View Single Post
  #156  
Old Posted May 20, 2008, 2:51 PM
kznyc2k's Avatar
kznyc2k kznyc2k is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Back to Boston
Posts: 1,865
Columbia Development proposes $15M building near Albany Med

The Business Review (Albany) - by Michael DeMasi
Friday, May 16, 2008

New Scotland Avenue near Albany Medical Center would look much different in four years under plans being pursued by the hospital and Columbia Development Cos.

A host of projects on the drawing board or recently completed will add tens of thousands of square feet of medical, office and retail space to the street between Holland and Madison avenues.

Separately, Winn Development of Rochester has finished the first half a $13.5 million, block-long renovation of 18 rundown homes nearby on Knox Street in the Park South neighborhood. The units are being converted into 47 apartments for income-eligible residents.

"There's a lot going on there," said Michael Yevoli, the city's commissioner of development and planning.

The biggest piece is the $360 million, six-story expansion that Albany Medical Center wants to build at the corner of New Scotland and Myrtle avenues.

The expansion would boost the hospital's capacity from 631 to 747 beds to meet a growing number of admissions. The addition would be linked through a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridge to a new, 1,750-space parking garage on the grounds of the Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Albany Med is seeking permission from the state Health Department for the project. If approved, it would be built by 2012.

Even with the planned expansion, the hospital needs more administrative space off the main campus, said Greg McGarry, spokesman.

As a result, Albany Med is negotiating to lease space in a five-story, 77,000-square-foot building that Columbia Development would build at the southeast corner of Myrtle and New Scotland avenues. The hospital doesn't yet know the amount of space it needs, McGarry said.

The $15 million, five-story building would be constructed at 22 New Scotland Ave.

A medical office there, Capital District Dermatology, would be demolished and the practice moved to 147 S. Lake Avenue to make way for the new building, said Columbia Development President Joseph Nicolla.

Parking for the new building would be provided in the hospital parking garage or elsewhere on campus.

The Albany Board of Zoning Appeals has granted variances because the building lacks on-site parking and wouldn't meet setback requirements from the street, Yevoli said. The city planning board was set to review the site plan May 15.

Columbia Development last year opened a 129-room Hilton Garden Inn across from the hospital that includes a restaurant, Starbucks and bank on the ground floor.

The company is also pursuing an 80,000-square-foot to 120,000-square-foot mixed-use development on the east side of New Scotland Avenue between Myrtle and Dana avenues. A row of houses and other properties would be demolished.

The tenants in the new development could include Rite Aid, Nicolla said, replacing Chazan Pharmacy across the street.Columbia Development bought the land where Chazan is located and Rite Aid purchased the business, he said.

"We'll have, in pretty short order, cleaned up everything all the way down past Morris Street," Nicolla said. "Then we have some plans for another potential building between Morris and Dana avenues next to Stewart's."

http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2008/05/19/story7.html?b=1211169600^1635915
Reply With Quote