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CAPITAL REGION
Developers drawn to condo projects
BY JAMES SCHLETT Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter James Schlett at 395-3040 or jschlett@dailygazette.net

    Condominiums continue to serve as the Capital Region construction industry’s shining star, offsetting weaker demand for traditional homes, according to a recently released report.
    As baby boomers near retirement age, area developers have spent the past two years putting up condos at an increasingly frenetic pace. By the end of 2007, the region had a base inventory of 1,006 condos, with most of them being in Albany, Cohoes and Saratoga Springs.
    Developers believe the condos will be increasingly attractive to empty nesters looking for smaller living spaces in urban areas. But so far only 514 of the region’s condos have been sold.
    TL Metzger & Associates, the Albany real estate broker that compiled the report, noted that the 50 percent unsold condo statistic is less alarming when considering 459 units have only recently been completed or are still awaiting construction.
    The unsold inventory is not deterring developers from pursing more condo projects. In 2008, 483 units will be added to the region’s inventory and be available for sale after getting approved by the state Offi ce of the Attorney General, which has oversight of new condos and other cooperative-type housing.
    “[This year] will be an interesting year for the housing market in general, with overall activity expected to decrease. However, I expect the condo market to remain strong with greater absorption rates as baby boomers continue to seek a simpler life and more convenient lifestyle,” TL Metzger President Tracy Metzger said in the report.
    According to preliminary figures, developers last year received 50 percent fewer single-family building permits from municipalities in the tri-county area, compared with 2006. During the same period in the same area, developers also received 50 percent more multifamily building permits, according to the National Association of Home Builders, a Washington trade organization.
    Cohoes retained its lead in the condo development race. The former mill town in recent years has seen condo developers swarm around its Hudson and Mohawk river waterfronts.
    Cohoes has approved over 500 condo units, of which 384 need the Attorney General’s approval. Mayor John McDonald III is hoping the affluent boomers and young professionals the condos attract will help leverage the city’s revival.
    McDonald attributed the condo boom to Cohoes’ waterfront and its proximity to Advanced Micro Devices’ proposed $3.2 billion chip manufacturing plant in Malta. On the Hudson waterfront, the 105-unit Admiral’s Landing is being built and the city in January approved plans for the 141-unit Captain’s Lookout.
    “We’re very pleased with what we have on our books,” said Mc-Donald.
    Albany’s newest condo project is the nine-story Capital Grand on Broadway. The complex had 32 of its 124 units reserved in January, giving it the region’s highest number of reservations for the month. Amenities such as a doorman, fitness center and indoor parking lot stoked demand for its condos, according to TL Metzger.
    Glens Falls entered the condo market last year with the 52-unit The Mills of Glens Falls and the 20-unit Crandall Square. Troy had mixed luck in the condo market, with the Power Park Lofts selling out in eight months. But the 48-unit Mooradian Lofts project got shelved because of poor sales, TL Metzger said.
    TL Metzger called Schenectady the region’s “sleeper,” with no new condo projects in the planning stages. By year’s end, Schenectady had the region’s smallest current condo inventory of 31, compared with 403 in Albany, 147 in Cohoes and 225 in Saratoga.
    Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen said most of the city’s revitalization efforts have focused on bringing jobs into downtown and it is just starting to attract residential developers.
    Gillen said developers might install apartments in MVP Health Care’s former headquarters on Liberty Street or the Foster building on State Street and later convert some units into condos.
    “It will take some time to get there, but we’ll get there,” Gillen said.
    Condos in Saratoga and Glens Falls ranked among the region’s priciest, fetching as much as $1.98 million and $950,000, respectively.

And who would actually move to Schenectady...on purpose? With it's high taxes, corrupt law enforcement and corrupt government? Actually, who would move to NYS 'on purpose? So who would move into these condos? Certainly not I.

I think that Rotterdam's going to beat them all out in MFRH...