News
State
Street redevelopment gets state aid
$5 Million will be allocated to plan to
help replace historic but vacant sites with commercial space
By BRIAN NEARING, Staff Writer
First published: Tuesday, October 31, 2006
ALBANY - The state will contribute $5 million to a private developer's plan to build a $60 million high-rise on Wellington Row, with the money going toward removal of hazardous materials and rebuilding of a section of State Street.
Gov. George Pataki appeared with Mayor Jerry Jennings on Monday to announce a $2.5 million grant for environmental remediation during demolition of the crumbling Wellington Hotel and four adjacent State Street buildings, and another $2.5 million transportation department grant for street improvements.
During a news conference in front of the Wellington, Pataki recalled staying at the hotel when he was an assemblyman in 1984. "I wanted to be downtown. Of course, the hotel was a lot nicer then," he said.
Jennings said State Street will be repaved, its sidewalks will be replaced, and trees and ornamental medians will be installed over the three long blocks from the Eagle Street side of the Capitol to Broadway.
The rebirth of State Street as a tree-lined expanse of shopping and outdoor cafes was envisioned as part of the city's ambitious 1994 Capitalize Albany plan. But the vacant, historic Wellington, boarded up and vermin-infested, was an obstacle to that vision until recently.
This month, the Times Union reported that London-based Sebba Rockaway Ltd., which has owned the hotel since 1987, will sell it and six adjoining properties on State and Howard streets to Albany-based Columbia Development Companies. The latter intends to demolish the buildings, preserve historic facades and build a 12- to 15-story tower.
The sale of the hotel, a former Elks Lodge; the long-vacant Berkshire Hotel and two other buildings at 132-140 State St.; and the Wellington annex and another building at 64-67 How ard St. is expected to close within two weeks, said Columbia Development President Joseph Nicolla. He declined to reveal the price.
Last summer, Sebba put the Wellington properties on the market for $5 million.
Columbia is associated with local developer Donald Led Duke and his BBL construction firm, making it among the region's largest developers. It also is a major donor to Jennings' election campaigns.
Nicolla said plans call for saving the facades of the Wellington, Elks and Berkshire buildings, with remaining structures to be razed. Shops would be at street level, with apartments or condos possible for the next four levels of the tower, and the remaining space used for offices.
The 250,000-square-foot project would have a parking garage with space for about 400 cars.
Columbia may find itself at odds with local historic preservationists, who have said they want more of the Wellington and other buildings saved.
"We believe that there are significant resources at risk," said R. Daniel Mackay, director of public policy for the Preservation League of New York, which included Wellington Row on its statewide list of endangered properties in 2000.
The state Historic Preservation Office and the Department of Environmental Conservation both have review authority over the proposal, Mackay said.
In 2004, preservation advocates hired an engineer. After inspecting the Wellington from the outside, the engineer recommended that major portions could be saved. Nicolla disputed that Monday, calling preservation beyond the facades "not financially feasible."
Erin Tobin Bearden, director of Preservation Services for Historic Albany Foundation, said her group will study the demolition permit application - which must include an engineering report on the buildings' conditions - that Nicolla must submit to the city before work can start.
For several years, the Wellington site was one of four considered for a convention center and hotel complex by a newly created state authority. In August, the authority selected a site near the Greyhound bus station off Broadway, which seemingly opened the door for another project.
The city has been fighting with Sebba since August 2004, when State Street was closed after a piece of the building's roof facade appeared ready to tumble onto the sidewalk. Sebba has refused to pay the city $513,000 for emergency repairs, which included sheathing parts of the 11-story building to prevent bricks and glass from falling.
Sebba also is appealing a $489,000 fine imposed in City Court in December 2004 for building code violations, including broken windows, a rotted roof and falling bricks.
Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.
By BRIAN NEARING, Staff Writer
First published: Tuesday, October 31, 2006
ALBANY - The state will contribute $5 million to a private developer's plan to build a $60 million high-rise on Wellington Row, with the money going toward removal of hazardous materials and rebuilding of a section of State Street.
Gov. George Pataki appeared with Mayor Jerry Jennings on Monday to announce a $2.5 million grant for environmental remediation during demolition of the crumbling Wellington Hotel and four adjacent State Street buildings, and another $2.5 million transportation department grant for street improvements.
During a news conference in front of the Wellington, Pataki recalled staying at the hotel when he was an assemblyman in 1984. "I wanted to be downtown. Of course, the hotel was a lot nicer then," he said.
Jennings said State Street will be repaved, its sidewalks will be replaced, and trees and ornamental medians will be installed over the three long blocks from the Eagle Street side of the Capitol to Broadway.
The rebirth of State Street as a tree-lined expanse of shopping and outdoor cafes was envisioned as part of the city's ambitious 1994 Capitalize Albany plan. But the vacant, historic Wellington, boarded up and vermin-infested, was an obstacle to that vision until recently.
This month, the Times Union reported that London-based Sebba Rockaway Ltd., which has owned the hotel since 1987, will sell it and six adjoining properties on State and Howard streets to Albany-based Columbia Development Companies. The latter intends to demolish the buildings, preserve historic facades and build a 12- to 15-story tower.
The sale of the hotel, a former Elks Lodge; the long-vacant Berkshire Hotel and two other buildings at 132-140 State St.; and the Wellington annex and another building at 64-67 How ard St. is expected to close within two weeks, said Columbia Development President Joseph Nicolla. He declined to reveal the price.
Last summer, Sebba put the Wellington properties on the market for $5 million.
Columbia is associated with local developer Donald Led Duke and his BBL construction firm, making it among the region's largest developers. It also is a major donor to Jennings' election campaigns.
Nicolla said plans call for saving the facades of the Wellington, Elks and Berkshire buildings, with remaining structures to be razed. Shops would be at street level, with apartments or condos possible for the next four levels of the tower, and the remaining space used for offices.
The 250,000-square-foot project would have a parking garage with space for about 400 cars.
Columbia may find itself at odds with local historic preservationists, who have said they want more of the Wellington and other buildings saved.
"We believe that there are significant resources at risk," said R. Daniel Mackay, director of public policy for the Preservation League of New York, which included Wellington Row on its statewide list of endangered properties in 2000.
The state Historic Preservation Office and the Department of Environmental Conservation both have review authority over the proposal, Mackay said.
In 2004, preservation advocates hired an engineer. After inspecting the Wellington from the outside, the engineer recommended that major portions could be saved. Nicolla disputed that Monday, calling preservation beyond the facades "not financially feasible."
Erin Tobin Bearden, director of Preservation Services for Historic Albany Foundation, said her group will study the demolition permit application - which must include an engineering report on the buildings' conditions - that Nicolla must submit to the city before work can start.
For several years, the Wellington site was one of four considered for a convention center and hotel complex by a newly created state authority. In August, the authority selected a site near the Greyhound bus station off Broadway, which seemingly opened the door for another project.
The city has been fighting with Sebba since August 2004, when State Street was closed after a piece of the building's roof facade appeared ready to tumble onto the sidewalk. Sebba has refused to pay the city $513,000 for emergency repairs, which included sheathing parts of the 11-story building to prevent bricks and glass from falling.
Sebba also is appealing a $489,000 fine imposed in City Court in December 2004 for building code violations, including broken windows, a rotted roof and falling bricks.
Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.
and
Architectural Parts Warehouse
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Albany, NY 12206
518/465-0876
www.historic-albany.org