BY PETE DEMOLA, The Daily Gazette

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — The first homes built as part of a new housing development in the city’s Little Italy section are now on the market.

Six townhouses have been completed on Barrett Street as part of the Live-In Schenectady project, a coalition of five banks and 16 investors who provided financing.

The target demographic for the two-story townhouses, which start at $260,900, are young couples and empty-nesters, according to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices-Blake Realtors, which is marketing the properties.

Fifteen units will ultimately be constructed as part of the first phase of development, which has been formally dubbed Barrett Village.

“It’s a new era of residential housing in Schenectady,” said Joseph R. Farry, senior vice president at Berkshire Hathaway.

Total project costs to date are $2.2 million, with completion of the first phase estimated to cost $1.8 million, according to John Roth, an investor and president of Highbridge Development.

No public funding was utilized, and The Daily Gazette Co. is among the investors.

Ten additional units are planned for a second phase located across Barrett Street, but Roth said it’s too early to provide cost estimates.

The timeworn stretch of Barrett Street has watched as development has swirled from all sides in recent years, from rehabilitation of blighted structures on Seward Street, development of Mohawk River and Rivers Casino & Resort to the proposed connector project linking Little Italy to the complex as part of the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), which awarded $10 million to the city last month.

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