One company that saw potential in Rotterdam’s dilapidated Curry Road Plaza four years ago will likely realize its vision after a bidding process shakeup left it as the sole bidder.
The Rotterdam Town Board on Wednesday, Oct. 10, heard Forum Industries President Andrew Sciocchetti, who outlined plans for the blighted 12-acre site that include razing existing structures and constructing four new buildings. Two retail and office buildings, with one at 2,500 square feet and the other at 4,000 square feet, would face Curry Road in Rotterdam. Two, three-story buildings would be built behind the commercial front, total 120,000 square feet and hold 180 senior apartments.
Town Supervisor Harry Buffardi said he is anxious to see the property get back on the tax rolls and be redeveloped.
“It has been languishing there for 25 to 30 years,” Buffardi said. “This is town owned property, we got trees growing out of the roof.”
The board is expected to vote on Forum Industries’ $20 million investment proposal at its Wednesday, Oct. 24, meeting. The company is the only remaining bidder interested in the property, which has remained largely vacant after Kmart left more than two decades ago.
Highest bid withdrawn
Columbia Development Companies had submitted the highest proposed purchase price at $1.2 million, far more than Forum’s $375,000 offer.
Town officials had called for bids in June and only two official bids were submitted by the July deadline. Two more bids had been turned in, with one bid delivered to the wrong location and another arriving shortly after the deadline, but the town attorney tossed both out on legal grounds.
The Town Board was expected to pick Columbia’s bid, but the company withdrew its bid on Oct. 3 in a two-sentence letter to the town clerk. The letter did not explain the reason for the withdrawal.
Calls requesting comment from Columbia were not returned.
Buffardi, however, has said Columbia wasn’t able to purchase the adjacent Palma Lumber property because The Golub Corporation recently bought it. Columbia’s proposed project, though not detailed in its bid, included purchasing the adjacent property, according to Buffardi.
“It is pretty clear that Columbia came in for purposes of a larger development there,” Buffardi said. “They were working on securing those properties under contract … and when they couldn’t do that, obviously their interest level dropped.”
Mona Golub, a spokeswoman for the Golub Corporation, said the company has been planning to buy the Palma Lumber property all along in anticipation of redevelopment there.
“Our acquisition of the Palma Lumber parcel preserves our interest in the redevelopment of the plaza that we have been working on for nearly three years,” she said.
She added the company has worked with town officials and Sciocchetti over the last three years after Forum Industries first expressed interest in the Curry Road Plaza. The Palma Lumber property “might well play into” redevelopment efforts, she said.
“We still own three parcels in the property and negotiated an agreement with Andrew Sciocchetti and the town in order to accommodate his plan,” Golub said.
The town acquired the Curry Road Plaza property from Golub, but there remains a deed restriction disallowing any business competing with Price Chopper to be developed at the site. A competing business would be allowed on the adjacent Palma Lumber property just purchased by Golub, however.
Columbia has not disclosed whatever plans it had for that Palma property, but the developer has worked with ShopRite on all four of the company’s Capital District stores. After Columbia’s withdrawal, the town was left with Forum’s lesser proposal.
“The $1.23 million was very attractive and the idea they were going to come in and purchase other properties was attractive,” Buffardi. “It influenced me, that was a big number.”
Last bid standing
After taking office, Buffardi said he met with Sciocchetti and liked Forum’s proposal. Buffardi said Forum is now the high bidder and he will let the board decide if it wants to award the bid and close the months long process.
“This project has been languishing for years,” Buffardi said. “We can accept it, or reject it. … I have an idea what I am going to do.”
Councilman Robert Godlewski urged for the board to call for bids again, with the hope of attracting a bid higher than Forum’s price point.
“We need money,” Godlewski said. “I find no reason not to rebid that project.”
Of the two late bids received by the town, Luizzi and Brothers Contracting, Inc., offered $1 million. The company proposed up to 190 multi-family units, with 40 units set aside for senior housing and eight for corporate rental. Tanglewood Development Corporation offered the least money at $200,000.
Buffardi argued the cat has been let out of the bag.
“Because everybody knows the number now, things change,” he said. “I think it would be unfair to the town, they are going to come in with different numbers because of that.”
When the Rotterdam IDA sent out an earlier request, Forum’s bid was $15,000 less than what is offering now. Buffardi does not believe any seven-figure bids would surface in another bid.
“It is pretty easy to predict,” he said.
Focus on Forum
Forum Industries first expressed interest in putting senior housing at the Curry Road Plaza property in 2007. Its proposal has remained mostly unchanged beyond the addition of the two retail buildings.
Sciocchetti said the company was originally attracted to the site because it was flat and large.
“This came across and it seemed to fit our model of location,” Sciocchetti said.
Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen was pleased to see a deal is on the table.
“(Sciocchetti) had the vision to see past the old retail stores that are there shuttered,” Gillen said. “We need more senior housing options for our seniors, so that they stay in Schenectady County.”
Gillen said there are a significant number of seniors in Rotterdam and he hopes they’re excited about the project. He added developers looking to construct senior housing can’t afford to pay too much for property, and the property’s appraisal matches Forum’s offer exactly.
“That is what it is worth to me and to our project,” Sciocchetti said. “Obviously, based on some of the other numbers that came in, it is worth more to someone else if they can do what they want.”
The Whitney Capital Company LLC, of Lake Success, would develop the senior housing, which would include one- and two-bedroom units, a business center, a gym, an outdoor patio and other amenities. Green building practices would be used during construction.
If the deal is passed, demolition is expected to start next year following state and local approvals.
“Our firm is excited about working with Forum Industries, the Town of Rotterdam and Schenectady County to bring new life to this site while also addressing the local need for senior rental housing,” Whitney Capital Managing Director Tom Granville said in a statement.
Of the 12-acre site, approximately 2.5 acres would be preserved as a nature area with trails. The developers would donate 0.27 acres to the Rotterdam Fire District No. 2 for future expansions, too.
Over the last two years, extensive work was completed to make the property a shovel ready site, Gillen said. Earlier this year, the state Department of Environmental Conservation signed off on the environmental clean up of the property.
“There is no issues at all,” Gillen said. “It is also smart growth.”
Redeveloping the plaza had been a priority for the Rotterdam Industrial Development Agency, which was dissolved after the New York State Authorities Budget Office sought to terminate the IDA last year. Ownership of Curry Road Plaza was transferred to the town.