Posted at: 02/06/2009 5:45 PM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 02/06/2009 7:45 PM
By: Ray Levato

 |  Print Story

PAETEC CEO: There will be a PAETEC headquarters at Midtown Plaza site

For those naysayers out there who think PAETEC maybe won't build a new world headquarters in downtown Rochester, the head guy has this message: Whether it's Midtown Tower or a new building, there will be a new PAETEC headquarters at the Midtown Plaza site.

PAETEC CEO Arunas Chesonis says his preference is still to go into a new building. But he says Mayor Duffy and his team came up with a pretty creative suggestion, and has made a good case for re-doing Midtown Tower. “You know, people ask 'well, why didn't you think of this before?' And we say, well, we were kind of focus ed on our own design. And it was just a great idea.”

PAETEC last year announced it was scaling down original plans to build a skyscraper of perhaps 30 to 35 stories, in favor of a nine-story building. This was because three other companies who were to be tenants in the new tower dropped out because of the economy.

Chesonis said, “And from our side, now we don't have to build up that whole infrastructure as well. So that could potentially save us $15 million.”

Employees are still 20-percent owners of PAETEC and Chesonis cautioned employees at today's staff meeting they might get a barrage of e-mails or comments that this is a sign of the company's weakness. “So for those detractors out there, tell them very politely it's not your money.That's why you can say stuff like that. Because it's our money, we worry about that stuff. Okay. But again, first preference, build our own.”
  
Chesonis says is may take another six to nine months to really know the potential savings and before a decision on Midtown Tower is made. “It's easy for people to get cynical out there in the community about certain projects that don't happen the way they think. And again, people are just trying to do things in a pragmatic businesslike approach. The city's is trying to do that. The state is trying to do it. We're trying to do it. If we can save many millions of dollars by doing something like this, it's worth at least thinking about because we have other issues that we want to put money into in the city.”

Chesonis says he's not a detractor of the way Midtown tower looks right now but he says PAETEC could make it look better.

Click here to watch the interview with Arunas Chesonis