At a city council meeting this month, I think I heard that someone had complained about “dead trees” in downtown Albany. With nothing better to do on a Saturday evening bike ride, I went looking for these trees.
Two buildings containing eight three-story townhouses are under construction in the 200 block of Southeast Third Avenue, the latest project by the Lepman organization to increase housing in and near Albany’s downtown.
Sandwiched between Pacific Boulevard and Seventh Avenue in Albany, there is a lot that is partially paved but usually vacant. On a recent Sunday I saw a food cart there, so I stopped the bike for a closer look.
Someone must have looked up from the street on First Avenue and didn’t like what they saw. Which may explain the email I got last week.
After a few days away, the bike and I returned to my Albany riverside beat on Monday and found that much had changed since the week before.
Every now and then, passersby get an indication that the work of saving and restoring the former St. Francis Hotel in Albany is going on inside.
Saving historic ‘Briggs Building’ downtown
A while back someone asked my why there was a giant tarp shrouding the front of a building in the 300 block of Albany’s N.W. First Avenue. The shroud was gone when I stopped the bike there Sunday, and everyone now can see the remodeling going on.
Tags: 333 NW First Avenue, Albany Downtown Association, Briggs Building, downtown, Main Street Grants