Metroplex pledges $1.85M to Wedgeway complex

Vacant building to be restored and enlarged by Latham-based developers

The financial incentives package for one of the city’s most highprofile redevelopment projects is coming into focus.

Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority has pledged $1.85 million to bring the hulking Wedgeway complex back online.

Metroplex will provide $100,000 for immediate stabilization and repairs, which will be joined by $1.75 million in a series of additional incentives, including tax breaks.

Officials hope to tap into at least $600,000 in Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds.

Among the projects included in the final package submitted for state approval in 2020 was $1.75 million for a fund to improve downtown building façades, said Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen.

“We did that with the express purpose of helping the Wedgeway building,” Gillen said.

Metroplex is working with Latham-based developers Cass Hill Development to restore and enlarge the two-building complex located at Erie Boulevard and State Street.

Architectural drawings for the site include a large addition that would expand the building nearly a block down Erie Boulevard, a $17 million effort that will include up to 80 apartments and 14,000 square feet of first-floor commercial space in the six-story complex.

The Daily Gazette first reported details of the financial incentive package, which was approved by Metroplex at its meeting last month.

Cass Hill was granted conditional site plan approval by the city Planning Commission last month. Developers may need to go back to the drawing board over current plans for the former State Theatre marquee, which would include a retrostyle backlit sign.

A listing from a New Jerseybased broker on Loopnet lists the

34-unit building at $2.63 million. Cass Hill has not yet closed on the property pending final approval of

redevelopment plans, which is standard practice for comparable projects, Gillen said.

Following a series of heavily publicized code enforcement issues, the building has seen an exodus

of commercial and residential tenants over the past half-decade and is now vacant.

Provided by city of Schenectady Plans to renovate and expand the Wedgeway Building would include an addition along Erie Boulevard to the corner of Liberty Street. That portion is currently a parking lot.

Provided by city of Schenectady Cass Hill Development of Latham has plans to transform the decaying Wedgeway Building, located at the corner of State Street and Erie Boulevard in downtown Schenectady.