A $38 million dollar building project along Route 20 is turning into an Albany eyesore. Officials are weighing in.
The 1211 Western Avenue development was hailed in 2017 as a way to help fill Albany’s vital need for housing. Instead, eight years later, the skeletal structure remains vacant, with construction waylaid by a lawsuit and a lapsed building permit.
The project has been beset by issues from the start, said Albany Common Councilor Tom Hoey, who represents the 15th ward where the dilapidated building sits. Initially intended to be student dorms, the project has switched hands, and somewhere along the way it transitioned into luxury apartments christened “Air Albany,” Those apartments were supposed to open this year, but Hoey says the construction permit expired in February.
What’s more, the project’s current developer, New York-based DMG, in May filed a lawsuit against one of the architects it hired, claiming that 1211 Western is not code compliant and thus unsafe. Neither DMG or the architect returned requests for comment.
Hoey placed the blame with the developer. "DMG is the main corporation right now that's running the 1211 project," said Hoey.
Ahead of the June 24th Democratic primary, Albany Mayoral candidate and current Chief City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs, whom Hoey says didn't help stop the project from moving forward, recently called on DMG to tear the building down.
"We have to approach this project in the same way that we approach a lot of our blights and the vacancies in our neighborhoods. In terms of homes, we have a lot of absentee landlords, and we have to hold them accountable," said Applyrs. "Gone are the days that you can purchase a property and sit on it and just let it rot out our neighborhoods, or even in this case, start to develop a project and things go wrong, and you walk away. You. Us, and that eyesore becomes the problem of our residents and our city. It's unacceptable.”
Applyrs noted 1211 is nowhere near close to completion, its permits have expired, its PILOT is about to, and the lawsuit will only complicate completing the project or selling the property.
The other three Democratic mayoral candidates say the stalled project must be addressed: Albany County Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin is demanding answers.
"Western Avenue, that is a very busy corridor up there," McLaughlin said. "You've got opportunity there with SUNY and with the business community, Stuyvesant Plaza, a few feet away. But people are wondering what is going on up there? Why isn't there some progress being made. Do you want to build it or not? Are you going to move forward or not? Is anybody getting any information?"
Common Council President Corey Ellis says, "the project has gone South" - and if elected he said he’s prepared to take action.
"You would love to see that building being torn down by the owners, because obviously they're, they're not going to be able to finish it. As mayor, I would look into my powers, what I could do as mayor, if it's still there, if there's no plan by that time I'm a sworn in as mayor. So I would look at every legal option I have to deal with that building," Ellis said.
Businessman Dan Cerutti characterized 1211 Western as "a five-year fiasco" that is going to have to be taken down.
"It's overhangs the street. It's two stories higher than safe, than the fire trucks can get to. The west side of the building, you can't get a fire truck in there next to the Picotte building. So it violates too many codes, and now I believe it has mold in it, plus the companies that are now behind it have run out of money and stopped work. So unfortunately, I think it's one of one of the city of Albany's big mistakes, and we have to get it down and move forward," said Cerutti.
Responding to a request for comment, Capitalize Albany Corporation issued a brief statement saying, in part, “officials are aware the project’s construction permit has not been renewed.”
