Sale of Corporate Plaza property advances The Rosenblum Companies’ evolving vision

GUILDERLAND – Capital District property developer The Rosenblum Companies has just closed on the sale of the very first Albany-area real estate project undertaken by the company’s founder, Jack Rosenblum—a development of office suites on Washington Avenue Extension, called the Corporate Plaza Office Park, that has been owned and operated by The Rosenblum Companies since 1979.

The eight-building complex, which totals approximately 150,000 square feet, is occupied primarily by 25 corporate, state and nonprofit tenants. Since Corporate Plaza was first developed, Rosenblum has continued to reinvest and update the property—including recent landscaping and energy efficiency upgrades. Since that first acquisition in ’79, the company has grown, currently owning and operating more than a million square feet of Capital District properties. Until recent years, the company has focused almost exclusively on office space.

According to Seth Rosenblum, Chief Executive Officer of The Rosenblum Companies and its Executive Vice President Jeff Mirel, the company is pursuing a new diversification strategy that originated with the 2009 purchase and $9 million renovation of former car dealership at 17 Chapel Street in downtown Albany—a boutique condo project that has been recognized as “a catalyst for the city’s urban renaissance.”

Since then, the company has also expanded into retail space, with at the acquisition and adaptation of the historic Troy Record building into a mixed-use retail and residential loft property—a project which just broke ground last week. A large purchase from The Beltrone Group in May also included a number of warehouse buildings; and a proposed project in Bethlehem will further expand their warehouse holdings. 

“If you look at our diversification play,” Mirel told Spotlight in May, “it’s acquisition and it’s also ground-up development so as a developer, we’re looking at opportunities to do urban infill and adaptive reuse like we’re doing at 501 Broadway, the old Troy Record building. We also have some other projects that are going to be ground-up projects.”

“The Rosenblum Companies is a family owned business and we consider our tenants to be part of our extended family,” said Seth Rosenblum, Chief Executive Officer of The Rosenblum Companies in a press release. “So, while this sale of Corporate Plaza is very bittersweet, it will help drive new, varied development projects and investment opportunities that better align with our long term objectives.”

The property sold for $14.475 million to Cass Hill Development Properties, a property management and real estate development firm based in Clifton Park that also provides analytical, valuation and management services to owners, investors and tenants.

Corporate Plaza Properties: