The demolition crews arrived at the former O'Brien & Gere manufacturing site on Thursday, October 22. That date ends a wait that WSYR has followed for six years. The supermarket planned for 547 E. Genesee St. is now the one project on Fayetteville's main street that involves knocking a building down. Everything else new along the corridor this fall and winter is moving into a building with a past: a former restaurant, an inn built before the Civil War, a firehouse that hosts the village's holiday tradition, and an unfinished wing of a historic library.
Six Years, Then an Excavator
The Village of Fayetteville Planning Board approved a 56,000-square-foot supermarket for the O'Brien & Gere property in 2022. Lawsuits stalled the project for years after that. According to WSYR, the courts sided with the village, and the last case was resolved in September 2025.
This year the project picked up speed. Crews cleaned the site over the summer and opened sections of the building for asbestos abatement. Onondaga County records cited by WSYR show that 16 acres at 547 E. Genesee St. sold to Genesee Fayetteville LLC for $3 million on July 24, 2026. Mayor Mike Small has identified that buyer as one of the LLCs behind the grocery proposal.
Even this site isn't being cleared completely. Planning documents show that a small part of the existing building will stay. Sources told WSYR that the store will be a Hannaford, which would be the Maine-based chain's first location in Onondaga County. The chain already has several New York stores, including locations in Utica and Rome.
The rest of the corridor shows the same preference for repair over replacement. The Limestone Plaza bridge rehabilitation, which the village had expected to finish by mid-July, reopened to traffic on July 31, WSYR reported in August. The village rehabilitated its old bridge instead of replacing it.
Kirby's Address, Now a Dinner Room
Closer to the village center, the next change is at 408 E. Genesee St., the old Kirby's location. Apizza Alimentari opened there in July. On September 30 it added full dinner service, which syracuse.com described as long awaited.
Dinner hours matter as the evenings get darker:
- Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday: 4 to 9 p.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 4 to 10 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday aren't on the dinner schedule, so plan midweek dinners around that. This is a familiar address that is now open at a new time of day. Earlier this year, the late-summer stretch of East Genesee was already filling up as a weeknight dinner street, a pattern covered in The Late-Summer Fayetteville Week Locals Already Know. Apizza's dinner hours carry that into the colder months.
An 1859 Inn Gets a Second Act
Just past the village line, at 7206 E. Genesee St. in the Town of Manlius, the former Arad Evans Inn is becoming Dear Dad, a steakhouse. Arad Evans ran there for nearly 30 years before closing in November 2025. When it closed, its owners announced that a new ownership group would open another restaurant in the building.
The new group is Belly Brands Hospitality Group, which also runs Bull & Bear, Daily Diner and Yards Grille at Green Lakes State Park. CEO Mark Bullis told WSYR, in a story republished by informnny.com, that his team approached the Arad Evans owner about selling because they loved both the location and the legacy building.
The renovation has run since the start of 2026. Bullis said keeping the charm and style of the house, which he dates to 1859, was a priority. The biggest structural change was moving the bar so the spaces connect better and people on the patio can reach it. The restaurant's own website describes steaks, seafood, handcrafted pasta and curated beverages. In October, WSYR reported that the owner was aiming to open in early November.
Dear Dad's plan follows the same logic as the grocery site and Apizza's room at 408. The building stays, and the business inside it changes.
The Firehouse and the Library Keep the Calendar
Two village institutions anchor the holiday season, and one of them is in the middle of its own renovation.
The village's annual Tree Lighting Ceremony is Friday, November 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fayetteville Fire House, 425 E. Genesee St. The village calendar lists wagon rides, light refreshments and special visitors. That puts the evening the day after Thanksgiving, on the same stretch of East Genesee as Apizza at 408.
The Fayetteville Free Library is in the middle of turning the unfinished space in its historic building into a Youth Wing. The library expects the children's, youth programming and tween spaces to open in late 2026. It's the same pattern as the rest of the street, in an institution instead of a storefront: space inside a historic building is being finished instead of a new building going up.
Its holiday programs are already on the calendar. Two dates need action ahead of time:
- November 20, 10:30 a.m. to noon: a holiday craft program for adults.
- November 16, 8 a.m.: registration opens for "Pictures with Santa!" on Sunday, December 13, from 11 to 11:30 a.m. in the Emma Beard Room, with holiday music and crafts. Registration is required.
Sign-up details are on the library's event page. If your household wants a Santa photo, mark the Monday morning that registration opens, not just the December date.
Green Lakes in Its Quiet Season
The winter routine away from the main street runs through Green Lakes State Park, which has settled into its off-season setup. New York State Parks lists the trails as open daily from dawn to dusk with no entry fee, and snowshoeing and cross-country skiing among its winter amenities.
Camping and cabins, the camp store, the swimming beach and boat rentals are all closed for the season. Two parts of the park stay open on regular hours:
- Yards Grille: daily, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Environmental Education Center: Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m.
Yards Grille links the park back to East Genesee Street. It belongs to the same Belly Brands group that is restoring the 1859 inn at 7206. A winter morning on the Green Lakes trails, breakfast at the park's grille, and an evening at the firehouse tree lighting all fit into one weekend without leaving Fayetteville.
The Short List for the Weeks Ahead
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| November 16, 8 a.m. | Santa photo registration opens | Fayetteville Free Library, online |
| November 20, 10:30 a.m. | Adult holiday craft | Fayetteville Free Library |
| November 27, 6 to 8 p.m. | Tree Lighting Ceremony | Fire House, 425 E. Genesee St. |
| December 13, 11 a.m. | Pictures with Santa | Emma Beard Room, Fayetteville Free Library |
| Wednesdays through Sundays | Apizza Alimentari dinner | 408 E. Genesee St. |
| Daily, dawn to dusk | Green Lakes trails, no fee | Green Lakes State Park |
Demolition at 547 E. Genesee St. will keep going behind all of this. Once it's done, the 16-acre site will be ready for the supermarket, with a piece of the old O'Brien & Gere building still standing. More on the village is on the Fayetteville neighborhood page.
If the changes on East Genesee have you wondering how a new grocery store, a restored inn or a new dinner room down the street might affect your own home's position, Andrea Price is glad to talk it through calmly and with local context. Let's Connect.
