A Tale of Development in Two River Cities

Gossips has done a couple of posts comparing the efforts by the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) to redevelop the Kaz site with the efforts in Troy to redevelop One Monument Square, where the city's mid-1970s concrete City Hall was demolished in 2010. (Coincidentally, HDC acquired the Kaz warehouses in 2010.) Just about a year ago, Gossips reported that Troy was on its fifth attempt to settle on a developer for the site, while HDC's efforts to develop the Kaz site had stalled on what was only its second attempt: "The Kaz Site and One Monument Square."

Photo: John Carl D'annibale|Times Union

For its fifth attempt, Troy hired consultants to help gather public input. In June 2018, there was a three-day design charette to hear ideas. In April 2019, an RFQ (request for qualifications) was issued for a developer to take on the project, which is envisioned to be a public/private partnership, with the City of Troy maintaining some form of ownership of the public spaces involved. Today, the Albany Business Review reports that four developers have submitted their qualifications: RAL Development Services LLC, described on its website as "a New York City-based premier real estate developer of luxury apartment, condominium, and resort communities nationwide"; Hoboken Brownstone Co.; First Columbia--The Davies Companies; and The BDC Group. 

In Troy's previous attempt to develop One Monument Square, two firms that had submitted proposals also submitted proposals for the Kaz site: Bonacio Construction and Redburn Development. Neither submitted qualifications this time around.

Meanwhile, back in Hudson, the last time the HDC board discussed the Kaz redevelopment, which was in March, Branda Maholtz, executive assistant, advised the board, "Within the next year and a half, you should be putting out another RFP." Board member Walter Chatham, who also chairs the Planning Board, expressed the opinion that this was the opportunity "to look at this as urban design." He went on to say it was "a perfect moment to look at what the founders did" and to "lay out a streetscape." Board member Mark Morgan-Perez, who also serves on the Planning Board, reminded the group that there had been talk about getting an urban design team involved and mentioned Kaja Kühl and the graduate students in the Hudson Valley Initiative at Columbia University, the group that undertook the redesign of Oakdale Lake.
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