As the first Sonic restaurant in the Capital District prepares a grand opening this summer, a Massachusetts developer is looking to get a special use permit approved for a site totaling about 5.7 acres.
The Zoning Board of Appeals heard from the O’Connell Development Group, based in Massachusetts, Thursday, April 16, about its plans to purchase 645A Albany Shaker Road from the Hearst Corporation. O’Connell representatives presented a plan that proposed two 6,000 square feet buildings for restaurants and three retail buildings that total over 250,000 square feet, which requires a special use permit.
While the restaurants are allowed in the area, the retail spaces require a special use permit in the commercial office zone. The zoning board did not make a decision on the permit at its Thursday meeting, in part due to members desiring the in-process traffic study, but also due to the State Environmental Quality Review determination, which looks at environmental impact, being unready.
The retail space would be split into three buildings: 106,000 square feet, 150,000 square feet, and 5,000 square feet for a “specialty retail” space.
Talk of large retailers, like Costco and Cabela’s, has been circulating, but O’Connell officials would not confirm any potential retailers.
“We don’t have any specific tenant picked out yet that’s committed to the site,” said project manager Dan Cleary.
One Latham resident said he has spoken to someone who has seen the site plans and noted Cabela’s as a possible retailer interested in the site. If so, the national chain that specializes in hunting, fishing and other sporting gear would join the ranks as the first regional store in the Albany area. The nearest location is about 128 miles away.
Another reported candidate is Costco Wholesale, a business similar to Sam’s Club and BJ’s.
“This isn’t a speculative development,” said Andrew Crystal of O’Connell Development. “We’re pursuing this because there are national retailers who want to be in this market, and there isn’t room for those tenants on Wolf Road.”
While zoning board chairman James Campbell said this project would be good for the town and district by way of jobs and economy, the potentially high-volume traffic could not be ignored.
The Hearst Corp. property, 30 acres in total, sits where the I-87 North crosses over Albany Shaker Road and houses the headquarters to the Times Union newspaper. The site O’Connell Development is looking at would be accessible by Old Maxell and Maxwell roads.
Both residents and zoning board members questioned if Maxwell Road and the roundabout intersecting Albany Shaker could handle such a high amount of traffic that would be come along with the proposed project.
The Latham resident compared the project to Latham Circle Mall in its hay-day, and said the two lanes of Maxwell Road and the roundabout would be too chaotic.
“Putting this in perspective, square footage-wise, you’ve got the equivalent of Latham Circle Mall smack dab almost at the intersection of Albany Shaker and Wolf Road. Wrap your head around that one for a minute,” he said.
While the roundabout at the start of Maxwell Road has helped alleviate traffic on Wolf, adding a large retailer site would only undo that work, said the resident.
Zoning board member Dave Rosenthal echoed these concerns. He said that some drivers already violate the rules of the roundabout, and adding more traffic to that area could potentially be dangerous.
Wendy Holsberger of Creighton Manning Engineering is preparing the traffic study for the project. While the study is still underway, she said about 500 more trips would be made within an hour window during peak travel times if the project gets approved.
A lot of the site’s traffic would be traveling eastbound from Wolf Road and the Northway, Holsberger said, meaning that most cars would be using the traffic circle and going into the site through Maxwell Road.
Zoning board members questioned whether the Exit 4 ramp coming off the Northway onto Wolf Road could be extended to the property, but Holsberger said that the Federal Interstate System does not allow highway access into private developments.
“I just think Christmastime, if this is some of the big retailers we think it may be, this is going to be crazy,” said Rosenthal.
Due to the location of the project, Campbell said he was reluctant to make any decisions about the project’s special use permit without a more solid traffic study. A speculative date of Thursday, May 21, has been set for the O’Connell project to appear back before the board, but that could change.