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SCHENECTADY
SCCC board OKs new dormitory
Goal is attracting students, stimulating economic development
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

   Schenectady County Community College has approved building a $12 million dormitory on South Church Street, anticipating housing to attract more students and enhance downtown development.
   “This is really going to change this college in so many different ways,” said SCCC President Gabe Basil.
   “This is going to take us to a totally different level by allowing us to offer a much more complete educational experience. It’s much more than a building. It’s a big step forward for the institution.”
   He thanked the county for providing assistance.
   The SCCC Board of Trustees formally approved the building on Thursday. The four-story building would be 62,000 square feet and contain at least 215 beds. Plans include six-bedroom suites, fourbedroom suites, a two-bedroom suite and common areas.
   “It’s going to be a great catalyst project for lower State Street, where we’re going to try to focus a lot of our energy,” said Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen.
   Construction is to begin in December.
   “We expect to have it open and available for students by mid-August of next year,” said Joe Stellato, a project manager for Columbia Development Companies, which designed the project along with BBL Construction Services.
   College officials are excited because it would allow the college to recruit students for its specialty programs, including music, culinary arts and aviation science. They are also hoping to recruit international students.
   Officials of the college, which has an enrollment of roughly 5,000, has spent nearly a decade looking for space.
   Susan Savage, the chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature, said the county has been involved earnestly in the last year and a half.
   “The economic development team’s role was to work with developers and encourage them to make proposals to the college board of trustees,” she said.
   Gillen said this will also save taxpayers money because the county must pay other counties when students attend community colleges outside of Schenectady County. County Legislator Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, said in the last budget the county appropriated $2 million for this.
   Gillen explained that MVP had formerly used the lot as parking for its employees when it had its old office. MVP relocated to the corner of State Street and Nott Terrace and the property is being redeveloped into condominiums and upscale apartments, which will not need this lot.
   County officials had been working on this behind the scenes, but had not discussed it publicly.
   “We don’t talk about deals until they are signed and delivered,” Gillen said.
   Columbia Development Companies’ principals have developed more than 6 million square feet of space — worth more than $750 million, according to information released Thursday. Both companies are responsible for more than 2,000 student housing beds including those at RPI and the University at Albany. United Campus Housing, owners of the Melrose Student Housing franchise, will manage the site.
   “This is an A-team that is coming together to build this building and it will help the college grow,” Gillen said.
   The Schenectady County Community College Foundation — the college’s nonprofit charitable arm — will own the building. By law, community colleges cannot independently build dormitory projects.
   Vladia C. Boniewski, executive director of the foundation, said they are still working out the details but the plan is to bond the project cost and pay back the bond with student housing fees.
   Mayor Brian U. Stratton said the housing project is a “natural fit” and would be anchor for downtown redevelopment.
   “It’s a way to further integrate our student body into the downtown. It will be a spark and a catalyst for the redevelopment of the next section of State Street from Erie down to the community college. It also speaks to the great record our community college has in attracting students on a more full-time basis,” he said.
   Anything that brings more people into the town is good, he added. “You have people living down there, going to class down there that have a need for services,” he said. “Any revitalization in any urban area has to have a mixture of retail, office and housing projects.”

I don't think that area is safe for the kids. I would not have put a dorm there. Mr. Stratton said that he thinks it is a natural fit. I don't see it that way at all. Who will be paying for these dorms if all or even some of the rooms are vacant? Is there a need for dorms for SCCC?

I don't think it's a great area myself. The city would love to fill those dorms and have the college kids could frequent the businesses on state street. I think the city wants it to be a college town. However, and again, do they realize that these college kids are mostly under drinking age? So I guess the bar and grills are out of the question, right?