Before this Covid-scarred year of 2020 is over, let’s not forget that a big development project supported by Albany’s urban renewal program has been successfully completed.
Just a reminder that many Albany restaurants, ordered by the state to close their dining rooms, are trying to survive the corona panic by serving take-out meals.
It will take a few years and millions of dollars, but if things happen as intended, the former St. Francis Hotel and adjacent Rhodes Building in Albany will become a downtown showplace once again.
The city of Albany has finally made public its plan for the old St. Francis hotel building downtown. The plan is to buy the building from the printing company that owns it, and sell it to Marc Manley, who with his wife Anni owns and restored the Flinn Block farther east on First Avenue.
CARA, Albany’s downtown urban renewal district, was created in 2001 and originally was scheduled to last until 2027. Now it’s expected to expire in 2033.
Two-way streets downtown? Forget about it!
Turning First and Second avenues in downtown Albany into two-way streets is not in the cards, not now and probably never, judging by what the city’s Traffic Safety Commission heard this morning.
Tags: Albany downtown, Albany traffic, First and Second, one-way streets, two-way streets