(ABC 6 News) – The five properties have been under historical preservation by the city since 2019.

The owner of the buildings, Hal Henderson said it’ll be cheaper to demolish and rebuild, than upkeep them.

“Any old building of the age these are, they’re not build out of product that we’d use in today’s modern construction. They’re very soft brick, the buildings were never insulated so that brick does not hold up for a long time,” Henderson said.

After being denied by the heritage preservation committee, he turned to the city council to take action.

Robert Heist was the attorney to represent the owner and he told the council, the five buildings in question don’t have any historical significance.

“We don’t need to freeze downtown Rochester, we don’t need to freeze these properties in time. We can be responsible and we can make a development project collaborating with the city in a way that preserves Broadway,” Heist said.

Others took to the podium, expressing they didn’t want to see the buildings demolished and want to preserve the historic features the buildings have.

After intense discussion, the council decided to deny the request in a 6 to 1 vote with councilmember Shaun Palmer being that one vote.

He proposed to hold off on making a decision until February for the council to have time to sit down with the property owners to learn more about their concerns, but that was also voted down by the council.