Schenectady, N.Y. – The Schenectady County Metroplex Board of Directors met today and approved one project in the Village of Scotia and three projects in downtown Schenectady.
In Scotia, the Board approved a contract award of $178,950 to Land Remediation, Inc. of Troy, NY. The company submitted the low bid to perform environmental clean-up work at the former McDonald’s site in the Village of Scotia. A total of five bids were received.
Metroplex is buying the 1.1 acre lot from McDonald’s for $1 and then cleaning up the lot before selling the parcel to Mazzone Management Group who will redevelop the parcel and reimburse Metroplex for clean-up costs.
The site is located on Mohawk Avenue right at the entrance to the Village of Scotia and is critical to redeveloping the main business corridor in the Village. Clean-up work will begin in late May.
The Board also gave final approval to a renovate a vacant 14,000 square foot building at 200 State Street that many years ago housed the former Spencer Business School. Chris Maddalone and his partner Charles Rosenstein will create 11 loft style apartments in the building plus ground floor retail space facing lower State Street. A vacant structure at 142 State Street will be demolished and developed as a landscaped parking area to support the project. Metroplex is providing $185,000 toward the $1.36 million project cost.
“This project adds to the momentum we are seeing on lower State Street by adding residential units and ground floor retail. It also removes one of the major drags on development in this area by removing an eyesore building at 142 State Street,” said Ray Gillen, Metroplex Chair.
The Metroplex Board also approved a $39,000 façade grant to Integra Development, LLC. The company owns 318 Broadway located on the main entrance to downtown near Proctors. Integra will complete a major renovation to the building including painting, repointing brick and installing new doors and windows in the 4,700 square foot building. The total project cost is $83,700. Integra is a tech company located in downtown Schenectady that manages electrical, voice/data cabling and lighting systems for major national retailers across the country.
“This is a highly visible building. We are pleased to work with Integra, an exciting tech company based in Schenectady, to improve the appearance of a major building on the Broadway entrance to downtown,” Gillen said.
Finally, the Board approved spending not to exceed $800,000 to continue to improve Metroplex parking assets downtown. The funding will be used to make improvements to the Broadway parking lot (300 spaces) and the Metroplex parking garage also located on Broadway with 1,100 spaces.