CARA – Hasso Hering

Riverfront project includes work on crossings

Written November 20th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 13 responses.

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.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany riverfront, ARA, CARA, rail crossings, Walker/Macy, Water Avenue, Waterfront Project

A new plan to save the St. Francis and then some

Written October 21st, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 10 responses.

Scott Lepman, the Albany real estate investor and developer who has tackled several big restoration projects, has come up with an even bigger one. His organization will save the former St. Francis Hotel downtown and also restore the former city hall building if the urban renewal district, CARA, will help him lower the financial risk.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: CARA, historic hotels, old buidlings, old city hall., Scott Lepman, St. Francis, urban renewal

Lift your eyes to the tangled web overhead

Written October 12th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 5 responses.

We rarely lift our eyes to notice what’s overhead. Try it sometimes, and you might be amazed that the bewildering arrangements of electrical and communications lines actually still seem to do the job.

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: Albany alleys, CARA, overhead utilities, overhead wires, underground utilities, urban renewal

City’s public EV charger about to open

Written September 28th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 3 responses.

You may be surprised to learn, as I was, that this is National Drive Electric Week. Sophie Dykast at City Hall mentioned it when she told me that Albany’s first city-sponsored electric vehicle charging station will open to the public tomorrow, at 8:30 Wednesday morning.

Posted in: Bicycling, Commentary, News
Tags: CARA, downtown Albany, electric charging station, EV chargers, Pacific Power, Sophie Dykast

A new look at planned downtown project

Written September 16th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 33 responses.

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.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany downtown, ARA, CARA, Gerding Builders, Gerding Companies Inc., urban renewal, Wells Fargo branch

Developer pulls out of St. Francis project

Written September 15th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 2 responses.

An Albany developer has dropped his plan to renovate the former St. Francis Hotel and adjacent Rhodes Block, but the idea of the restoration itself may not yet be completely dead.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany revitalization. downtown renewal, CARA, Historic buildings, St. Francis, urban renewal

Downtown EV charger looks ready to use

Written September 4th, 2021 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 6 responses.

The last few times I passed the CARA-sponsored electric-vehicle charging station in downtown Albany, the device was still shrouded in black plastic. But Saturday night, the plastic was gone and the thing looked ready to be used.

Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Albany downtown, CARA, charging station, downtown charging station, EV chargers, JC Penney