A massive fire Thursday night gutted a historic building on the former Kenwood Academy/Doane Stuart campus in Albany.
"We lost a treasure here. And it's, you know, it is challenging, it's frustrating. You know, we're... We've all gotten emotional about this, because this this, this was a beautiful, beautiful building,” said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who spoke with reporters Friday morning outside the burned out shell of the former Doane Stuart School on Mt. Hope Drive, created in 1975 when Kenwood Academy merged with St. Agnes School.
Albany Fire Chief Joseph Gregory says the department received multiple calls about the fire, which could be seen from miles away.
"The call came in at 6:26. Our units arrived at 6:33. They found a heavy fire condition throughout the structure," said Gregory. "We estimate the structure is about 100,000 square feet. Total. Fire was throughout. There was within minutes of our arrival, the steeple collapsed on the building. So that shows you how well involved the fire was at that point. Our firefighters did a phenomenal job in deploying and getting water on the fire. The total, we had 24 units on the scene. 51 members, 51 personnel from the Albany Fire Department were here. There was zero injuries to firefighters, which is fantastic news for us. And zero injuries to any civilians that we know of. The fire is placed under control at 10:23. So for the amount of the volume of fire that we had in this entire structure, that's a phenomenal job by our firefighters. So it took just under four hours to extinguish to get this fire under control and to contain it. “
Gregory says firefighters, who had to contend with a limited water supply and windy conditions, were joined by crews from Selkirk, Troy and Watervliet.
Sheehan says while it is too early to determine a cause, the main building of the complex was totally destroyed and other areas of the campus suffered damage as well.
"The chapel inside this building was stunning," Sheehan said. "I walked this building when we thought we had a development plan for it. This was a priority building, as far as wanting to get it into redevelopment, and there were a number of fits and starts, you know, unfortunately, but this was ultimately sold to Kenwood Commons LLC. And they did not follow through on their plans for redevelopment.”
Sheehan says the city had rezoned the property to accommodate mixed use development. Kenwood Commons' plans included creating condos and apartments. There was talk of an artist space, and some construction had begun, but was halted and abandoned in 2019. Tax delinquencies began "almost immediately."
Officials say the owner was ordered to remove debris and garbage inside and outside the building, which had been boarded several times. The grounds were cleared in August and an additional board-up was undertaken in December. The campus was part of a bankruptcy auction Tuesday. Sheehan points out that investigations are already underway.
“Once the hotspots are out, we'll have engineers come in, they'll make a determination as to what's going to happen next," Sheehn said. "We believe that the property was purchased, that there was a buyer at that, at that bankruptcy auction, whether they follow through with that bid now, given what has happened here is unknown to us. So unfortunately, the ownership status and the bankruptcy will continue to provide challenges to us in getting this property unwound and hopefully, into more secure hands.”
Doane Stuart did not reply to a request for comment. The school issued a statement Thursday night, saying “faculty, staff, administration, and alumni at Doane Stuart are heartbroken to hear about the fire at our old campus. It was an absolutely beautiful building and property that held years of memories for so many of us. Doane Stuart was a tenant of the property from 1975 until June of 2009 when we moved to our current campus in Rensselaer. Our thoughts are with everyone who is grieving the loss of this special landmark in Doane Stuart’s history.”
