Troy to protect Atrium space
City reviewing impact of redevelopment project envisioning commercial use
TROY — The City Council has been reviewing the potential impact the 100 apartment units planned for the Troy Atrium Redevelopment project will have on the city-owned portion of the site that once was a mall and will be the future home of the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market.
City Council members want to ensure the 5,956-square-foot interior courtyard between the historic Frear Building to the north and the Troy Atrium building that developer and owner David Bryce plans to raze and replace with the apartments, parking and eventual commercial space is protected and accessible to the public.
City engineers will monitor the construction of a 180-foot-long exterior wall on the south side of the city-owned space. An operating agreement between the city and Bryce will be negotiated and Troy will not issue a permit for the new building planned by Bryce until everything is approved by the city engineers, Steven Strichman, the commissioner of planning and economic development, recently told the council’s Planning Committee.
Bryce has a structural engineer working on the wall to be constructed, Strichman said. The city will have its own engineers review the plans and construction.
The city Planning Commission has given its go-ahead for the Troy Atrium Redevelopment project but approval requires the City Council to say the project may move forward based on the courtyard work.
The five-story Troy Atrium Redevelopment project is at the end of the block formed by Broadway on the south, Third Street on the west, Fulton Street to the north and Fourth Street on the east. The site is a prominent downtown location. The historic Frear Building is at the north end of the property, the city-owned enclosed atrium space is in the middle and the Uncle Sam Mall portion, which has been used for stores, offices and the staging area for production crews for HBO’S “The Gilded Age”
series, is at the south end. Bryce owns the buildings except for the city property.
The plans for the building call for interior parking on the first floor with 77 spaces, apartments on the second through fifth floors and commercial space to be developed in the southeast corner at Broadway and Fourth Street and the southwest corner at Broadway and Third Street.
“This is a prime business location for the farmers market,”
City Council President Carmella Mantello said Monday.
The future operating agreement, the city engineering oversight and keeping the city property accessible to the public are important, Mantello said.
“I’m excited to see it have a new life,” Councilwoman Sue
Steele, the council’s Democratic majority leader, said Monday about the plans for the Troy Atrium Redevelopment and the city-owned atrium.
The City Council will eventually receive resolutions to consider that will address the topics outlined by Strichman.