St. Francis

CARA wants to buy a downtown property

Written October 21st, 2018 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 17 responses.

Albany’s urban renewal agency will try to buy a downtown property. They don’t want the public to know which one, but it sounds like the building and parking lot of the former Wells Fargo branch on First Avenue.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: CARA, St. Francis, Wells Fargo

Students offer daring downtown designs

Written December 7th, 2016 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 12 responses.

Architecturally speaking, downtown Albany would be a more exciting place if there was a way to carry out any of several redevelopment designs worked up by students at the University of Oregon.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany-UO partnership, post office, St. Francis, Sustainable Cities Year, Water Avenue

St. Francis: Another study coming

Written September 14th, 2016 by Hasso Hering

Comments: 6 responses.

What are the chances of a successful hotel being developed in downtown Albany? Conventional wisdom says zero to none. But maybe the conventional wisdom is wrong. And come winter, business students at the University of Oregon will try to answer the question in a systematic way.

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany downtown, CARA, St. Francis, U of O Sustainable Cities Year

What’s next for the St. Francis?

Written October 14th, 2013 by

Comments: no responses.

The former St. Francis Hotel in downtown Albany was 101 years old this year. The question now is whether there’s a chance of restoring the vacant upper floors of this four-story landmark — and the adjacent Rhodes block built in 1907 — as apartments or partly as a so-called “boutique hotel.” A team of architects […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany's CARA, historic preservation, St. Francis