Galesi again-what a shocker! And more condos that no one wants. Retail? Right like at Robinson's Square.

     BTW, The Source is right on the money. Take another look at Van Vranken Ave the block the Gazetto stooges stated was undergoing "renaissance". Two restaurants empty-back to back and belly to belly.

Galesi is already ducking and hiding because they know they are guilty on this deal! Condos will never sell at City tax rate. The only chance is if Metroplex makes them tax free.

57 acres for only $500K!!! WOW! Now let's see what the plex gives them. Oh, I mean what 'we' will give them! And isn't that still considered brownfields? If it is, who is going to pay to clean that up?

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Waterfront seen as key in future revitalization
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    When the former Riverhouse Restaurant in Glenville went up for sale five years ago, Pat Popolizio saw a vision of waterfront revitalization flash before his eyes.
    The shabby building on the edge of the Mohawk River — a 19th century broom factory — had seen better days. And like many areas of the river, the waterfront was so overgrown with scrub vegetation that it was virtually inaccessible from the shore.
    “You could hardly walk through the grass,” the restaurateur recalled Monday. “The waterfront itself you couldn’t get to.”
    But in the property, Popolizio saw a diamond in the rough. He saw boaters pulling into slips at the restaurant for a quick bite to eat and diners enjoying cocktails overlooking the river; he saw volumes of untapped potential.
    The building was fully restored, an outside patio and bar was constructed and a dock was built. Now the restaurant called the Water’s Edge Lighthouse stands as an example of how waterfront areas can be reclaimed, restored and then utilized for both recreation and business.
    Popolizio, like many attending the waterfront development conference at Schenectady County Community College on Monday, sees even more promise for the Mohawk in the future. With projects like the proposed multimillion dollar redevelopment of the sprawling American Locomotive plant in Schenectady, he foresees a riverside that will serve as an example of how long-neglected shorelines can be incorporated back into communities.
    “In the next 10 years, the shores of the Mohawk are going to change incredibly and become a showcase for other cities,” he said during the conference. ................>>>>...................>>>>..........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00904&AppName=1

right next to a nuclear reactor

there is a nice sign about something being operated by RPI

it is the small white square building near the rivers shore near the storage yard

next they will want free electricty

Does Schenectady really believe that boaters will want to come into the City for the day? And do what?

Schenectady has neglected neighborhoods, taxpayers, schools and businesses. Sure, there are plenty of bars but a walk outside of the the Proctors golden pathway is not pretty. Even Jay street at night would not be a safe walk for many. Half the street is inhabited by numerous child molestors (a quick check on the NY State website will attest to that fact).

There is no Renaissance taking place in Schenectady, just a bunch of unused buildings being given away to friends of Metroplex yeilding no tax revenue. Unless activity bordering on nepotism and borderline criminal tax evasion is a Renaissance.....Viva la Schenectady!

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Demolition to launch former Alco site rehab
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    One of the most ambitious economic redevelopment projects in Schenectady County’s recent history is about to begin at the site of the former American Locomotive Co. on Erie Boulevard.
    The Galesi Group, which owns the 60-acre parcel along the Mohawk River, expects this month to begin demolishing many of the structures — some call them landmarks, some call them eyesores — on the property, once the heart of the city’s booming locomotive manufacturing industry. The buildings scheduled to be demolished include the foundries, boiler shops and forge, the machine and erecting shops.
    The demolition will launch a proposed $200 million rehabilitation of one of the oldest industrial sites in the county. The $200 million represents a maximum buildout investment over many years.
    Thousands of locomotives — steam, diesel and electric — were built at the site beginning in the mid-1800s. So many, in fact, that Schenectady was once known as the “City that Lights and Hauls the World.” (General Electric did the lighting.) Now, these buildings themselves will be hauled away.
    As envisioned by the Galesi Group, this prime land along 1.5 miles of Mohawk River waterfront will contain condominiums, offi ce space with space for research and development companies and a marina.
    The cleanup will involve the removal of thousands of tons of contaminated soil and debris. Galesi will use the state’s brownfield program to help pay for the work; the program provides tax credits to redevelop blighted properties. The amount Galesi will receive is yet to be determined.
    Supporters say the project has the potential to greatly expand the local tax base, increase sales tax revenues and create jobs, in addition to cleaning up a site contaminated by years of heavy manufacturing.
    It also will erase a signifi cant legacy of Schenectady’s industrial past, according to the Alco Historical and Technical Society, which wants to build a museum to commemorate the achievements of the locomotive manufacturer.
STS WORRIES
    It will also land-lock a thriving steel fabricator, STS Steel, which has operated at the site for more than 20 years, said company owners worried about their future. Once the project is completed, STS Steel will be surrounded by zoned mixed-used development with no ability to expand beyond its present footprint in Building 304, which the
company owns.
    Glenn Talbolt and Jim Stori, owners of STS Steel, said they are concerned about the future of their company on the Alco site. “The question is, ‘Can we grow?’ That is in limbo,” Stori said.
    The company had been leasing an adjacent building on the Alco property, Building 322, which stretches the length of Erie Boulevard, to handle an overfl ow of work. Galesi did not renew the lease when it bought the property earlier this year for $500,000 from the Schenectady Industrial Corp. Galesi also agreed to pay back taxes amounting to approximately $1 million on the property. “Without that building, that hurts our growth,” Talbolt said.
    STS also has a long-term lease on a strip of land in front of Building 322. It recently acquired a prime contract to provide steel for the Fulton Street Transit Station in New York City. The company employs 65 people.
    Stori and Talbolt said they have assurances from Galesi that their company is welcome to remain at the site. “We will trust that Metroplex and Galesi will recognize the significant contribution we make to the economy,” Talbolt said. “They always said, ‘you are important and a good employer.’ ”
    The owners said no other existing building in the Capital Region meets their needs, which is a large building containing cranes capable of lifting up to 75 tons, and they definitely want to remain in Schenectady County. “Our business needs to grow, and we are waiting to see what happens,” Talbolt said.
BIG POTENTIAL
    David Buicko, chief operating officer for the Galesi Group, has high hopes for the Alco redevelopment project, calling it a huge transformation for the county. “All of the sudden you have waterfront living in the city with the benefi ts of Proctors, restaurants and easy access to work. It will be one of most premiere locations in the Capital Region,” he said.
    Some of the larger employers in Schenectady County — Ellis Medicine, Golub Corp., General Electric, MVP, Union College, among others — are within several miles. “If people want to live on the water, it is not a bad commute. You can walk or bike to work,” he said.
    Buicko also thinks the development could be home to some of the people expected to be working at the GlobalFoundries chip manufacturing plant in Saratoga County once it is up and operating. “It’s only 20 minutes away.”
    Buicko said STS will remain on the site, and Galesi will establish a buffer to screen it from the rest of the redevelopment.
    Ray Gillen, chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority, fully supports the redevelopment. “The site is dirty. Cleaning it will improve the environment and health in Schenectady County and will protect our water supply as the site is in an aquifer recharge zone.”
    Gillen cites the Galesi Group’s track record in Schenectady County — it owns several industrial parks as well as property in the city’s downtown — and the cleanup and redevelopment of the former Big N plaza at Maxon Road and Nott Street as proof the Erie Boulevard project can be accomplished.
    “Look at what we did at Big N, look at that site today,” Gillen said. The site is home to the Golub Corp. headquarters, which houses 725 employees in a state-of-the-art building.
    The Big N site once was part of the sprawling Alco complex, which covered land between the Mohawk River to an area slightly beyond Maxon Road. The area also includes the former Ramada Inn, which Union College purchased and converted into student housing.
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
    Using state brownfi eld program funding, Galesi processed some 10,000 tons of contaminated material on the nine-acre former Big N site. The project took about three years.
    Schenectady is not alone in having to deal with former Alco properties. Alco formed in 1901 with the merger of eight smaller locomotive manufacturers, including the Schenectady Locomotive Works, which had built locomotives at the Erie Boulevard site since the mid-1800s. Alco disappeared in 1985 with the sale of its remaining assets.
    The Schenectady plant closed in 1969 and was purchased by a private consortium, which leased it to General Electric for many years. In its final years, the site was called the Nott Street Industrial Park.
    In the mid-1900s, Alco had plants in several states in addition to one other site in New York. It was the second-largest steam locomotive builder in the United States for years and for a while was the pre-eminent diesel locomotive builder.
    Some communities, like Richmond, home to the former Richmond Locomotive Works, one of the core companies to create Alco, have successfully converted former Alco sites into business parks. The Richmond site houses a Bowtie Cinema, which also operates on State Street in Schenectady.
    Some are still seeking to find a use for their former Alco sites. In Providence, R.I., a developer in 2006 proposed a $333 million project to convert the former Rhode Island Locomotive Works, another of the original companies to form Alco, into a mixed-use development. It withdrew from the project several years later, and a second developer took it up and has since scaled it back. The new developer recently secured fi nancing from Rhode Island’s housing agency, helping make the project more affordable.
    Galesi, with support from the county and Metroplex, has secured state grants to help with the Erie Boulevard project, including a $4 million grant from the Restore New York program.
    Schenectady County is also seeking funding from the Capital District Transportation Authority to expand the bike-hike trail through the Alco site. The site is also eligible for inclusion in the state’s Excelsior Program, the successor to the Empire Zone Program. The Excelsior Program provides incentives to firms that create jobs and promote investment in key industries like biotechnology, pharmaceutical, high-tech, clean-technology, green technology, financial services, agriculture and manufacturing. .................>>>>.....................>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00900&AppName=1

Great proposal .. can't wait for it to be built.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Great proposal .. can't wait for it to be built.

And why?   Can you explain why Schenectady "needs" more housing?  What would you plan to do with all the existing vacany houses?

Quoted from mikechristine1

And why?   Can you explain why Schenectady "needs" more housing?  What would you plan to do with all the existing vacany houses?

So people from the suburbs can move downtown and get their kids enrolled in the wonderful Schenectady City School District.

Quoted from mikechristine1

And why?   Can you explain why Schenectady "needs" more housing?  What would you plan to do with all the existing vacany houses?

So I guess you would prefer to see the ALCO site remain dormant and unused for another
40 or so years?    

But WHY housing?   Why housing when there are too many vacancies already?

Why not a Walmart, just think, ample amount of land, plenty of parking, on several bus lines.   Why a shopping center?    Why doesn't the city, county, and plexi seek out these big retail businesses, Lowes as a store in Glenville and one in Nisky.  We have an HD by the Crosstown, an HD could move in there.

OK, there's a Walmart just a little ways down.  But gosh, they could have built a store there that overtake the GUilderland store as the biggest in the world.  An frankly, locating it there would be excellent, they sell things cheap and that's that the low income people in the city need.  

Hey, the people that live near downtown want a supermarket.  Price Chopper is getting it's taxes paid by the city homeowners, why doesn't it open a supermarket down there, right near their corporsate office.  That should satisfy everyone who wants a supermarket down there.   How about a Barnes and Noble there, and a Christmas Tree shop.  Schenectady could really use a fabric store.

How about just getting it ready for some industrial use.  Hey, Doesn't Amsterdam have both a Walmart and a target distribution center.  Try to get a Sears/Kmart distribution center here.

Better yet.  Open an auto racing track there.

The LAST thing that is needed in this city is more housing

Because the brilliant city/county government leaders think that people will ACTUALLY move there. People from outside of schenectady county are tired of driving here to work! People who work outside schenectady county are NOT going to move to a city where crime
is  rampant, taxes are the highest, properties are in shambles and THERE ARE NO JOBS!!!

Hell, even most city/county officials don't live in the city OR the county! And it would be interesting to see exactly how many city/county officials are sending or have sent their kids to the 3rd most dangerous school in the state!

No one moves to schenectady on purpose UNLESS....they are looking for an abundant welfare handout program.

Now there is something interesting bumble.  They moved those state offices to downtown.  Come on, those are darn good paying jobs.  I'm not saying good paying because of the stereotype of high paid state workers, but while there are the low paid clerks and the like, there are for sure engineers, planners, accountants, managers, regional liaisons to their main location, they are paid easy like $75,000, $100,000 or more.

In exchange for our tax money bringing these state offices here, can we get some figures as to how many of those employees moved to Schenectady, bought houses here, send their kids to public schools, etc?

DVOR.....can you provide the answer to that?

Quoted Text

Hey, the people that live near downtown want a supermarket.  Price Chopper is getting it's taxes paid by the city homeowners, why doesn't it open a supermarket down there, right near their corporsate office.  That should satisfy everyone who wants a supermarket down there.   How about a Barnes and Noble there, and a Christmas Tree shop.  Schenectady could really use a fabric store.

mikechristine1,

Word on the street is that Golub is looking at building a Price Chopper at that location.  You are correct that there is an abundance
of vacant housing in both the city and surrounding areas.  As the properties sit empty and decay, the areas are becoming rife with
poverty and crime.  Retail should be brought to the empty storefronts on State Street.  No need to create additional strip malls that will,
over time, become vacant and decaying eyesores.  Without residents having disposable income, retail will struggle.

My proposal has been for a Technology Park to be built at that site.  Surrounding counties all have such a park to attract employers that offer full-time career opportunities that pay decent salaries and offer benefits.  The work to clean up the brown field and to install
the necessary infrastructure (roads, water, sewer, high speed connectivity, etc.) should be done.  Shovel-ready building sites should
be prepared.  But, attracting new and long-term employers to the City of Schenectady is too difficult for those on the county's economic development team (Metroplex et. al.).  Doing so requires knowledge, experience, and initiative.  It is much easier for them to "play chess" with the employers who are already located in Schenectady County, tearing them from one township and moving them to the city.  Net gain to the county ... zero.  Little in created employment, increased tax revenues, or demand for real estate.

A tech park, like that in Rensselaer (actually North Greenbush) should be developed.  I understand that the Rensselaer Tech Park is owned by RPI.  Residents have long-term leases.  National companies (GE, Verizon, MetLife, MapInfo, etc.) invested in that location.  Perhaps, Union College should make an investment in the Alco site.  If the community "leaders" had some vision, they would take actions that would attract decent and permanent jobs to the county and provide employment to our educated young people.  Instead, they build bars, restaurants and non-profits.  The city and the county need leaders. While Saratoga County grows, Schenectady County slows.