The ambitious plan to Make Albany Great Again

During last year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, ESPN commentator Rebecca Lobo became the sworn enemy of every proud Albanian when she quipped, “Good luck finding something to do in Albany.” Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch famously criticized the city’s lack of good Chinese food. Even locals (rightfully) call it “Smallbany.” Small businesses and longtime residents aren’t impressed with the state of the state’s capital city, and some politicos view it as a kind of prison. The city of Albany suffers from a hobbled economy, an overburdened housing market, concerns around public safety, crumbling infrastructure and, worst of all, a perception problem. But change could be coming. The place that lawmakers, lobbyists, operatives, staffers and journalists all choose to call home is set to get a makeover, and an expensive one at that.

In her State of the State address in January, Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed a $400 million redevelopment plan for downtown Albany. The plan has been met with skepticism at worst and relief at best; politically, there isn’t any real opposition to speak of, as lawmakers sort out dealing with a new federal government and the regular chaos trickling upriver from New York City. Hochul’s proposal, which includes $150 million to renovate the New York State Museum and $200 million for unspecified downtown projects, aims to change the state capital’s perception. But is this injection of money and a still-to-be-determined set of projects enough to Make Albany Great Again?

Upstate redevelopment

The issues that Albany faces aren’t so unique. Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic upheaval that followed, many cities have faced a set of cascading problems. It’s not quite a doom loop, but there is a palpable sense in neighborhoods like downtown Albany that the overall quality of life has stagnated, if not declined. It’s one thing for New Yorkers to poke fun, but it’s another when the city is used as a national punching bag.

When you can compare Albany to its neighbors along or across the Hudson River, its status gets even more puzzling. “People in this region at least have seen Troy and Schenectady make big leaps forward, like downtown Troy has been kind of transformed since when I got here, it’s in so much better shape than it was, and the same is true of Schenectady,” Times Union columnist Chris Curchill told City & State. “And then you look at Albany, it’s like, if it’s not going backward, it seems to be at least stuck in gear, you know?”

Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency, put out a request for proposals shortly after the governor announced her plan. Identifying a “lack of vibrancy” in the neighborhood, the agency is looking for a consultant who can recommend a plan for large-scale development within a one-mile radius of the state Capitol and lead a robust public outreach campaign. Looking at the RFP, it’s clear that nothing is set in stone, but nothing is off the table either.

There are a few ideas already brewing – including the creation of a minor league soccer stadium and entertainment complex in what’s referred to as “the parking lot district” in downtown Albany. That proposal has received a mixed reception since being announced last summer, but it is the furthest developed and tidiest option currently available. There is also an appetite to convert downtown office space for housing or other uses. Albany County Executive Dan McCoy is considering shifting county buildings to developers and relocating government operations to the former College of Saint Rose campus.

The white whale of Albany redevelopment may be a revamp of Interstate 787, an auxiliary highway that runs from just south of Albany up to Cohoes. The windy structure has few fans given its poor condition and the difficulty of navigating it, not to mention its complete erasure of what could be the city’s waterfront district. Hochul included $35 million in her proposal to study the highway’s future, which would be a first step toward finally doing something.

The New York State Museum has regularly been championed by lawmakers like state Sen. Patricia Fahy, who represents the city. A usual destination for school trips, the museum has been criticized for remaining stagnant, and some visitors who bring their children recall seeing the exact same exhibits as when they were kids. Fahy pushed for funding to both maintain the building and update its offerings. Fahy was delighted to hear that the governor’s proposal will include $150 million to give the museum a new lease on life. “I had just left a Department of Education meet-and-greet and missed a call from Chris Churchill at the TU,” Fahy said. “I called him back on my way to another press interview, and when he said $400 million, I said, ‘Chris, I’m glad I’m on Central Avenue because I think I would have ridden off the road if I was on the highway.”

The notion of investing in downtown Albany’s redevelopment came together in December when local officials met with Hochul and members of her administration at a reception at the Executive Mansion. McCoy recalled being gobsmacked at the collection of names who met to share their ideas of how to improve Albany. Like most in local politics, though, he wasn’t expecting an investment of this magnitude to be focused specifically on the city’s needs. “I’m like, ‘Great, this is going to be about the Capitol Region, and we’re not going to get that much money,’” McCoy said. “But to see what she did at that dinner, she took time and went from table to table every 15 minutes and talked to people and said, ‘What can I do to fix Albany? What do you see that could give tangible results? What can be done to help us get this right?’ I was speechless, because I’m like, this is about the city.”

Over the past 15 years, New York’s largest upstate cities have each received some form of large-scale investment, massive infrastructure redesign or the arrival of a large company. The Buffalo Billion, though its overall impact is still debated, gave Buffalo the opportunity to inject $1 billion into its economy. The state Department of Transportation is in the process of tearing down I-81 in Syracuse, which has separated communities for decades (and nearby Clay is receiving a Micron semiconductor plant projected to generate 50,000 jobs). Rochester’s ROC the Riverway plan has received steady backing and funding from the state, though not the entirety of the $500 million initially proposed. Amid all the economic redevelopment happening upstate, Albany officials had begun to wonder when it would finally be their turn.

Albany’s last big project was the creation of Empire State Plaza, which began under then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in the 1960s. A massive undertaking at the time, it is now almost universally viewed as one of the most destructive moments in the city’s history – displacing an entire neighborhood in the name of urban renewal while forever separating Center Square and downtown Albany. A new injection of redevelopment funding, with a more positive outcome, would mean a lot to the city, especially given how things have gone in the decades since the plaza’s installation finished in 1976.

Crime and disorder

Like much of the state, Albany has seen a statistical drop in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, but for many residents and visitors, the city doesn’t feel safe. The start of the year has already seen a string of shootings in downtown Albany, with one taking place near Hochul’s Executive Mansion, and it isn’t uncommon to see bullet holes dotting storefronts in the area. In addition to worrying about crime, some local business owners are also concerned about the city’s large homeless population, some of whom also may suffer from untreated mental illnesses and/or substance use disorders.

On a morning walking tour of downtown Albany, Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight and state Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy listened to a local business owner put a fine point on it. “It drives their clients to be uncomfortable, and it drives the employees to be uncomfortable with just trying to go out and walk the city streets,” said Keith Mahler, owner of Maurice’s Deli. “You get tired of it every day, day in and day out, the vagrant and immigrant people that have been supported by federal and state agencies, and the lack of support for our own home base is kind of frustrating for them as well. We’re tired of seeing us not being taken care of versus everyone else being taken care of.”

Though Hochul included $1 million for public safety measures in the city in her proposal, the issue isn’t one that can be fixed solely at the state level, at least not with money. The Albany Police Department has been understaffed for some time, which outgoing Mayor Kathy Sheehan has tried to address as she nears the end of her tenure. Sheehan has also suggested that the surge in the city’s homeless population is due to people in Albany County coming to the city of Albany in search of social services. Hochul has maintained that Albany’s perception as a “crime-ridden city” is inaccurate, though she also said that “perception is reality” following an Albany public safety roundtable in February.

McGeary’s Irish Pub, a local watering hole popular with longtime residents and politicos, has had its own run-ins with danger. In November, an ejected patron threw a patio chair through the bar’s windows and front door, and in January, a man slashed a bartender with glass after being asked to leave. But owner Tess Collins told City & State that, while she understands the issue that public safety represents, it’s hardly a reason to stay away from the city. “People in suburbia don’t come to Albany because of their fear, when I feel more fearful going to the mall,” she said.

Albany is essentially the company town of the state government, with most people only a few degrees of separation away from state government and politics through their social circles or family. With the rise of remote and hybrid work, agency and state office buildings that would normally be bursting with employees are usually half full. It’s estimated that the drop off is costing small-business owners millions each year as hybrid workweeks remain the norm. In their absence, the segment of the population that benefits from living near their workplace has shrunk.

Albany is also in greater need of affordable housing, though Capital District Association of Rental Property Owners President Roland Nzaou said that the city’s lack of accessible parking coupled and bleak disposition are so off-putting that it hinders development. “The presence of homelessness, litter and poorly maintained infrastructure, such as potholes, negatively impacts property values in the area,” Nzaou said. “When homes and neighborhoods near downtown are perceived as unsafe or unattractive, homeowners and investors are less likely to invest in the area. This creates a cycle of decline that affects the entire community.”

It’s almost a catch-22. Increasing foot traffic might restore a sense of safety to downtown Albany and spur further investment, but to increase foot traffic, the neighborhood needs an increase in investment and for the streets to feel safer.

Trapped in Albany

Albany’s biggest problem may be that it’s just not particularly appealing to some people, especially when compared to larger cities. Three separate people described Albany as a “prison” to City & State, and a fourth called it a “gulag.”

Political consultant Morgan Hook said people are liable to turn their nose up at Albany, though he dismissed some of it as downstate snobbishness. “Honestly, I think some of it is also like, all right, so you can’t get Chinese food at 3 in the morning and pick up your dry cleaning in six hours. Like, fucking get over it,” Hook said.

Albany has a well-received culinary scene, and, though the Rain-Bo Room and the city’s Prohibition-era excess is just a distant memory, its nightlife holds its own compared to the rest of the region. That being said, if you’re a visitor, your entry into the city is a decaying eyesore of a bus station.

Former Assembly Member Kenny Burgos attended the University at Albany before entering government and still remembers it vividly, particularly the abandoned McDonald’s at the corner of South Pearl Street and Madison Avenue that greets newcomers. “McDonald’s closed down. Do you know how bad economically an area has to be for a McDonald’s to close?” Burgos asked. “I certainly took (the bus) as a college student, and I would say that Greyhound station would make Penn Station in New York City look like the Ritz Carlton in some ways. It is a very questionable area to arrive in, certainly not a welcoming arrival port if you’re coming by bus.”

There are more structures like that throughout the city, like Central Warehouse and the dormant College of Saint Rose. The confluence of negativity around Albany can leave young professionals and empty nesters – key demographics to liven up a city’s downtown – with little incentive to move to or even visit the city, other than its comparative affordability.

But after living and working in the city for over 30 years, lobbyist David Weinraub said Albany should just embrace its reputation. “We’re not trendy, we’re not cool, we’re not gentrified. We defy all that,” he said.

Up until the mid-1970s, no one had even bothered to officially designate Albany the state’s capital city. Former Assembly Member Richard Gottfried recalled that when state lawmakers finally moved to remedy that, one Bronx lawmaker asked, “Why would we make Albany the state capital (when) every time I’ve been here, it’s winter?”

Politicians who represent Albany and the region have little patience for such ignorant criticism. Assembly Member Gabriella Romero, the newest addition to the state Legislature’s Capitol Region delegation, said if you can’t find ways to keep yourself entertained in Albany, then you’re to blame. “Albany is vibrant. Albany is eclectic. Albany is vivacious,” Romero said. “If there’s nothing to do on the weekends or in the evenings, maybe you’re boring, or you have nothing to do, or you’re weird.”

Whatever their feelings about Albany, state lawmakers haven’t objected to the state’s planned $400 million investment into the city. That could just be because the redevelopment plan hasn’t materialized beyond an RFP, but it could also be because lawmakers and their staff have to work in Albany and would prefer for the city that half of their professional calendar revolves around to be at its best.

Republican state Sen. Jacob Ashby and Assembly Member John T. McDonald III, who represent the Capitol Region, told City & State that they like the governor’s proposal, especially since it would court private investment, in addition to injecting state funds into the neighborhood. State Sen. James Sanders Jr., a Democrat representing Queens, said the city’s need for investment was clear as day, and his only concern is that the public may not get the proper input.

The broad support – or at least lack of pushback – that the governor’s proposal is enjoying may be the result of a new cross-regional understanding of Albany’s needs. With so much of Albany’s real estate tied up in tax-exempt government properties, the city misses out on revenue it dearly needs. “Why are we giving Albany more money? Like, no, you’re giving the people who are here year-round a shot in the arm that’s been sorely needed,” political consultant Joe Bonilla said. “Albany has been going through almost like an economic development sepsis. You’re providing, finally, the way for Albany to actually begin to recover and thrive. We have the tools to do it.”

For some who find themselves drawn to or contractually obligated to come to Albany, this is the biggest city they’ll ever live in, where they’ll settle permanently, possibly even where they will eventually die. While the city’s issues run deep, there’s also hope that a facelift could at least change the common perception of Albany, spurring a renaissance as the state’s capital city tries to become a more desirable place to live and do business. “You know, we’re not doing bad,” said Collins, the owner of McGeary’s Irish Pub. “We just need to get out of this rut.”