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.
Before this Covid-scarred year of 2020 is over, let’s not forget that a big development project supported by Albany’s urban renewal program has been successfully completed.
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 […]
CARA, Albany’s downtown urban renewal district, was created in 2001 and originally was scheduled to last until 2027. Now it’s expected to expire in 2033.
A new look at planned downtown project
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.
Tags: Albany downtown, ARA, CARA, Gerding Builders, Gerding Companies Inc., urban renewal, Wells Fargo branch