The historic Hotel Wellington in downtown Albany should be history by the end of this month.
During the next few weeks, workers using a high-reach excavator stretching more than 150 feet high will claw away at the block-long, narrow brick building between State and Hudson streets, tearing it down in chunks.
The demolition will remove a hotel that has stood downtown since the early 1900s but in more recent years sat empty, a symbol of blight and decay.
It’s one of five buildings that make up Wellington Row on State Street, an area just steps from the state Capitol, whose deterioration has been a source of embarrassment and frustration for city officials for two decades.
The demolition marks the end of a $6 million-plus, yearlong effort by [CompanyWatch allows you to receive email alerts with stories related to your companies of interest. <p>You can watch up to ten companies at a time.</p>] Columbia Development Cos. in Albany to selectively remove portions of Wellington Row and prepare the site for a 405,000-square-foot office, retail, residential and parking complex that blends old with new.
The total estimated project cost, including the demolition, is $65 million.
Joe Nicolla, president of Columbia Development, is negotiating with several lenders to jointly finance construction, which would begin in early 2010 and take two years to finish.
Plans call for a new, 14-story tower anchoring the development, though the size could change.
Nicolla is trying to convince local bankers there’s demand for new Class A office space near the Capitol, even if there’s now excess supply downtown and rent growth is flat.
“Believe it or not, there’s an awful lot of interest from people inside and outside this community to be in this location,” he said.
He predicted some tenants would move from existing offices downtown, but the majority won’t already have a presence in the central business district. He said it’s unlikely the state will be a tenant, given the clampdown on spending.
Even with a big portfolio of successful projects, including office buildings, hospital expansions and hotels, the credit crunch is forcing Columbia to be more creative with its underwriting.
“It’s not like three or four years ago where one bank would say, ‘I’ll do it myself,’ ” Nicolla said. “Now we have to reach out to four or five banks and make sure we have a project that everybody is satisfied with.”
Nicolla himself had to reach consensus about the project after historic preservationists objected to the original designs.
After buying the properties for $925,000 in November 2006, Columbia Development announced plans to save the facades of three of the five buildings, including the former hotel, and tie them into the new office tower.
The [CompanyWatch allows you to receive email alerts with stories related to your companies of interest. <p>You can watch up to ten companies at a time.</p>] Historic Albany Foundation pressed for all of Wellington Row to be preserved, since they are all located in a local historic district and listed on the [CompanyWatch allows you to receive email alerts with stories related to your companies of interest. <p>You can watch up to ten companies at a time.</p>] National Register of Historic Places.
Columbia Development insisted that wasn’t feasible, in part because of the low ceiling heights in the former hotel and the varying floor levels of the adjoining buildings. The two sides compromised, and the city [CompanyWatch allows you to receive email alerts with stories related to your companies of interest. <p>You can watch up to ten companies at a time.</p>] Historic Resources Commission approved the concept.
Susan Holland, executive director of Historic Albany Foundation, has been tracking the work and taking pictures as the structures have been slowly dismantled and removed.
“It looks to me they’re doing exactly as they intended to do and what we agreed on,” Holland said.
Portions of two buildings on both sides of the hotel are being saved and incorporated into the new development.
The facades of 132 and 134 State St. to the east of the Wellington, and the Elks Lodge and Berkshire Hotel to the west, have been preserved. Behind the facades, all but the first 50 feet of each of those buildings has been torn down.
Columbia Development will demolish all of the former hotel except for the decorative limestone facade, which will be taken apart, catalogued and stored. The facade will be reassembled and attached to the front of the new office building.
The selective demolition, handled by Jackson Demolition of Niskayuna, started last year. It has taken six to eight months longer than anticipated and has been costlier than estimated (the removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials is being subsidized by a $2.5 million state grant).
Three factors drove the delay, said Michael Arcangel, project executive for Columbia Development: The amount of asbestos between the walls and floors was substantially more than expected; the structural makeup of each building was radically different because of the number of additions; and excessive rain this summer.
“It was a constant, day-to-day battle,” Arcangel said. “Every day we discovered something.”
mdemasi@bizjournals.com | 518-640-6814
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/st...2035121&page=1
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