Willard Campus Reuse Project

Historic drawing of the Willard Campus along the shores of Seneca Lake. Image courtesy of the Romulus Historical Society.

Background

Located in the Towns of Ovid and Romulus in Seneca County, New York, the 550-acre Willard Drug Treatment Center has had a rich history. The property, which boasts approximately 1 mile of water frontage along Seneca Lake in the Hamlet of Willard, was founded in 1853 to be the first Agricultural College in the United States. After the Civil War, the college became Willard Asylum (1865) and was at the leading edge of mental healthcare in New York State. The site was later known as Willard State Hospital (1890), Willard Psychiatric Center (1974), and, finally, Willard Drug Treatment Center (1995).

At its peak, Willard State Hospital housed almost 3,000 patients. More recently, declining inmate populations led to the state’s announcement that the New York State Department of Correctional Services and Community Supervision (DOCCS) would be closing the Willard Drug Treatment Campus in March 2022, transferring over 100 inmates to a new facility and relocating over 260 employees. A few months later, the Governor’s office announced the formation of a Prison Redevelopment Commission to analyze redevelopment opportunities for the state’s shuttered prisons.

Since Willard’s closure, elected officials, business leaders, and community members have banded together to advocate for responsible, locally-led redevelopment of the site. The community believes this site has tremendous future potential given its waterfront location and historic significance in the heart of the Finger Lakes region with its robust craft beverage, agriculture manufacturing, and tourism industries.

As part of the redevelopment effort, the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency has hired Rochester-based MRB Group to conduct a Highest & Best Use Study for the Willard Campus; that work is ongoing.

An aerial map of the Willard Campus with photo inlays of some of the key buildings.

Willard Campus and buildings. Image courtesy of MRB Group.

Highest & Best Use Study

Seneca County IDA has contracted MRB Group from Rochester, NY, who is working with partner firms EDR, Bero Architecture, and HRP Associates to conduct a Highest & Best Use Study for redevelopment of the Willard campus.




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