ALBANY — Uncertainty, the current buzzword among industries, has hit the Port of Albany.
Due to recent economic and political changes, the port last week issued a request for expressions of interest in developing Beacon Island, the 85-acre site the port purchased in 2018 as part of an economic development initiative on the Hudson River in Glenmont.
After spending more than $170 million for site readiness, the port had planned to partner with Marmen, a Canadian company that manufactures wind towers, to build components for offshore wind turbines. The Marmen project was expected to create about 600 permanent jobs with a 30-year commitment.
However, that project’s future is now uncertain after the Trump administration disrupted the wind energy sector by signing an executive order halting all leasing of federal waters for offshore wind projects, halting new or renewed approvals for both onshore and offshore wind initiatives indefinitely.
“We’re not going to be doing this wind thing,” President Donald Trump said at a post-inauguration rally.
According to the RFEI materials, although the site had been slated for the wind turbine project, “the offshore wind tower manufacturing project has been halted,” attributing that move to “changed economic and supply chain conditions.”
Penelope Vavura, the port’s director of external affairs, said, “It feels like everything is being chipped away at. It’s like we had three cards to hold, then two cards, now one card, so we have to look at what we are doing.”
In a written statement, Port of Albany CEO Richard Hendrick said, the port aims to leverage Beacon Island’s prime location, transportation access, and construction-ready status to boost its role in driving economic growth in the Capital Region and beyond.
“The port needs to respond to the shifting priorities at the federal and state levels and within the maritime industry and be able to take full advantage of the expansion site’s strategic location along the Hudson River, its multimodal connectivity and pad-ready construction status to expand the port’s role as an economic driver for the Capital Region and beyond,” he shared.
Vavura said with the capriciousness of the Trump administration, the wind industry’s future remains foggy, so the port needs to consider alternatives. She said the port is focused on using Beacon Island to benefit the region with, among other things, long-term employment. “The wind project doesn’t seem to be checking those boxes right now,” she said.
She explained that the port held on to the wind project this long because it would be such a strong driver of jobs.
Vavura said the $170 million investment will still pay off because that investment improved the site, removing 30,000 tons of contaminated materials and capping the landfill. “We left it better than it was environmentally and it’s still an opportunity for a company to come in and offer full-time employment for all kinds of jobs and many different skill sets,” she said.
“There is still the promise of all of this,” Vavura said.
The RFEI is the first step in the port putting its toe in the water to identify potential alternative development for the Beacon Island site. Through RFEI responses, the port hopes to gauge market interest, explore innovative development offers and identify qualified entities to build a partnership with. Vavura said the RFEI does not mean a commitment to any path or business.
According to the RFEI, qualified respondents with “visionary proposals to drive economic value and support regional and community resilience through job creation, training opportunities and local investment” should respond. To qualify, the entity must demonstrate financial capacity, have relevant large-scale industrial or maritime experience, and a track record delivering complex projects on schedule in collaboration with public agencies.
Although no specific kind of business or project is presently being solicited, the port is seeking a proposal that will meet its goals for Beacon Island, including enhancing the Port’s competitiveness and making economic contributions through job creation and investment. It suggested examples, including the infrastructure industry, maritime commerce, energy, and technology — all to strengthen the region as a trade, logistics, and advanced industries hub.
Vavura said if the port determines there is sufficient interest, it may then either issue a request for proposals, enter into an exclusive negotiation agreement, or just meet and speak with proposal proponents. There is no commitment to take any particular action or any action at all.
Vavura still holds out hope for the wind turbine project, stating the port is still in a holding pattern on it because grants are pending before NYSERDA that, if approved, will allow the port to continue to explore the wind project. However, she said she does not know if “Marmen has lost its taste for it and dealing with the U.S. government.”
Alternatively, Vavura said the port would also entertain different proposals from Marmen. She said Marmen engages in other kinds of manufacturing that the site — in whole or part — could be used for, even wind turbine parts storage.
“Who knows what’s going to happen. If there is a new administration — you read the headlines,” Vavura said, looking down the road. “That’s the headspace we’re in right now because that’s the thing about development, it’s the long game.”
