The City of Schenectady was awarded more than $50 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act. Leaders have used the money to balance city budgets and fund community projects. But not all projects have moved forward according to plan, and some are at risk of losing the funding.
With $52 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding received, the Electric City has used the money to plug budget gaps caused by city revenues lost during the pandemic, as well as fund long-awaited municipal improvements.
Here’s Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy at a groundbreaking for a new swimming pool in the city’s Central Park in May. The $10 million project is being funded by ARPA dollars.
“It’s a great story for Schenectady. It’s a great story of the partnerships. It’s a great story of the progress that’s happened within this community, and the value that we’re adding in this park,” said McCarthy.
Millions have also been allocated to community-based projects.
After a call for applications, Schenectady’s city council in 2022 selected 33 initiatives to share more than $25 million in ARPA funding. But strings were attached. Recipients must meet contingencies set by the council. And some projects have needed more time.
“So this is the Frog Alley building, Bountiful Breads is here, SUNY Schenectady occupies some space…”
Eric Johnson is President of the Electric City Food Co-op. He’s leading me on a tour of a part of downtown Schenectady that’s going through a major overhaul, with new construction towering over lots torn down to brown dirt.
“This part of Schenectady between the General Electric plant and the downtown district has had a lot of blighted buildings. They’ve been adding a lot of these very high-end apartment buildings, which we’re kind of walking by, and they’re all at 100 percent occupancy. So, there’s obviously big demand for people to move into higher-end apartments,” said Johnson.
Established a decade ago, the Electric City co-cop has about a thousand members. Since the pandemic, the co-op has been trying to build a 12,000-square-foot full-service grocery store.
The Electric City co-op worked with Albany’s Honest Weight Food Co-op with hopes of developing a store at a former office complex. Those talks fell through after the city school district purchased the Liberty Street property to use for administrative offices earlier this year.
The search continued, and Johnson says Electric City is now eyeing a vacant county-owned property, here, in the redeveloping downtown, where there hasn’t been a full-service grocery store in two decades.
“This site came available to us, I think it was maybe six months ago, it became an opportunity for us. And because a decent portion of our funding is from ARPA grant money, federal recovery grant money from COVID, we're on a pretty tight timeline to secure the site so that we do not lose access to those funds,” said Johnson.
Under federal ARPA rules, the money has to be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. Schenectady County has pledged $3 million in ARPA funding to build the grocery store. The City of Schenectady allocated $1 million.
But the co-op, without a site nailed down, was required to ask the city for an extension on the ARPA award. In September, the city gave the group until March to finalize a location, or it would have to return the money.
Johnson says the co-op is waiting on the county to finish redeveloping the site.
“There's a desire to go up more levels. We're just looking for a grocery store. So, they're looking for a developer that would want to add more to the piece of real estate to get more tax base and, obviously, hedge any risk of a downtown grocery store not succeeding. So, there's a desire to bring it up some levels. And there's some question as to whether that land down there could even support a multi-level building,” said Johnson.
The Electric City Co-op recently launched a corporate sponsorship campaign to continue raising money for the grocery store project, and Johnson says the team has also begun work on readying a capital campaign.
But Johnson says he’s unsure if the grocery store can become a reality if delays cause the city to take back its $1 million ARPA commitment in the spring.
“Yeah, it’s a hard question, I mean, we’ve certainly counted on this ARPA funding to date, our financial plans have counted on that. And I think we have had some fatigue within our board, with belief that this is the last, best effort, but I have to believe there is demand for a grocery store in downtown Schenectady. The private sector isn’t willing to offer that, so the only solution is a cooperative solution,” said Johnson.
The Electric City Food Co-op is not the only Schenectady ARPA project granted an extension from the city council.
“So the building will probably start right where this playground this, go all the way back…”
The YWCA of NorthEastern New York, which has called Schenectady home for 135 years, is planning an expansion. CEO Kim Siciliano shows where the YWCA is planning to build its Harbor House project, behind its headquarters in the historic Stockade neighborhood. Supported by a $750,000 ARPA award from the city, Siciliano says the YWCA wants to keep the Harbor House shelter close by.
“We have access to our counseling department, our housing department, and a lot of other services that people need when they first move in. So we really want to keep it close to home,” said Siciliano.
Through its network of community services, Siciliano says the YWCA assists more 10,000 people a year.
YWCA’s main building in Schenectady houses 42 women. Next door, there are 13 residents. YWCA also manages 24 apartments across the city. The three-story Harbor House project will add 54 units, including family units and office space.
Speaking inside the main building, Siciliano says YWCA is also looking to perform upgrades on the structure that’s stood on Washington Avenue for 95 years.
“And so, it started out with a two-phase project. One, getting the new building and moving everybody there, and then renovating this building. Now, we’ve settled on applying for a 4 percent tax credit project, with getting both buildings done at the same time and relocating our clientele for a period of time until we can move them back in, and that’s the Harbor House dream,” said Siciliano.
In addition to the $750,000 in the city’s ARPA funding, YWCA’s massive housing project is relying on several other grants before ground is broken, including more than $8 million in state grants, and a $1 million federal grant.
With a complicated web of funding sources, Siciliano says the city granted YWCA an extension to bring everything together by June.
“Our hope is that all of these important projects that so much of the community is behind will continue to receive the support from the city and and not kind of have to find other alternatives. When we've been working so hard to gather all the money that we currently have. So, we don't want to lose that momentum.”
But if things take too long, and if the stipulation agreement with the city cannot be met, Siciliano doesn’t think it would doom the project.
“We try to be a really good neighbor and the Stockade has always been good to us. And so, you know, we want to make sure that the city, the Stockade, and this community has the YW as a resource. As I said 10-15,000 people come to our doors every year. And the only way for us to continue to serve those people is to expand because there's so much need right now,” said Siciliano.
Another long-awaited project, the restoration of the Carver Community Center was also granted an extension. In September, the city council voted to modify the conditions of a $100,000 award for the Schenectady Community Action Program – a homelessness prevention organization.
No new major ARPA awards have been announced recently, though some projects have had funding pulled. A $2.5 million ARPA award to the proposed Capital Region Aquatics Center was revoked after the facility relocated from Schenectady to the neighboring community of Rotterdam.
Mayor McCarthy identified around $7 million in ARPA funds for the 2024 annual budget.
