As Albany County looks to develop the former College of Saint Rose campus, community leaders want to ensure they are at the table.
The Pine Hills Land Authority's Board of Directors recently voted 5 to 1 to commence talks with Albany County. It’s a move that clears the way for the county’s intended purchase of five buildings on the 26.5-acre former college campus.
The lone dissenting vote? Pine Hills Neighborhood Association President Dannielle Melendez.
Board Member Carolyn Keefe tells WAMC the neighborhood association wants more community engagement and outreach and would like the Land Authority to move more deliberately in its redevelopment efforts.
"We are not looking to object to things just for the sake of objecting to them. We want this to be a thoughtful, robust community engagement process, because there are many people in our community who would have things to offer, and we just want to let the process work itself through. And we do appreciate everything that the county and County Executive McCoy have done, but we do, we also think it's really important that we not short circuit the planning process," Keefe said.
Albany County in March completed a $41 million sale of the former college campus, leasing it to the county-controlled Pine Hills Land Authority.
Some county offices, like the Veterans’ Bureau and a Sheriff’s satellite office, have already moved in. Unlike downtown, the campus offers ample parking both on site and on the street. McCoy promised more departments would follow.
In the meantime, the county is now looking to buy five of the 70-some buildings, with plans to accommodate restaurants, apartments, doctors’ and attorneys’ offices, and a senior center on the sprawling campus, according to County Executive Dan McCoy.
"The library, the gym, the Massry Business School and the Hearst Media Center and the president's office. So, you know, as you know, we're making movement, we're doing things, so it's going to go in the right direction. Hopefully we have some really big announcements in the next month or two with some other people that we're working with. You're going to see a mixed use there," McCoy said.
Wary of the campus becoming fallow, ala the Central Warehouse demolition or Kenwood/Doane Stuart properties, McCoy insists county involvement in the project should not be paused, stalled or delayed.
"The city didn't want to bid on it. Capitalize Albany didn't want to bid on it. This is the best alternative. Or, you know, what you'd be seeing right now? Fire sales, buildings being burnt. Vagrancy issues, homeless issues, drug issues. We've kept the security intact. We had the sheriff move in there, we've taken this very serious. And then you got to remember, I got issues on the federal side of the house, that this President has cut a lot of services. The state's going to come back in the fall and decide what they're passing down to the county. So while I have the money and while I have the opportunity to flip this very quickly. I'm under a gun. I hate to say it that way, because this can't cost the taxpayers money. I can't raise taxes for it," said McCoy.
But Keefe says the neighborhood association has concerns about some of the county’s intentions, and she urges the land authority to complete a redevelopment plan before any properties are sold.
"There is a lot of office space on the Saint Rose campus. It is not clear to us why the sheriff's department has to go in the Hearst Center, which has really unique spaces for a variety of different potential uses, including filmmaking, audio recording and video game production. And some of the people who may want to use that space may feel uncomfortable just being in a building with the sheriff's department, even though there are no deputies there, and even though it's office space. So it's not clear enough why that office space can't go to, be put in a different building and leave that for a potential Arts Incubator or other potential use for the arts. I know that there have been many discussions. Nothing is finalized, but part of that is because we haven't really gone through a process that would make that more possible or more likely," said Keefe.
McCoy said "I get it, but the people, you know, in the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association aren't paying for this. We are listening to them, don't get me wrong, and we're working with them, but it's not going to be, you know, they think they're going to have a say what's coming in or not coming in. We're definitely taking their input. But I'm trying to make this work so it's so it's a balanced project. At the end of the day, I have an obligation to the taxpayers of this county. I have an obligation as a steward of this this county, to make this work and not have to raise taxes and make people pay for it."
