$250M Rensselaer waterfront project gets underway

Pieces of the former junior-senior high school in Rensselaer, N.Y., fell to the ground today, the ceremonial start to a $250 million to $300 million residential, retail and office development along the waterfront.

The demolition of the school will clear a 24-acre parcel that a developer intends to turn into a marina, promenade and 1.28 million square feet of condominiums, townhouses, stores, offices and hotel space called de Laet's Landing.

The project, expected to be built in stages over eight to 10 years, will transform a gritty part of the city off Broadway near the Amtrak train station into a luxury mixed-use development with views of the Albany city skyline across the Hudson River.

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"It's going to be astounding," said Jeff West, vice president of U.W. Marx and of Marx Properties Inc., in Troy.

The marketing materials depict a horseshoe-shaped harbor with yachts and sailboats; a large hotel with a rooftop garden; a curving, multi-story office building and tree-lined boulevards fronting boutique stores, offices and upper-floor residences. (A note warns the artist's rendering "may not be depiction of actual site.")

The development is named for Joannes de Laet (pronounced DELAY), a geographer and one of the founding directors of the Dutch West India Co. in the early 1600s. The land where the proposed development sits was called de Laet's Burg when it was claimed by explorer Henry Hudson for the Netherlands, according to Marx Properties.

A cornerstone for the junior-senior high school was laid on the property in 1969 and thousands of students graduated from there since then. Several years ago the land was sold to Marx Properties as part of a complex deal in which a new school campus was built elsewhere in the city. The 550 students were moved to the new buildings in January.

City and school officials said that while it was sad to see the demolition of the old junior-senior high school, they were looking forward to the new waterfront development.

"This starts the revitalization of Rensselaer," Mayor Dan Dwyer said.

Al Picchi, general manager of Realty USA, the exclusive commercial and residential broker for the project, said the housing would appeal to workers who commute to downtown Albany, first-time buyers and empty-nesters who want maintenance-free living.

With 630,000 square feet of residential space, 250,000 square feet of Class A office space, 165,000 square feet of retail and 236,000 square-feet for a hotel, it's the largest single project Realty USA has brokered in upstate New York, and perhaps the biggest it has ever done, Picchi said.

Although the national housing market is struggling and the local market has slowed, Picchi said demand is still relatively good.

Realty USA agents will be pitching the retail space at this week's convention of the International Conference of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas, the largest retail real estate convention in the world.

The credit crunch in the commercial lending market could hinder the project somewhat, West said, but the company owns the land debt-free and will focus initially on just 200 residential units, 90,000 square feet of retail and 360 parking spaces.

The target date for initial occupancy is fall 2009.

Meanwhile, the city of Rensselaer plans to beautify the street that will be the main route to the property from the Interstate 787 off-ramps.

A $7.2 million upgrade of Broadway should begin next year, including new sidewalks and street lights, followed by a $2 million rehabilitation of the Broadway Viaduct bridge, said Marybeth Pettit, city planning director.

The city is also in the process of assembling parcels to create a bike path along the waterfront connecting Rensselaer to Troy, she said.