By Paul Nelson, Times Union
Published 9:34 pm, Wednesday, May 4, 2016
A group of business investors called Live In Schenectady LLC and Phase 2 of the Foster building development are among the downtown building projects the city Planning Commission will consider for final site approval later this month.
In March, the 2,600-square-foot Capoccia Wine Lounge opened on the first floor of the renovated Foster Building at 508 State St. The building also features 10 apartments and office space as part of the first phase a $2.5 million restoration project by Sequence Development of Troy.
The building is fully occupied, according to Elizabeth Young Jojo, the chief operating officer for Sequence.
The firm hopes to move forward with the second phase of an approximately $3.5 million project at 510-512 State St. and 204 Lafayette St. at the corner of State Street. It calls for a restaurant, 18 apartments and 1,750 square feet of retail and office space.
Young Jojo said Wednesday that potential tenants have already reached out about getting in on the second phase and that the “interest in Schenectady is huge.”
She said the firm is ironing out details for a 2,800-square-foot restaurant on the first floor of 512 State St. but declined to name the establishment.
“It’s something we’re really excited about and we think will fit in perfectly with the restaurant scene in downtown Schenectady,” Young Jojo said. An announcement will likely be made in the next month or so, she said.
Sequence also is looking forward to retooling the current plain brick facade into the glass-arched facade that was once part of the multi-story Schenectady Railway trolley building
“We’re excited about playing home to it and turning it into a showpiece on the block,” said Young Jojo. “We’re putting a bit of a modern recreating on a historic facade.”
At the May 18 meeting, the Planning Commission is to review a roughly $1.5 million project by a group of more than a dozen private investors and banks to acquire city-owned properties in the Barrett Street area and transform them into affordable single-family homes.
All told, the Live In Schenectady project, by a for-profit group with the same name, will be completed in several phases and include the construction of 25 homes. Phase One calls for building about 10 homes. Work is expected to get underway later this year.
The second phase would include 15 homes.
A statement from the group previously stated they planned to buy five properties from the city on Seminary Place and 14 on Barrett Street, including 15 vacant lots and four empty buildings, at the fully appraised market value of over $200,000.
The investors are Jim Connolly, former CEO of Ellis Medicine; HighBridge Development; Neil and Jane Golub; Galesi Group; Antonio Civitella, president and CEO of Transfinder; BBL Construction; Re4orm Architecture; Precision Industrial Maintenance; Schenectady Hardware and Electric; Capital Region Gaming, an affiliate of Rush Street Gaming; Northeastern Fine Jewelry; Jackson Demolition; The Daily Gazette and Union College.
The banks are NBT Bank, Capital Bank, Ballston Spa National Bank and Pioneer.
pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson