SamPratt.com

TCI to Coeymans, at least temporarily

Image: Bing Maps

The Albany Times-Union is reporting that TCI of NY, whose PCB-processing facility in Ghent was incinerated in a calamitous fire last August, has “set up temporary shop at the Port of Coeymans.”

Billing itself as “environmentally friendly” (mainly on the basis that barges are less polluting than trucks), the 12-year-old port is roughly 10 miles south of Albany, and directly across the Hudson River from Schodack Landing. As the aerial photograph shows, the Port is also near the Thruway, and located not far from some densely-populated neighborhoods. And it’s barely a half-mile from the Lafarge cement plant in Ravena.

The company told the T-U that they are operating “on a temporary basis in Coeymans while we continue to evaluate our long-term opportunities. A permanent facility in the Port of Coeymans is among the opportunities we are considering, and we have submitted a site plan to the Coeymans Planning Board for its review.” They refused, however, to explain how their operation would compare to their now-scorched Ghent business.

The article lists other sites still on the company’s radar in counties including Saratoga, Washington and Rensselaer (including East Greenbush , Rensselaer and Schodack), and states that returning to Ghent is still a possibility.

Prior to the Ghent fire, accidents at TCI included a worker’s onsite death from freon exposure; a failed incenerator proposal; a transformer explosion at their temporary home in Greenport; and another major fire at their Newburgh plant. At one point between their stints in Newburgh and Greenport, the company tried to move to Athens, but opposition from firefighters and residents squelched that plan.

The Coeymans Planning Board meets next on July 1st at 7 pm at 18 Russell Avenue, according to the Town’s website.

 

Hudson Bits & Bites

Photo: New York Locations

• In addition to the Allen Street School, controversial developer T. Eric Galloway is said to be closing in on a deal for at least one other Eleanor Ambos property in Hudson: the vast Pocketbook Factory. Ambos also owns the former Elks Club (the large Italianate building at Union and 6th, which used to have a bowling alley in the basement). There is some indication that she is liquidating her local holdings.
• Title insurer Jim Monahan told this site today that contrary to some reports, the title work he has done for the City of Hudson was performed at no charge; and that until very late in the process he was never asked to answer questions about the Standard Oil site. Rather, Monahan says that his brief from the City was relatively narrow, and that he had been unaware of debates taking place at meetings and online over the status of the Standard Oil site until his pro bono work came under fire. He added that in conversation with Crawford & Associates, he was told that they had “not even started” their environmental review of the proposed acreage; and that he does not have an opinion at this point on the ownership of the 4.4 acres identified by The Valley Alliance as likely being owned by the City of Hudson, rather than by Holcim. 
• Work on Food Studio, a new Asian-influenced restaurant in the 600 block, continues steadily, with hopes of a summer opening.
• Four properties owned by artist David Deutsch, who at one point was contemplating an ambitious northside redevelopment plan with architect Teddy Cruz, hit the MLS recently. These include the former Nicole Fiacco gallery (once the VFW), the cinderblock across from the Opera House (formerly Mark McDonald’s 330 gallery, and before that Harold’s Lounge), and the two empty lots between them, which look like one lot. The asking price for all four is $1.6 million.

A bunch more bricks in the (Galvan) wall

Two well-informed 1st Ward sources report that developer T. Eric Galloway has, as widely rumored in town, a deal in place to purchase the 10,000-square-foot former Allen Street School in Hudson. Galloway also recently purchased the former House of Beauty building in the 400 block at a somewhat controversial City auction of foreclosed properties.

The building’s educational facade gives little hint of the staggering interior spaces, which feature very high ceilings and views of the River. There are four large loftlike rooms on the second floor each with a large side coatroom, a ballroom-like space and more large rooms on the main floor, plus a vast basement and attic.

The current owner, Eleanor Ambos, replaced the remains of several crumbling staircases with makeshift steps and bricked in the front entrance, while holding the property empty for over a decade. The overall feeling in its current condition is of being in an abandoned Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) or Havana mansion.

Galvan Initiatives Fund advisor Rick Scalera is also known to have performed some property management duties for Ambos, keeping things all in the political family.

One could readily imagine any number of functions for such a building, but given the warehousing and snail’s-pace renovations at many Galloway properties, this one could be another decade before it is put to any productive use.

The Valley Alliance investigates...

... and turns up some startling information, at this link.

Imagine if someone came into your home and said, “Hey—nice TV. I’ll let you have it if I can hang out, watch hockey and raid your fridge for the next 50 years.” Most people would tell that person to take a hike. 

Yet it appears that’s exactly what Holcim may be doing in this latest Hudson Waterfront mess.