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.
Anybody hoping that Albany’s parking consultant would recommend building a downtown parking structure will be disappointed. Rick Williams, the consultant, recommends only “moderate upgrades” in the parking sytem because he found it to be working well.
The former St. Francis Hotel, a downtown landmark for more than a century, was mentioned twice at last week’s meeting of the Albany Revitalization Agency. That’s the city council when it acts as the agency governing CARA, the Central Albany Revitalization Area.
“My friends and I always wonder what they do to get the flower baskets downtown to bloom so profusely and get so big,” the email from Mandy Wilson said. “They are just petunias, right? We were also curious as to what they do with the baskets when the season is over. We thought maybe you […]
It seems like forever that the sidewalk has been torn up on the northwest corner of Broadalbin Street and First Avenue in downtown Albany. What happened, why is it taking so long to make repairs?
St. Francis project takes a step forward
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.
Tags: Albany downtown, ARA, CARA, St. Francis and Rhodes