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Schenectady DSS headquarters to be sold for $200K
Sale is part of plan to relocate staff from Nott Street to Broadway
Wednesday, December 12, 2007By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter


SCHENECTADY COUNTY — The county plans to sell the Nott Street headquarters of the Department of Social Services to a developer for approximately $200,000, officials revealed during Tuesday night’s Schenectady County Legislature meeting.

The sale is part of a broader plan to relocate DSS staff and offices from Nott Street to a building at 797 Broadway. The Legislature Tuesday night approved a 20-year lease on the Broadway building with owner the Galesi Group. The lease begins in January 2009 and will cost the county approximately $16 million over its term.

Ray Gillen, county commissioner of economic development and planning, said the Legislature is expected to discuss the Nott Street sale at a future meeting, possibly in January.

“This is big news,” Gillen said. “The parcel will be put back on the tax rolls.”

Gillen said the building will be razed. The site is prime property, located across Nott from Union College and near the planned headquarters of the Golub Corp. on the site of the former Big N.

Gillen would not reveal the name of the proposed purchaser, saying the deal is still in development. However, majority Democrats anticipated the sale at least as early as October when they discussed amendments to increase revenues in the county budget for 2008.

Their amendments included the sale of $1.2 million in county property. They said $1 million would come through the sale of 20 acres at the county airport to Fortitech, a local vitamin company, to build a distribution center and research facility. There was no discussion of the source for the $200,000. Both Democrats and Republicans developed their budget amendments in caucuses closed to the public.

County officials consider the Nott Street building obsolete and a health hazard.

The building, a former school dating to 1875, houses 80 county staff members and the DSS administrative and child support units. Staff members see between 60 and 75 clients daily.

The county now plans to relocate the Nott Street DSS offices and staff, plus several smaller county agencies, to 797 Broadway, the former Schenectady International building.

The county will rent a 47,000-square-foot building and 200 parking spaces on the property, which also contains an 83,000-square-foot building. The county does not plan to use the larger building immediately, but it may expand into it at a later date, county officials said.

The county will pay maintenance and utilities on the 797 Broadway building and will have first option to buy it during the 10th, 15th and 20th years of the lease. The average yearly cost of the lease over 20 years is $16.99 per square foot.

Galesi bought the property for approximately $761,000 in October from Uncle Sam’s House, which operates programs to help veterans in the Capital Region. Galesi will install major mechanical and plumbing equipment, including boilers and chillers, and will prepare the building to meet county requirements.

Galesi also plans to stabilize a slope behind the building that suffered two minor collapses. Stabilization will involve flattening the slope and installing drains to quickly remove water in the soil, identified as causing the instability. The cost is estimated at more than $1.2 million.

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Slope project to cost $1.5M
Former SI site will be converted to DSS offices
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY COUNTY — Schenectady County plans to spend $1.5 million in federal and private money to clear and stabilize the steep slope that overlooks Broadway as part of the project to convert the former Schenectady International site to social services offices.
The county will buy three properties at the top of the slope in the Mont Pleasant section and demolish them, then cut the pitch of the slope and improve its drainage. The county proposes to spend $275,000 for the properties, which averages out to $91,666 per structure. It will then stabilize the hill behind 797 Broadway, using a $1.3 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The properties consist of two homes and one business at 601, 602 and 606/610 Bluff Road. Bluff Road is near First Avenue, overlooking Broadway from the southeast side. The work should begin by early summer.
County DPW Director Joe Ryan said the work will involve shifting tons of earth to flatten the slope and improving drainage. County officials say the slope is safe, but portions of it continue to crumble. In January 2004, a combination of heavy rains and frost caused a 250-foot fissure to open up along the hillside. The crack prompted city officials to condemn two houses overlooking Broadway on First Avenue and cost Schenectady more than $50,000.
The Galesi group is providing a match of $309,425 to the project, bringing the total to $1.5 million. Galesi is purchasing the former SI building, to renovate and rent the building to the county under a contract worth $16 million over the 20-year term.
The FEMA grant will not be used to purchase the building or for renovations, county officials said.
County Manager Kathleen Rooney said the county will accomplish the slope work “without expending any local taxpayer money. Without this grant, it is unlikely that this site would ever be developed.”
County Attorney Chris Gardner said the three homeowners have signed documents to sell their houses to the county. “The owners at the top of the hill are happy. Unless something is done to fix the long-standing problem, their properties are unmarketable,” he said.
Galesi Group head David Buicko said the company is “excited to continue our long-standing relationship with both the city of Schenectady and Schenectady County and are looking forward to another successful project.”
Galesi plans to invest an undisclosed sum to redevelop the vacant 158,000-square-foot former SI factory complex. The work is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2009. Several county Department of Social Services offices will be located there, including the current headquarters on Nott Street.
Rooney also said Galesi will put the complex back on the tax rolls. The buildings lie within the Empire Zone, meaning Galesi receives reimbursement from the state for payment of full local property taxes.
The county proposes to rent 47,000 square feet of the complex, which consists of two buildings, and may eventually take over the second structure. The site contains 200 parking spaces.