The College of Saint Rose Closure Updates:
April 4, 2024
The next Pine Hills Neighborhood Association April Monthly Meeting will be on April 18, 2024, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm and the speakers are the College of Saint Rose President Marcia White and Trustees to address the closure and neighbors concerns. All are welcome to join. We are still working with the college on a location. Check our website and social media platforms for more details.
Next week PHNA president and elected officials will be meeting to discuss the closure and our shared interest in the highest and best use of the properties. We also will discuss the timeline for the sale of the property and how the sales will occur.
The St. Rose Committee has been working to get feedback from local businesses in Pine Hills on the impact of the closure and resources needed. Once our survey is online we will be sure to share with CANA for members to share with their network.
The Pine Hills Neighborhood Association recently met with the Melrose Neighborhood Association to discuss how we can work together and share ideas on strategies moving forward. We would like to invite any Association or organization to reach out if you'd like to meet with us.
The PHNA St. Rose committee meets every two weeks. If you have an idea or would like to share a concern please contact us at pinehillsna@gmail.com.
January 18, 2024 (most current update from College)
Latest Update from the College of Saint Rose to PHNA
The College established an email address that Pine Hills neighborhood residents and businesses can provide their thoughts on ideas on the future of the Saint Rose campus. The feedback will be shared with those involved in the campus planning process including the Board of Trustees.
Email: campusideas@strose.edu
The college is preparing for the Spring semester and Summer 1 session culminating with Commencement on May 11. The college is continuing to hold all of its regularly scheduled events and athletic competitions and encourage the community to attend the Golden Knights basketball games in the Nolan Gym. The game schedule can be found on the College's website or on www.gogoldenknights.com. Both the women's and men's team are doing very well and showcasing Saint Rose spirit and resilience.
President White and President Rodriguez signed a teach-out agreement with the University at Albany last week and they expect to sign more within the next few days. The colleges partnerships with local institutions will enable students to have the option of staying in the neighborhood in which they chose to go to college.
Town Hall Meeting Notes
Town Hall Meeting
Pine Hills Library December 21, 2023
5:00pm – 7:00pm
General Topics Discussed
Status of the College of Saint Rose Property
o What properties do the bondholders have control over?
o What properties does the College of Saint Rose have control over?
Economic Impact
o It was stated by Darius Shahinfar that this will have a $125 million impact on the city.
Current Resources:
o Mayor Sheehan interview on WAMC
o Official press releases on the College of Saint Rose
o TU article on bondholders meeting
Ideas that were proposed:
o Replace the College of Saint Rose with an Eco-College Institution.
o Importance of helping homeless people
o Sports Complex – Returning this back to the neighborhood. The fields are city owned and leased by the college of Saint Rose. It will be open to more city use and Russell Sage is interested in the fields as well. Also of interest to the Albany Soccer Club & Westland Hills Baseball/Softball.
o City to take the St. Rose properties to create housing that the city would then control.
o Bring in the Eddy a location that does training and is a retirement village.
o There is a need for a refugee center
o Arts and culture center
o Create a system so that we know who is purchasing the properties.
o Massry Center for the Arts – Children’s music school
o Would like to ask the state for funding to go toward housing in this area.
o Historic Preservations: 30 buildings that are able to be protected by historic preservation
o There is a need for affordable housing
o Rehabilitation Center, Gym, Entertainment
Concerns Expressed:
o Who are these properties going to?
o What will happen to property values?
o Is there going to be support for Students and Alumni of the College of Saint Rose?
o Is there any plan from the city to keep St. Rose/bondholders accountable for who they sell to? Possible to take legal action?
o Concerned about blight in the Pine Hills.
o Concern for the ability of businesses to stay open
o Who has to approve the sale of the properties? Attorney General?
o Who will keep the college accountable to the students that are impacted?
o Concerns that the bondholders will be in default.
o There has been a lack of transparency, and there needs to be answers on what actions the College is taking.
o Is there a representative from the city to be a representative on CSR board of trustees.
o Concerns over developers taking control over the area driving up costs of living.
o Concern over security of vacant buildings once buildings are empty. Is there a plan with police and fire department?
· Zoning: Zoning is what it is, until it is changed. The current properties MU Campus Institution
· Colleges that have closed - Trinity College
Shop Upper Madison Week: Support Local Business
Shop Local
Following the news of The College of Saint Rose’s closure, the businesses of Upper Madison deserve to be reminded that they are surrounded by a neighborhood of loyal customers who will support them with or without college students. Let’s institute a Shop Upper Madison Week.
Between Dec.31-Jan.6, let’s spend our consumer dollars micro-locally, from grocery shopping to meals out, from getting our caffeine fix to getting our hair done to updating our paraphernalia for our newly purchased legal weed. Steamer 10 Theatre has not one but two events that week, and the Madison Theatre will have a full slate of films for movie lovers. We have a vibrant streetscape, but as we know (with the recent closing of CVS), it takes just an announcement or two for the pendulum swing toward more darkened storefronts.
So. keep the holiday spirit going into the following year by re-establishing some walkable habits and perhaps creating new ones. Our efforts may go a long way to keeping our commercial strip flourishing – and may entice other businesses to take notice. Our local shops are one of the many reasons the Pine Hills neighborhood is such a special place to live. The Upper Madison Businesses & Services Directory, along with maps and information about self guided walking tours of Pine Hills, is available in the lobby of the Pine Hills Library.
Upper Madison Group
Madison Ave Promenade Installation
By now I'm sure everybody has noticed, there's been a lot of progress on the Promenade installation in front of the Madison Ave Market 32. And it's not done yet.
Roger K Reid and I, princeHerman, were approached initially in 2019 by the Upper Madison Group to think about how one might improve the stretch of sidewalk in front of the Market 32 parking lot. Necessary repair work was creating the opportunity to implement improvements.
In mid 2020, we were tasked by a collaboration between the city, business groups, and neighborhood groups to create a zero maintenance space that was more inviting. Funding was from several sources including civic grants, private and commercial fundraising.
A few additional parameters constraining the design included: 1) decisions about the wall were in the hands of Price Chopper and the property owner. 2)Watering and maintenance of plantings have logistical limitations. 3) And realistic considerations of city living had to be considered, like ease of debris clean up.
Our design to temper the environment along the stretch utilizes the pergolas provide shading in summer and windbreaks in winter, however not enough protection as a shelter for folks to camp. The benches that will be installed, probably in December are also to short for sleeping, but arranged to encourage socializing.
Tables will be placed in the four smaller structures to provide outdoor dining that supports the local businesses.
The central pergola is a stage for buskers, spoken word and other performers. And I've been thrilled to see it already getting used before the furnishings have even been installed.
CVS is probably going to be another drug store, conversations are ongoing.
The laundromat will be a cannabis dispensary.
For those folks that have different opinions on use of the space, we held several well publicized meetings to encourage public input on how to revitalize the area for residents and businesses while on a very small construction budget and zero maintenance budget.
With regards to who will use the space, WE WELCOME ALL, residents, groups, differently abled, and currently unhoused people.
It is worth noting at this point that our neighborhood includes a wide varied demographics; ethnicities, religions, physical and mental abilities, and economics. The neighborhood includes numerous housing situations, from gracious single family homes, flats and apartments, group homes serving special needs including refugees, folks with physical and mental disabilities and it is particularly this variation of housing situations that foster use of the promenade.
And we look forward to the community enjoying the space while the businesses reap the benefits of a revitalized streetscape.
If you’d like to be a part of these improvements and support the neighbood, we are still seeking bench sponsors at the silver level. Information can be found here: https://uppermadison.org/promenade.
Hudson Avenue Project makes needed repairs while adding trees and grass to Midtown Pine Hills!
An exciting transformation is taking place on two blocks of Hudson Avenue between Ontario Street and South Lake Avenue. This project includes approximately 50 new trees, replacement/repair of sidewalks, new curbing and repaving of the street surface. This project, now under construction, is a combination of PHNA’s $50,000 ARPA demonstration project award for Street Trees & Greenery with other City resources for streets and sidewalks (roughly 10 times that amount). It includes approximately 50 new trees, additional grassy areas, replacement/repair of sidewalks, new curbing, and repaving of the street surface. PHNA was successful in gaining a demonstration component of this project to restore grass between sidewalk and curb on one of the blocks (between Quail and South Lake). We will work to ensure its success and hopefully this approach can be applied to other projects in residential neighborhoods. Learn more HERE.
Washington Park Traffic Study
PHNA has supported this draft study, released in May 2022. Our MEMO on the draft Washington Park Area Complete Streets Study supports this study generally and comments specifically on one recommendation that most directly affects our neighborhood. Recommendation 9 concerns the western side of the Park near Hudson and South Lake, calling for closure of the park roadway south of the Lake to vehicle traffic and for improvements to the pedestrian crossing at Hudson and South Lake. While very supportive of that recommendation, the draft also suggested that the traffic signal at Hudson and South Lake might be removed, which we would be strongly concerned about. We hope that notation is removed from the final report. We are still awaiting the final report, but are encouraged in that Mayor Sheehan’s State of the City address in January 2023 promised a Vehicle Free Zone surrounding Washington Park (the major change in Recommendation 9). We hope the final study will be released soon and that implementation can begin.
The Lofts at Pine Hills: Apartment/Mixed Use project fronting on Quail Street & Western Avenue
We are hopeful that construction will commence soon on the “Lofts at Pine Hills” project, which preceded through the demolition and excavation phases but was stalled by rising interest rates. It is currently expected that the development will go forward following reconfiguration of the investment group and that building construction will begin in the fall of 2023. PHNA has supported this project, originally put forth in 2019 (& known as “237 Western Avenue) through two iterations before the Planning Board.. The project was reconfigured after initial approval since soil conditions made the original plan for parking garages under the buildings untenable. It includes two four-story mixed use buildings with 83 residential units and approximately 6000 square feet of commercial space. The site will include 69 parking spaces, lighting, landscaping, and a stormwater management system. View renderings of the project here or access the full project files here.
Academy Station Post Office
PHNA worked with local, state and federal representatives to help preserve the Academy Station Post Office. Here is our memorandum on the issue.