Private oasis
Longtime president Kopka departs ahead of developing homeowners association vote
Washington Park in Troy is undergoing a once-in-ageneration change.
Troy
The serene 1.8-acre private Washington Park, which is securely locked behind an ornamental fence that only key holders can enter, is undergoing a once-in-a-generation change.
The Washington Park Association has changed leaders as the group begins its transition to a homeowners association to protect the ornamental park and the owners of the 52 properties that have the keys to unlock the park gates.
It’s also become a neighborhood where a residence at 1 Washington Place sold for $1.055 million in 2019 about a decade after the buildings on the street along the park’s southern border were collapsing from disrepair.
The change has seen longtime
WPA President Lynn Kopka depart from her post after more than 20 years. She resigned in late March just before the neighborhood association’s election took place and created
her own website, Washington Park Neighborhoods (wpn-troy.org). Jim Martin was voted in as the new association president.
“I felt it was time for me to leave. We’re transitioning to a homeowners association,” Kopka said standing in
the middle of the park surrounded by blossoming flowers and budding trees on a warm spring day.
To many residents, Kopka is synonymous with the park, a point person for and persona of the urban
oasis and its surroundings. That’s now changed.
“We’re looking to move things forward in a different direction,” Martin said.
The new leadership of the Washington Park Association is working on developing a formal homeowners association for the property owners for whom the park is their front yard. Organizing an association or perhaps a limited liability corporation would provide legal protection for the owners of the parkland should an accident or other incident occur.
Washington Park began in 1840 as part of a real estate development bringing together Troy’s business leaders at a time when the city was emerging as one of the nation’s wealthiest commercial industrial centers. When it was envisioned, the development was outside the downtown core but still only a short walk away from the commercial center.
Washington Park became one of only two private parks in the state, owned by the adjoining property owners. The other is Gramercy Park in Manhattan.
Kopka finds herself not fitting into what the other property owners want. She resides at 195 Second St., a home on the park’s western border. She is a key holder.
“There are changes so the new Washington
Park board can get the homeowners association going,” Kopka said.
The park’s neighborhood has constantly morphed as waves of immigration swept through the Capital Region. The wealthy merchants were replaced by Irish immigrants, who were followed by Jewish residents and finally by Italian immigrants. St. Mary’s, a now-closed Roman Catholic Church, was built at the corner of Third and Washington streets. The area was also home to a convent and funeral home. The Arts Center for the Capital Region and the Italian Community Center each started out on the park before moving to other parts of the city.
Kopka, who moved to the Capital Region from Northampton, Mass., to study at Russell Sage College, is a former Democratic City Council president and Fifth District councilwoman. About 30 years ago, she purchased her property on the park, which she renovated along with other buildings.
Her biggest efforts, however, focused on Washington Place.
The 1840s townhouses along Washington Place were in disrepair and on the verge of falling down.
“You could walk down the street and smell the rot,” Kopka recalled.
Kopka helped secure investment to restore the buildings by obtaining $90,000 to protect their facades. The block’s restoration to its original splendor is reflected in the sales price of 1 Washington Place. In addition, Kopka battled Troy City Hall successfully to get Washington Place recobbled with the addition of 7,000 cobblestones to restore it to its original condition.
Kopka said she is staying involved in Washington Park and the surrounding Osgood, Little Italy, Riverside and Historic Sage neighborhoods. Kopka will remain president of the Friends of Washington Park, the nonprofit organization created for neighborhood improvement projects.