[kznyc2k]

Saving Wellington Row facades may be difficult, developer says


The Business Review (Albany) - December 1, 2006
by Michael DeMasi

A little over a week after Columbia Development Cos. bought the so-called Wellington Row buildings on State Street in downtown Albany for $925,000, company officials got a firsthand lesson in how decrepit the properties have become.

A structural engineer who was part of a team touring the old Berkshire Hotel on Nov. 27 stepped on a section of the first floor and fell through a hole past his waist, said Columbia President Joe Nicolla. The engineer wasn't injured.

"We were far more careful of where we went after that," Nicolla said. "I don't know how the heck we would have got him out [because] there is no access still standing to the basement."

The walk-through was the first chance that Columbia officials had to closely inspect the five buildings that make up Wellington Row, which were purchased Nov. 17 from Sebba Rockaway Ltd., an overseas company that has battled with the city of Albany for years over the deteriorating conditions.

Sebba owed the city about $500,000 for emergency repairs and demolition that were done to the former Wellington Hotel in August 2004 and $480,000 in fines that were levied as a result of city code violations, according to the city's corporation counsel, John Reilly.

"We were not actively negotiating [the amounts owed] but we certainly had discussions at different times to try to resolve it," Reilly said.

As part of the purchase, Columbia agreed to pay the city $537,000 to satisfy the amounts owed for the fines and emergency repairs, Nicolla said. The city, in turn, dropped a $25 million lawsuit it had filed against Sebba Rockaway in an effort to recoup the money and for other unspecified damages.

"We wanted to ensure we recovered all of our outstanding costs," Reilly said of the settlement agreement.

A sixth building, the former Wellington Hotel annex on Howard Street, was included in the sale. Columbia wants to demolish most of the structures and build a $65 million, 14-story tower that would have 406,000 square feet of office space, 10,000 square feet of retail space, 15 residential units and parking for up to 400 cars.

Columbia Development was scheduled to go before the city Planning Board Nov. 30. The purpose is for the city to seek lead agency status for the project review.

Nicolla has said Columbia would try to save the facades of the former Wellington Hotel at 136 State St., the Elks Lodge and the Berkshire Hotel and incorporate the 19th century-era facades into the new building. Historic preservationists argue more of the original features can be saved, and intend to plead their case to the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Following the Nov. 27 inspection, Nicolla said it's too early to say whether even the three facades can be saved.

"As you start getting into some of these buildings, it's clear the deterioration has accelerated in the past few years," Nicolla said. "With winter coming, we're trying to evaluate it before another freeze-thaw process."

A $2.5 million state grant that was announced in November by Gov. George E. Pataki will help pay for asbestos removal and demolition. The grant will go to the city of Albany, which must provide a 10 percent match.

© 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.

[Lance]

The hell with the facades, anything new would be fine too.

If anyone is interested, the Hotel 74 on State St. looks to be opening before the end of the year. From the street it looks pretty interesting, and it's great to see a building abandoned for almost 10 years come back like that. Also the Red Carpet Inn by 787, for a long time the only alternative to the Crowne Plaza for downtown hotels, appears to have gone out of business.

[bpg88]

Also the Red Carpet Inn by 787, for a long time the only alternative to the Crowne Plaza for downtown hotels, appears to have gone out of business.

Sounds like the effects of the new Hampton Inn. Not sure what that says about demand for hotel space downtown. Of course we all know the Red Carpet was a dump, or at least looked like one from the outside. That thing needs to be demolished, ASAP.

The hell with the facades, anything new would be fine too.

I agree about the facades. You either save the buildings, or you don't. It is disappointing that we'll lose them, but ruining the design of the new building isn't going to make me feel any better about it. I'd rather not have some kind of tragic reminder every time I walk past.

[Lance]

I talked to some guests at the inauguration yesterday who said they stayed at the Hotel 74 and were quite impressed with it, so that sounds good. The Hampton probably did force the Red Carpet out, but that's a great exchange to make. Plus it's where the Convention Center is going to go, it's possible the authority bought the land or something. The Albany occupancy rate has held steady somewhere in the 70% area for the past few years.

[kznyc2k]

Do you guys think the hotel under construction out by the Albany Medical Center will affect downtown occupancy rates?

Look for a thread in the sub-forum that consists of picture updates on various construction projects.. and I think I'll have another Albany photo thread coming up.

[bpg88]

I don't the AMC hotel will affect downtown occupancy rates. I assume it will be targeting mostly patrons of the hospital and neighboring campuses. The downtown hotels serve an entirely different clientele.

[bpg88]

I stumbled across a Spring copy of "Downtown Digest" when I was sorting through my things. It says that the Red Carpet Inn is not closing, but being renovated by Holiday Inn Express. Not sure how accurate this is, being that it is from the Spring and says the renovations were expected complete by October.

[Lance]

That's quite interesting. It's been closed for 3 or 4 weeks now, and I have to say, I pass it at least twice a week, and I've seen not a hint of movement in it since it shut. I hope something happens with it, but given that's the future Convention Center location, it would not make a lot of sense to put much of anything into it now for a few years of operation, just to see it torn down. I work in the same building as the AC Chamber of Commerce, if I think of it I'll stop in and see if they know anything.

[kznyc2k]

Building the future while preserving the past

Albany, historic group are in talks with a developer over Wellington Row

By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, May 29, 2007

ALBANY -- For 10 years, architect William Brandow has walked to work past the five forlorn buildings known as Wellington Row.

Brandow -- a savior of old buildings by temperament -- looked beyond moldering columns, pigeon droppings and moss growing on lintels. He focused instead on two centuries of exceptional architectural history embedded in the derelict structures that command the crest of State Street hill in the shadow of the Capitol.

"These buildings show the evolution of Albany's most important street," Brandow said. "Wellington Row is where the wealthiest citizens of Albany lived in the early 1800s and it's where the street first made the shift from residential to commercial."

Here is where John Taylor Cooper, from the famed Coopers of Cooperstown, settled in a sumptuous town house at 134 State St. In 1832, he hired the noted architect, James Dakin, to remodel the 1820s house into a stunning Greek Revival residence befitting Cooper's social status.

Next door, the first two floors of the old Christian Brothers Academy bear remnants of a Federal-style town house built during the 19th century.

Similarly, at 140 State St., the defunct Berkshire Hotel includes a superstructure built around a Federal town house.

Over the years, instead of tearing down the residences, new commercial buildings were simply constructed above and around them, leaving the low-slung and ornate edifices embedded in the high-rises.

At 138 State St., the Renaissance Revival flourishes of the early 20th century Elks Lodge were created by the New York City architectural firm of M.L. and H.C. Emory.

"There's not a city in the world that wouldn't love to have those two buildings (138 and 140 State) next to each other, whether it be Paris or New York City," Brandow said.

In 2000, the Preservation League of New York State placed Wellington Row on its list of the most critical buildings across the state to be saved.

Last November, Wellington Row was bought for $925,000 by Columbia Development Cos. from London-based Sebba Rockaway Ltd. (which had paid $1.75 million in 1987).

Now, hopes are high among preservationists that the historic character of the buildings can be saved.

Columbia has proposed building a $60 million, 14-story office tower with street-level shops and condominiums. The Albany developer has said it wants to preserve the exterior facades of the Wellington Hotel and two other buildings.

Discussions are under way regarding specifics of the project between the developer, city officials and representatives of Historic Albany Foundation. Details of those negotiations are not being released, and Columbia officials were not available to discuss their plans.

"Keeping just the facade is one of my least favorite choices and the buildings would be much more stable keeping three walls as opposed to one," said Susan Holland, executive director of Historic Albany. "I'm an eternal optimist. I believe the city and the developers are very sensitive and will come up with a great project we can all support."

Brandow's boss, architect Jack Waite -- who has won historic preservation honors for his firm's work at Tweed Courthouse, Baltimore Cathedral, George Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and other historic structures -- feels a sense of urgency about Wellington Row's fate.

"We can't afford to lose those buildings. There's no reason they can't be saved," Waite said. "Wellington Row forms a very important part of the downtown Albany streetscape on one of the great streets in America in terms of intact architecture."

The site has been both a blessing and a curse for the city as far back as 1980, when the buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1986, the Wellington closed, bringing an end to a downtown fixture that had been home to generations of out-of-town visitors, University at Albany students and future governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki.

When Sebba Rockaway bought the Wellington and two other buildings, it announced plans to tear them down and to build a new office tower. The London developer and the city squared off and their battle raged for years, while the vacant, boarded-up structures continued to slide into severe disrepair due to the elements and neglect.

Mayor Jerry Jennings' 1994 Capitalize Albany plan, which featured a revitalized Wellington Row as the centerpiece of a tree-lined expanse of stores and outdoor cafes, receded further and further into the background.

With Columbia's new ownership, coupled with a $2.5 million state grant to assist stabilization of the cluster of buildings, a clearer picture of Wellington Row's future should emerge soon, said Michael Yevoli, Albany's commissioner of development and planning.

"The developer is analyzing the structural and economic feasibility of as much preservation as possible," Yevoli said. "Preserving and re-using the buildings back into the fabric of the street would be a win-win for everybody."

Architectural historian Walter Wheeler, who has for years studied Wellington Row out of personal curiosity, wants as much of the buildings as possible to be preserved.

"They're fine buildings with nice proportions, good scale, excellent materials and wonderful use of shadow and light," Wheeler said.

"To settle only for the facades is rather defeatist," he said. "I think we can do better than what you see in parts of Boston, where they preserved little four-story ciphers as facades fronting 40-story buildings. Those facades are token symbols that are basically meaningless."

[bpg88]

I think I have come to a successful conclusion on this whole situation.

Preserve the former Elks Lodge & Berkshire Hotel
Demolish the Wellington structure while preserving the facade
Demolish the remaining two buidlings and construct a new office tower, both in their footpront (including the vacant lots next door) and behind the Wellington facade.

Problem solved. :tup:

A 14-story building is going to look odd on that plot otherwise. The width would be too great, unless they were to create at least two separate, distinct structures.

[kznyc2k]

A quick blurb on the convention center in today's TU. Oh, and that line "could see costs go up" ? That's not a could, it's a "will definitely go up by 45%."


The keynote speaker at the BID luncheon was Albany Convention Center Authority Chairman George Leveille, who said the $200 million project could see costs go up 45 percent due to increases in construction costs since the original estimate in 2002.

The authority also has considered more expensive options since the design began, such as a pedestrian bridge over South Pearl Street to get to the Times Union Center. The authority is also considering tearing down a parking garage on Hudson Avenue to make room for the convention center, which will be west of Broadway and north of Madison Avenue, and to reduce the "barrier" affect of the garage.

Leveille said he hoped local residents would add input to future public hearings, saying, "We're imposing a large project on the community."