On a stroll in downtown Albany the other evening, the buildings on this corner caught my eye. They show off the efforts of downtown owners to upgrade their buildings with the help of urban renewal.
Now that the downtown streetscape project is winding down, Albany’s urban renewal agency will have to decide what to do next. One potential idea: Put on a push to improve the neighborhood east of Lyon Street by rebuilding the streets and upgrading the houses that need it.
If the Albany Eagles lodge comes up for sale, the city’s urban renewal agency would be interested. That’s the gist of a discussion among members of the Central Albany Revitalization Area advisory board Wednesday night.
George Diamond says he’d like to continue building units at Edgewater Village near Albany’s Willamette riverfront. And now he can. The advisory board of CARA, the downtown urban renewal district, Wednesday approved a change in a loan agreement that will allow the developer to obtain millions in private bank financing to continue construction.
Enough about the weather! Let’s consider, instead, Albany’s urban renewal effort, which has been inching along ever so slowly for years and, despite considerable achievements so far, remains far from reaching its stated goals.
Half a dozen blocks of downtown streets are going to be dressed up to make them look similar to First Avenue at a cost of $1.4 million, according to what I heard about a decision by the Central Albany Revitalization Area advisory board.
If people have gotten lost and turned up missing in search for the sights of downtown Albany, I’m not aware of it. But just in case, the downtown urban renewal program is going to put up “wayfinding” signs.
Albany’s downtown renewal program hopes that loans of a few thousand dollars will encourage people to buy severely blighted houses dating from 1945 or earlier in the east-side historic district, spend at least $40,000 on renovations, and commit themselves to live there as owners. And if they wanted to renovate the exterior, they’d have to […]
Edgewater Village is a planned residential neighborhood that everyone hopes will rejuvenate Albany’s riverfront on the Willamette. The hope is there, along with new sewer lines and new streets, but the first house has yet to be started. The public has an interest because CARA, the city’s urban renewal program, has spent $2.4 million on […]
Albany downtown: The riverfront next?
So what comes next for CARA, the central Albany urban renewal district? Mayor Sharon Konopa has an idea, and she mentioned it Saturday at the completion ceremony of the city’s two-year downtown streetscape project.
Tags: Albany urban renewal, CARA, riverfront, streetscape project, Water Avenue