OLD HALL, NEW IDEAS

Public offers options for riverfront site

TROY >> As the city prepares for a fourth time to solicit proposals for the riverfront site of the former city hall, Mayor Patrick Madden reached out to the public for its input Wednesday night.

Madden hosted a town hallstyle meeting for about 75 people inside Bush Memorial Hall on the campus of Russell Sage College, at which residents, business owners and local officials offered their ideas for what is one of the most attractive pieces of available real estate in the Capital Region.

“We want to be sure before the [request for proposals] goes out that we have provided an opportunity to chime in and share their best thinking with us,” Madden said.

After a brief introduction by Madden and a presentation on the history of the site by Deputy Mayor Monica Kurzejeski, participants were broken into groups with similar interests to discuss their desires. Specific ideas for the site ran the gamut, from a highend hotel or restaurant to a grocery store downtown that residents say is much needed. The idea of moving city hall back to Monument Square from its current home on the fifth floor of the Hedley Park Place building on River Street also garnered some support.

Whoever is chosen to develop the site would be the latest in a long line of suitors who have expressed interest in the property since City Hall was demolished in 2011 because of damage done to its support structure during flooding along the Hudson River in 2006. The latest of those proposals fell through when Kirchhoff Properties, a downstate developer, pulled out of a proposed deal to buy the property from the city for $650,000 after two years of changing plans that led to a public outcry led by a group of downtown merchants who took the moniker We Care About the

Square.

“The downtown has changed a lot since then,” Madden said of a resurgence that has taken place over the past five years, “so maybe what made sense back then doesn’t make so much sense now. Now, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves that question before we commit to the redevelopment of this site.”

Many of those same business owners participated in Wednesday night’s forum, where they shared a common theme voiced throughout that whatever use is chosen, that it include public access to the river, either through the inclusion of a plaza, the siting of a visitor’s center. Many also asked that some scenic view of the river from Monument Square also be maintained.

“It has to take care of all residents,” said Deborah Lockrow, owner of Artcentric, a shop across from the site.

City officials will take the input generated from the meeting and use it to develop a new request for the proposals that Steven Strichman, the city’s new planning and development commissioner, said will hopefully be completed by the end of September. Strichman said he hopes the city can select a new developer for the site by next spring.

“We are not going to

please everyone,” Madden admitted, “because there are a million opinions out there and some of them are just diametrically opposed.

But we do promise that we will listen to all the ideas.”

MARK ROBARGE — MROBARGE@TROYRECORD.COM Troy Mayor Patrick Madden welcomes about 75 people to a town hall-style meeting Wednesday night in Bush Memorial Hall on the Russell Sage College campus to discuss future options for the former site of city hall in Monument Square.

MARK ROBARGE — MROBARGE@TROYRECORD.COM From left, Rensselaer County Legislator Gary Pavlic and Adam Sanzone look over a proposed design by artist Patrick Piggott — who designed the new statue honoring the first mayor of Troy, Col. Albert Pawling — to recreate the original 19th century look...

PHOTO PROVIDED BY DENEE ZIEGLER The former site of city hall in downtown Troy has sat empty for five years, since that building was demolished in 2011 because of flood damage.