have a home. In the past, content from towns in the region that do not post plans online have largely been ignored, but plenty of construction is proposed in Greece and Victor, even if they don’t let you see it online!
Thank you for making it through this post and for being a dedicated Rochester construction enthusiast. I hope the content here shines a light on just how good many of our local projects are and how many of them there are. I know I can’t wait to share them with you.