On Dec. 12, a pile of rubble remained at 139 Hill St. N.E., where a garage and warehouse had stood since at least the 1940s.
In news from the Albany riverfront, the old one-story garage and warehouse at the southeast corner of Water Avenue and Hill Street has been reduced to a pile of rubble.
With the help of a crew and two excavators, Joel Dahl of Dawled Up Construction spent eight hours last Saturday knocking down the building. He was under pressure to get the demolition done because of a city deadline.
In September Dahl had told me he had acquired the property. He said then he intended to demolish the building and construct four three-bedroom townhouses on the site.
The Albany Building Division had a “compliance case” going on the property started under a previous owner. In January, an inspector had noticed alterations that needed a permit, Building Official Johnathan Balkema told me.
After various extensions, the final deadline for making alterations in the building was coming up on Dec. 15. Fines of $1,000 a day would accrue after that if corrections were not made.
Dahl applied for a demolition permit on Aug, 2, according to city records. For some reason the permit was not issued until Dec. 1.
It’s not clear to me why the city would want to enforce building permit issues that arose under a previous owner when the new owner had applied to demolish the structure. Dahl told me he understood the city could fine him if the demo was not accomplished by the 15th.
He said he still plans on building four townhouses on the lot. When will he start that project? Sorry, I forgot to ask. (hh)
A wider view of the southeast corner of Water Avenue and Hill Street on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023.
“It’s not clear to me why the city would want to enforce building permit issues that arose under a previous owner when the new owner had applied to demolish the structure.”
This isn’t rocket science. It’s addiction and denial. City Hall is addicted to other people’s money and, like many addicts do, won’t change their behavior.
It looked like an easy $1,000/day score.
Like I said before, therapy is needed. But do Albany citizens care enough to conduct an intervention? Probably not.
@Gordon
How do we do that anony mouse?
Stop living and stomp around city hall?
You offer an easy answer. Zero plan. Flush
I don’t think I’ve read a post from Gordon L. Shadle that I didn’t agree with.
City Hall runs rampant with our money and when they can’t get us to agree to bend over and take it up the tailpipe, they simply add it another one of our monthly bills for other services. Class action comes to mind as a possible means to a caring intervention.