The coming closure of the College of Saint Rose campus in Albany will leave a huge void in the heart of the city.
The November 30th board of trustees decision to shutter the private school sent shockwaves across the city.
Now that the announcement has sunk in, residents, students and staff are scrambling to make plans for what happens when the college closes soon after May’s graduation ceremonies. Among the questions surrounding the future of the private campus is what will happen to more than 80 buildings the college owns in Albany’s Pine Hills neighborhood.
Sixth District Albany County legislator Sam Fein would like to see the University at Albany, which has its roots in the area where Western and Washington Avenue meet, acquire some or all of the Saint Rose campus. The Democrat suggests relocating UAlbany’s Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy there, enabling it to avail itself of a larger campus, a newer library, additional student housing and expanded facilities.
"I think it's just a natural fit," Fein said. "It's an existing campus that's really integrated so well, into the fabric of the city, it's less than a mile from UAlbany's downtown campus. I actually attended Rockefeller college, graduate school, which is at SUNY downtown campus. It's a top ranked national university, but it's a very small campus. And I think expanding to the Saint Rose campus would allow UAlbany to really move to the next level that help them attract more students and faculty from outside the Capital Region, really from around the country in the world. And, you know, be good for the city of Albany as well to keep this campus as an academic in an academic setting."
A UAlbany spokesman tells WAMC it’s too soon to speculate on what, if any, role the University might play in the future of Saint Rose’s facilities. Adding that it will work with area partners.
Speaking with WAMC, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says vacancy is not an option for the Saint Rose campus. “We don't want it to get mothballed, sit there, rot and then turn it into an eyesore or a problem in the community. We need to address this issue quickly. There's people that have reached out that have a lot of interest in the property. It's finding that right interest,” said McCoy.
Fein says even short-term vacancies would hasten loss of businesses and jobs, decreasing residential property values and city property tax revenues.
"My hope is putting this out there will get the conversation started. Start to build public support for it. And I think it's likely that we'll see this start, you know, these conversations start to move forward," Fein said.
McCoy, a fellow Democrat, says those conversations have begun. “Working with Mayor [Kathy] Sheehan's office, I'm going to be working with Saint Rose and President [Marcia] White. We jumped in right away. We said maybe there's things we can do to take our footprint in downtown Albany and put our buildings back on the tax roll and move into there and find the right use. It's finding the right use working with the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association, the residents that call their home there, and seeing what the next step is going to be going forward,” McCoy said.
During a December 6 meeting of CANA, The Council of Albany Neighborhood Associations, Pine Hills Neighborhood Association President Dannielle Melendez said it’s important to mitigate the impact the closure will have on businesses, neighbors and community organizations.
"We want to avoid any vacant or unused properties, and that's very crucial to us. We believe that we think the right path forward is through community collaboration and involvement," Melendez said. "With that said, on January 18, we are going to have a community roundtable to kind of just discuss as neighbors and as an association, our thoughts about the closure, what we hope to see in our neighborhood, and just to share as a community."
Fein says the fate of the campus is critical to protect the integrity of Pine Hills and the stability of the city of Albany.
