A local developer plans to build a nine-story, mixed-use office and apartment building on a vacant downtown Albany lot.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s office confirmed that First Columbia LLC intends to include office space, apartments, a restaurant and a plaza at a lot (705 Broadway) at Clinton Square, a 102,000-square-foot building that would become the city's first new office tower in two decades.
“We are very excited about the new proposal for Broadway in Quackenbush square. And there is a large empty lot that there was a plan for it. Unfortunately, the developer was not able to bring that plan to fruition. And now we have a proposal for new class A office space with a tenant and jobs so feet on the street as well as residential and so it's a really exciting project,” Sheehan said.
Executive Director of the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District Georgette Steffens says the mixed-use project is the perfect post-pandemic blend of high-quality office space, residential living and entertainment offerings, connecting Clinton Square with downtown and the Warehouse District.
"We haven't had any new residential projects that have taken place since the common council made the legislation for inclusionary housing, so they increase the requirements for inclusionary housing, and we haven't seen any market rate, any new market rate apartments really happening in the city. And so we're excited. We know there's still lots of pent up demand for market rate housing, and we're excited that First Columbia is really going to be including all of that in this new project," said Steffens.
Developing the site has been in the works for some time. A complex dubbed "The Amos at Quackenbush Square" was posed in 2005 but never got off the ground. In 2017 and 2019, city records show some work for a development was intended to include both residential and retail space, as well as underground parking. That plan also fell through, and the parcel is now held by First Columbia.
Sheehan said "Our planning department has been working with the developer to move them through the process. But it really finishes Clinton Square. We were the recipient a number of years ago, of a downtown revitalization initiative, $10 million to really focus on that gateway into the city.”
The city planning board is set to review the plan next month. First Columbia did not return calls for comment.
