Albany’s real estate shift
Albany’s downtown is rightsizing, says a story in the Albany Business Journal. Vacant properties have been demolished, and many commercial buildings have shifted to apartments. Over 1,700 apartments have been built since 2012 or are in the pipeline for the downtown area and warehouse district, the story says. The commercial vacancy rate has dropped 9% as property owners try to figure out what mix of office and residential is needed, post-pandemic.
Alternative prison closes
The Moriah Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility has closed, and some state lawmakers are wondering why the state did not wait to study changes in the programming at the facility, a story in the Post-Star says. Lawmakers hoped to change it from a boot-camp-style facility with a focus on physical exercise and discipline into a facility to treat substance abuse, the story says. The state shut it down to save $142 million. Lawmakers believe the facility, with its alternative to traditional incarceration, could have been a part of the governor’s commitment to change the prison system.
APA approves cell tower
The Adirondack Park Agency approved a 101-foot telecommunications tower in northwestern Saratoga County, the Daily Gazette says. The town of Edinburg on the shores of the Great Sacandage Lake, had approved the tower in February. The tower will stand about 10 feet above the treeline on Fraker Mountain. A similar tower, 250 feet away, sticks up 20 feet, the story says.
Former HR head files suit against Saratoga County
Marcy McNamara, the former head of human resources in Saratoga County, claimed in a civil rights lawsuit against the county, that she was “subjected to a hostile work environment" because of her gender, a story in the Times Union says. She lays the blame on County Board Chair Todd Kusnierz who created the poor environment and then fired her when she complained, the story says.
Saratoga Lake condos move forward
The Malta Town Board forwarded a plan for condominiums on Saratoga Lake to the town’s Planning Board as part of the legal procedure, according to a story in the Times Union. They made the move though they also wondered about the Planned Development District’s public benefit, a requirement of PDD proposals. Legally, the proposed development goes first to Planning for an advisory opinion and then goes back to the town board for the final say. Also at issue is a road, and who owns it, on the property.