A Latham development firm will receive more than half million dollars in tax breaks on continued development at the intersection of Route 9R and Columbia Street Extension.
ADD Development and Management was before the town’s Industrial Development Agency Monday, Jan. 28, seeking $537,000 in tax relief.
However, at least one resident was wary of awarding a Colonie hotel such a break considering the number of hotels already in the town and a looming $8.5 million town deficit. The proposal also drew the ire of newly appointed IDA members, who, except for one member, were Democratic appointments under the newly elected administration in Colonie.
I feel we have so many hotels in Colonie, and I would like to know how many vacant rooms are in these hotels today, asked Gloria Knoll of Albany Shaker Road, who owns 13 acres adjacent to the Times Union building. Knoll, who said she would like to develop affordable housing on her parcel, said she doesn’t like the idea of giving tax breaks to another hotel in the town and instead favors town action geared toward developing mixed-income housing in Colonie.
`I feel we need to somehow put money into a land trust. We don’t have the money (for this tax break); we are $8.5 million in debt. I think they can afford to pay this,` said Knoll shortly before agency members voted to approve the tax relief.
ADD took over the defunct retail center at the intersection in early 2006.
After whittling down its original proposal to build and reaching an agreement with town planners on traffic issues, the firm got the go-ahead to construct a 6,800-square-foot, six-story, 126-room Holiday Inn Express. As part of the proposal, the firm has been redeveloping the retail center overlooking Alternate Route 7, and plans to add two restaurants to the site.
`We look forward to being a integral part of the community, and we are creating a lot of jobs right now,` said John Grabau, a consultant with ADD.
The firm estimates that, in two years, the revamped facility will create 54 new jobs and put the busy corner back on the tax roles. The new facility will be the latest in national design standards of the hotel chain, said Grabau.
However, the firm’s numbers were unsubstantiated, said new agency board member Ken Champaign. For one, Champaign said, the revenue that the firm based the tax breaks on was assuming the hotels would be at full capacity, rather than the standard 60 percent occupancy rate in the town. He also questioned how many new workers would be be employed at the hotel, taking into account that the same company could be closing the Holiday Inn down Route 9 and essentially bringing those jobs to the new site.
Champaign said the tax relief application, which had been before the IDA in December, seemed `pushed through` and was acted on with `very little oversight,` he said.
Despite his concerns, Champaign and the five IDA members present, voted in favor of the tax break.
Grabau said that the firm would like to have construction completed by the 2008 Saratoga track season, he said.“