The Albany County Executive’s office is advancing plans to purchase five buildings on the former Saint Rose Campus, despite public opposition.
Although a final decision on whether Albany County can buy the buildings or not, has not been determined, Albany County Sheriff Department signage is posted on the front entrance of the Hearst Communications Center.
That’s a sign the county may be moving ahead with plans to more permanently occupy the campus, even as the formal process to develop the 26.5 acres in Albany continues.
Joanne Cunningham, who chairs the Albany County Legislature, told WAMC it is important for the county to move quickly.
“We’re the owner of those bonds, the county, Albany county, the taxpayers, all of us. So now, the heat is on for the county to say ‘OK’, Pine Hills Authority has got their job, they are going to think about how to use this,” Cunningham said.
In March, the Albany Pine Hills Land Authority bought the former campus using $35 million in bonds.
An additional $5 million in bonds was also issued after the fact to manage the property, bringing the total amount of bonds to $40 million.
M&T Bank is the purchaser of those bonds, which are backed by Albany county.
In a statement Friday, Michael Whalen, M&T Bank regional group manager for government banking, said the bank is grateful to have been selected by the Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority to assist in the acquisition of the former campus.
The county will be making funds available in its annual county budget to pay the debt service.
On Thursday, the county’s Audit and Finance Committee voted 7 to 2 in favor of advancing a request made by County Executive Dan McCoy to purchase five buildings on the former 27-plus acre Saint Rose campus from the authority.
The buildings slated are the former Neil Hellman Library, the Events and Athletic Center, the Hearst Center for Communications and Interactive Media, the Huether School of Business and the former Administration Center.
During the committee meeting, the County’s Director of Operations, Michael Lalli, laid out the county’s plans for the five buildings.
“The Neil Hellman library is currently vacant, that building, along with the Events and Athletics Center we applied to New York State for a $14 million BRICKS grant to create a community center,” Lalli said.
He said the administration center would be used for administrative and budget offices, and that Huether and the Hearst buildings would be used for County Sheriff’s offices.
Since the committee approved the request, it will now move to a final vote by the County Legislature on November 10th.
A county spokesperson declined to answer questions Friday and said more information about the potential property purchases will be available early next week.
After Thursday’s vote, Cunningham said McCoy will continue to evaluate which county departments are best suited to move into the five buildings.
“That process is going to take awhile though, but I think the goal is have the county assume ownership (which) means we then can start planning in a more methodical way,” Cunningham said.
The vote comes as residents await a November report from the Pine Hills Land Authority on potential development plans for the campus. Neighborhood advocates have called on the county to pause all property purchase plans until that report is complete.
The report will take into account public input from three meetings held by the land authority over the last few months.
At the last public meeting Wednesday, a presentation detailing five potential plans was shared.
Each of the plans displayed a map of the campus and showed a mix of uses, with recreational buildings, green space, educational developments, government service buildings and single family, institutional and senior housing.
After the meeting, Nick Mazza, who chairs the land authority, said the entity could pick one of the concepts as the final plan.
“We will pick one of those five. Very likely, or a modification it may be six but who knows. But yeah, I think ya know, we’ve put a lot of time and effort into this we’ve had three community meetings a website, interactivity and so on and so forth. I’m very comfortable with where we are at and very likely a final plan will reflect what you see tonight,” Mazza said.
In each of the plans, a southwest portion of the campus is labeled as “Government Service.” And, included in that portion are the Hearst Communications Center and Huether School of Business.
“There is an agreement in place already, that’s been approved, that allow(s) the county to occupy some of these buildings,” Mazza said.
Some residents, like Carolyn Keefe, of the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association, had concerns after the presentation.
“Well, I was a little concerned that they did not seem to have any options for the buildings that the county wants to buy, like anything beyond what the county wants for them because the point of this was to assess every building and to get a real feel for all of the options for every building and the fact that that does not appear to be included in what they presented today is a bit of a concern, but we’ll see what the final report shows,” Keefe said.
While Mazza says he has heard that some residents may not want government buildings:
“I’ve heard that they don’t want government, my question is why,” Mazza said.
In addition, Mazza says the Pine Hills Land Authority’s final report is just another name for a final plan.
“No action will be taken until November 18th, but that is when a final plan could be adopted,” Mazza said
