Still no bite to Nipper project
Albany’s top dog still waits for warehouse district revitalization to reach 991 Broadway
Craig Richardson, the grandson of the business executive who first installed Nipper atop the refurbished warehouse district building in 1958, never wanted the property to leave his family.
In 1958, Harold Gabrilove worked with architect Harris Sanders to bring the Nipper statue to the top of the building, which was home to RTA, an appliance distributor specializing in RCA products, whose famed trademark featured the dog. Over the years, Nipper became a landmark, and today the building at 991 Broadway guarded by the outsized pooch is still eyed for its potential to contribute to further warehouse district growth, even as plans for its development have stalled.
“When I saw the building just in a complete standstill and just sitting there in the state that it is, it was pretty depressing to see it,” said Richardson, who grew up in Menands but lives in New Jersey. He was disappointed when his father sold the building in 1997 to Arnoff Moving & Storage because he had always dreamed of turning it into restaurants on the street level with apartments and condominiums on the floors above.
That’s exactly what local developers Bill and Briana Barber along with business partner Dr.
David Kwiat, of Amsterdam, had in mind when they purchased the building from Arnoff in 2016. They had plans to create 150 apartments with retail space below them, the Times Union previously reported. In the years since, a complicated legal battle has ensued involving the Barbers, Kwiat and Dorrough Construction — another Capital Region firm that later signed on to the project. Meanwhile, the building sits empty.
A number of lawsuits have been filed. The cases are pending in Albany County Supreme Court, with the exception of a foreclosure action in Utah that awaits arbitration over a loan made to the Barbers by Utah-based PCG, according to Lucian Chalfen, director of public information from New York State Unified Court System.
Bill Barber plans to keep fighting the legal battles but is uncertain what is going to become of the apartment project. “There are too many unknowns,” said Barber, who runs a Latham construction business. “I don’t know what I’ll be doing with it.”
Attorneys Frank Putorti Jr. of Schenectady, and Louis Lecce, of Latham, who are representing Dorrough and Kwiat, did not return calls for comment. REEF-PCG also did not return calls for comment.
There has been no progress on the building, said Rick Lajoy, city of Albany Building Department director, but there have been some violations.
In May 2019, the building was cited for pieces of broken window and masonry falling off, which was then repaired, according to Lajoy. Last July, the building was cited for its owners’ failure to register it as vacant, as well as chipping paint, overgrowth and weeds.
Lajoy said those issues have yet to be resolved.
The building is more than 100 years old but not technically historic or located in a historic district, said Pamela Howard, the director of Historic Albany Foundation.
“It seems to be better known for Nipper than the building itself,” Howard said.
A Historic Resource Survey of the Warehouse District will be done in the future, according to Christopher Spencer, city Planning and Development commissioner. Depending on the survey’s findings, the city might look to create a National Register District for the warehouse district.
“A National Register District does not have local controls and projects would not be reviewed by the Historic Resource Commission, however projects within a NR District would be eligible for Historic Tax Credits,” Spencer said.
From Albany historian and former Assemblyman Jack Mceneny to the owner of Nine Pin Cider Works, a cider manufacturer and tasting room in the warehouse district, observers seem to agree: The apartment project would be beneficial to the area’s development.
“There has been a real
growth in that area both for retail and restaurants, and now for people who actually want to live there,” Mceneny said. “I think it was ahead of when everyone thought it would happen. It really just took off.”
“I think it would be great to have people living down there,” said Alejandro del Peral, owner of
Nine Pin Cider Works. “It would be great for the entertainment part of our business. It is such a cool building and that would put it to good use.” As for Richardson, he hopes to have a chance to get in on the deal one day.
“That area has a great deal of potential to do something unique,” Richardson said. “If there are
opportunities to bring in fresh capital and try to figure out how to help, I would be thrilled. Bringing something new to an area I know intimately and helping continue to make it distinctive … I would love to be a part of it.”