Hotel Cohoes opens as luxury apartment building
COHOES, N.Y.» A historical landmark hotel in Cohoes is opening with a new look, following its transformation into a luxury apartment building.
Efforts to revive a vacant landmark in the heart of the Spindle City were unveiled on Tuesday at a grand opening event and ribbon cutting ceremony for Hotel Cohoes.
Brothers Paul and John Bonacquisti and partner Sean Curtin of 100N5 Development purchased the former Cohoes Hotel property at 134 Remsen St. in 2016, with plans to develop it into a residential building.
The partners, along with supporters, celebrated the completion of the project’s first phase at Wednesday’s unveiling event, when members of the community were invited to come check out the property on a site tour.
The historic rehabilitation kept all the original architectural features of the 7,700-square-foot building, which dates back to the 1870s.
The porch, building entrance, historic staircase and fireplaces are all part of the original build- ing and were painstakingly restored during the adaptive reuse project, a press release from the city said.
Cohoes Hotel now houses six apartments, now available for lease, featuring a mix of old and new world craftsmanship.
“The Hotel Cohoes project is 100N5’s third downtown development since 2014,” Paul Bonacquisti said during the ceremony. “This historic renovation was our toughest Cohoes project to date.
“The building was in much worse shape than we had originally anticipated, and the importance of preserving the building’s architecture added to that challenge,” he continued, concluding that it was well worth the effort.
“Today the former Cohoes Hotel has been restored to its place of prominence on Remsen Street and has been reborn as new luxury apartments, and will anchor a 22-unit addition planned for 2019,” Bonacquisti said.
Looking forward, a new addition will be built in the rear of the property along Main Street as part of the project’s second phase, scheduled for next year. The historic building is the anchor to the larger part of the project, ant L-shaped addition that
will connect to the rear of the building, and continue over to White Street, inviting more residents to live and work in the city’s core.
“This is a big day for downtown Cohoes,” Mayor Shawn Morse said at the grand opening event. Morse described how the 1870 structure “was one of the most gorgeous buildings at its time for the richest people who came and visited the mills and invested in our city” and how it later turned into “the biggest eyesore right in the middle of downtown.”
On Wednesday, Morse was happy to declare that the old Cohoes Hotel would be “the biggest economic development project for our community in the last hundred years.”
Morse credited the de- velopers’ investment in the city with spurring further economic growth in recent years. “This is another major project in revitalizing one of the most popular streets downtown while helping to grow the city’s tax base,” he said in the release. “This is just one more step in the right direction of becoming an All-America City once again. ”
“Cohoes is the place to be, but it isn’t done without people taking chances,” Senator Neil Breslin agreed. “It’s another step in the right direction.”
In the future, the revitalization of this historic building will help stimulate the economy and community by creating new jobs in its commercial space, boosting business performance, feeding local tax rolls and commemorating history, the release from the city said.
“The Hotel Cohoes project will bring over two dozen new apartments on- line in the center of historic Remsen Street, and we believe it will be the genesis of the Mayor’s city wide redevelopment plan,” Bonacquisti said in the release.
He added he’s glad to see other investors, entrepreneurs and residents sharing the vision for a thriving downtown Cohoes community. “That is what rebuilds a downtown and that is what rebuilds a city, investment, businesses and people all working together and willing to take a chance on the rebirth of a great city.”
Rental rates at Hotel Cohoes range from $1,195 to $1,495 per month. All current units include one bedroom and one bathroom.
More information about the apartments available at Hotel Cohoes is available online at paragonresidential.com.