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.
From the fourth floor of the old St. Francis Hotel, you have a fine view of downtown Albany and beyond. You could see even farther from the roof.
Several members of the Central Albany Revitalization Area advisory board want the urban renewal agency to give financial support to restoring the former St. Francis hotel and adjacent Rhodes building. But after Wednesday’s meeting of the board, just how much the agency would pay was still unclear.
Architect Bill Ryals’ concept of the restored St. Francis Hotel with a roof-top restaurant and diagonal parking on Ferry Street.Renovating the former St. Francis Hotel in downtown Albany would cost $10-11 million, and when it’s done it would be worth $4-5 million. This means that for the project to go ahead, the CARA urban renewal […]
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.
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.
A new plan to save the St. Francis and then some
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.
Tags: CARA, historic hotels, old buidlings, old city hall., Scott Lepman, St. Francis, urban renewal