By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN , Staff writer 
First published: Wednesday, May 17,  2000 
 

Eckerd drops plan to 
replace School 10 with store
 

Albany -- Company promises to stop targeting historic sites 

              After a year of heated opposition, a developer on
              Tuesday withdrew plans to demolish the century-old
              former School 10 on Central Avenue and replace it with
              an Eckerd drugstore. 

              Also Tuesday, the National Trust for Historic
              Preservation announced it had received a promise from
              Eckerd Corp. The company said it would stop pursuing
              sites on the National Register of Historic Places as
              potential locations for its drug stores.  

              "We try very hard to be a good citizen of the
              communities in which we operate and have no intention
              of destroying such properties,'' a letter from Interim
              President John E. Fesperman stated. 

              "This is a very important policy change as far as how
              they will deal with reinvestment in historic downtowns
              and neighborhoods,'' said Tania Werbizky of the
              Preservation League of New York State. 

              Nationwide, battles similar to the one waged over
              School 10 are being fought in cities and older towns --
              the last frontier now that many suburbs are starting to put
              the brakes on development. 

              In March 1999, Lyndi Development -- with an
              agreement to buy the vacant city-owned School 10 for
              $850,000 -- proposed replacing the building at the
              corner of Lake Avenue with an 11,000-square-foot
              store. 

              Opponents said the design, which included a
              drive-through window and a parking lot next to the
              sidewalk, was "too suburban'' and out of place with the
              pedestrian-friendly image Central Avenue was trying to
              preserve. 

              Several business owners on Central Avenue said they
              had been in favor of the project in hopes that it would be
              the catalyst for further redevelopment. 

              "I'm very disappointed,'' said Robert Kayne, owner of
              Spector's Men's & Women's Clothing. "We need
              development on our block.'' 

              Mayor Jerry Jennings said: "We'll just shift gears and
              continue to market the building. Maybe something
              positive will come out of this.'' 

              School 10, which was designed by Albany architect
              Albert Fuller, is eligible for the National Register but has
              not been listed. Inclusion requires a request from a
              property's owner. 

Copyright 2000, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.