The former Wells Fargo bank in downtown Albany is to be demolished and the site offered for sale to a developer who would build apartments.
Albany’s long-planned Waterfront Project comes up for a public hearing next week, not on the merits of the project itself but on the method of getting it built.
Hopes of rebuilding the former Wells Fargo Bank branch in downtown Albany by adding three floors of apartments have been dashed by the rising cost of construction.
Plans for Albany’s riverfront call for improving crossings on the Water Avenue rail line, opening new ones and closing others. But the new or improved crossings won’t have to be protected with automatic arms.
Gerding Builders expects to follow through on its plan to turn the former Wells Fargo Bank branch in downtown Albany into a commercial and residential complex. That was the gist of part of Wednesday’s session of the downtown renewal advisory board.
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.
Razing 300 W. First: Three bids received
Three contractors from the Portland area submitted bids to demolish the former downtown Albany branch of the Wells Fargo Bank at 300 W. First Ave. The bids, opened Nov. 15, ranged from about $239,000 to nearly $385,000.
Tags: 300 W. First, Albany urban renewal, ARA, demolition, redevelopment, Wells Fargo