ESL Named Recipient of the first RDDC Downtown Rising Awards

August 19, 2010

ESL Federal Credit Union and Big Picture Rochester received the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation's (RDDC) first-ever "Downtown Rising Awards" at a RDDC Repositioning Rochester luncheon at the Hyatt Hotel in June.

"By drawing attention to these two very different feats, the awards seek to highlight all of the tremendous achievements going on downtown by an ever-widening group of developers, business owners, artists, institutions, and community activists", said RDDC President Heidi Zimmer-Meyer. "While we can't begin to acknowledge all those making daily efforts to improve the community, we do hope the awards shine some light on their combined efforts."

ESL received the award in recognition of the move to its newly constructed headquarters in March. LaBella Associates, PC, designed the building and the attached parking garage, and LeChase Construction Services LLC, oversaw all aspects of construction for the project.

Zimmer-Meyer lauded the ESL management team and its employees, saying "this beautiful project has changed the landscape in this key gateway into the center city, and enthusiastic and effervescent ESL employees have already made their mark on downtown".

Rochester lawyer Gerry DiMarco, and Big Picture Rochester founder Ken Ichiro Sato, were also recognized with a Downtown Rising Award for their efforts to "create a unique downtown outdoor gallery showcasing over 400 beautiful and inspiring photographs". Ichiro Sato launched the Big Picture effort several years ago with the placement of a multistory, photo-mosaic on the north side of the Brockport MetroCenter facility on St. Paul Street.

Founded by George Eastman in 1920, ESL Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution with $3.9 billion in assets. ESL employs more than 600 people locally and has more than 300,000 members world-wide. Access to the credit union includes 20 branch locations and more than 42 ATM locations, a Tele-Banking Center, and Internet and online banking channels. The company is headquartered at 225 Chestnut Street, in Rochester, and can be found on the Internet at www.esl.org.