Town officials are shopping around for proposals to redevelop the town-owned Curry Road Shopping Plaza.
Three different proposals were presented to the town board June 28 and July 2 and 3 by local development firms.
The town acquired the 10-acre land parcel from the Golub Corp. for $1. The parcel still hosts the Golub Corp.’s print shop and Trustco Bank and abuts the Rotterdam District 2 fire station.
Supervisor Steven Tommasone said he wants to get the property back on the tax rolls as quickly as possible and expects to hold a meeting to discuss the town’s options next week. He hopes a final decision will be reached at the board’s meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 8.
It is imperative that we get this property back on the tax rolls as soon as possible, and more importantly put in place development that will be very attractive as this property is in the center of our town, Tommasone said.
All three proposals offer different uses for the property, but all three involve relocating the Trustco Bank and renovating ` if not relocating ` the Golub Corp.’s print shop.
Touhey Associates proposed relocating the Trustco Bank to align the building with Curry Road and build about 5,000 square feet of office or retail space. Touhey Associates would then like to build a 50,000 square-foot storage facility behind the office building. Touhey Associates operates various storage facilities in the Capital District including Spare Room 1 on Central Avenue, Spare Room 2 on Watervliet Shaker Road and Spare Rooms in Green Island and Glenville.
Columbia Development Companies and Polito Homes LLC proposed creating a mixed-use center with 94 condominium units, a portion of which would be reserved for senior housing. In addition, a portion of the land would be used for retail space, which would allow Trustco Bank to relocate and possibly have drive-through services.
Columbia Development Companies proposes to build a 9,000- square-foot professional building for medical uses and retail space. The remaining .27 acres would be subdivided and dedicated to the fire district to allow the firehouse to expand.
Traditional Builders and New York Development Group also proposed a mixed-use center with 2.5 acres dedicated to 30 condominium units, 2.5 acres dedicated to a professional building, 3.5 acres for a commercial building and 1 acre for a passive-use park.
The one dissenting voice on the town board, Robert Godlewski, has many concerns about all three proposals. He still believes the town should consider using the land to consolidate the town’s services by possibly building a new town hall and police station, which, Godlewski said, was the town’s plan four years ago when it purchased the land.
Rotterdam’s current town hall is 70 years old, according to Godlewski, and the town has no long-term facilities plan to manage its aging facilities.
Godlewski wants to see a referendum vote on Nov. 8 to let the public decide if the town should give up the land.
`Right now we are a real estate broker and that’s not the position the town should be in,` Godlewski said. `I wish the taxpayers would come to a board meeting so we know how they feel. I have no way of measuring that I don’t want someone to come back and say, why did we get rid of that land?`
Godlewski is also worried that each proposal involves relocating the Trustco Bank and the Golub Corp.’s print shop. He worries that it would cost the town too much in litigation to manage that.
`It’s easy to say we’ve got to put it back on the tax rolls, but what is it going to cost in litigation?` Godlewski said.
Tommasone said getting the Curry Road property back on the tax rolls is evidence that his administration is working to improve the town.
`I am looking forward to getting this project going and see it to completion,` he said. `It will show what our administration is all about, which is providing economic development opportunities and more importantly, redeveloping sites first.` “
