Park South transformation, in progress
It's been interesting to watch the Park South redevelopment project in Albany take shape. The two blocks of new buildings are significantly transforming the look and feel of the New Scotland Avenue corridor between Albany Med and Washington Park. (The first residential units are scheduled to be available this summer.)
When we stopped by during the last week it looked like the last remaining old building was the Bank of America branch at New Scotland and Morris. So, with that reference point still in place, it seemed like a good time for an in-progress before and after.
Here's a large-format "dissolving" photo of how the corridor looked in June of 2013 versus how it looks now...
Look up
The dissolving photo is above in large format -- click or scroll all the way up.
Earlier
+ Gawking at the progress of the Park South redevelopment project
+ Park South redevelopment plan gets final OK
+ The big plan for residential and retail redevelopment in Albany's Park South
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Comments
Where did Quintessence ultimately end up? Scrapyard?
... said ace on May 5, 2016 at 2:41 PM | link
I'd love a dissolving photo looking up Myrtle & Morris Ave. I think that's where the biggest change is!
... said AlbanyJen on May 5, 2016 at 3:27 PM | link
Glad to see they got rid of those pesky trees.
... said Mike D on May 5, 2016 at 3:48 PM | link
I've been silently on board with that Albany Med wanted to do with the space they bought; in terms of program.
Unfortunately, the first thing that view reminded me of is what you see off the elevated highway when driving through Worcester or Hartford. Not something a capital city should be striving for...
... said Naylor on May 5, 2016 at 3:53 PM | link
Sorry to comment again, but ugh those front windows closest in the perspective, damn, thats cringe worthy. As a designer myself I ask, whats the point of even hiring an architect. And shame on the architect for being so generic. You're basically designing a building like your designing a website on squarespace.
... said Naylor on May 5, 2016 at 4:17 PM | link
I'm going to miss that Bank of America branch. So many good memories there. Like the time a incredibly intoxicated woman stumbled out of Quintessence, latched onto my arm and demanded that we empty out my accounts and get married. Or the several times I tried to park my car there in the afternoon only to find a drunk guy passed out in the middle of the parking lot obstructing traffic. Or the many times I was greeted by a large pile of vomit in front of the ATM after hours.
Still, despite those follies, the staff there couldn't have been any friendlier and always delivered top notch customer service.
Park South Bank of America, you are an Albany gem.
... said Alex on May 6, 2016 at 1:44 PM | link
Lol.....every Time I looked at that Bank of America building I just kept thinking to myself about what the meeting must have been like when some idiot ok"d its construction " looks great! Should be a standout building for our company" ......HOW does crap like that EVER get built.????I even laughed that it seems to be the last thing to come down.....I kept thinking some preservation group was protecting it as an example of completely horrible American architecture.....no wont be missing that for one second.....agree it would have been nice to keep a few trees though.....more than anything I can't wait until some people move in and give the area some human(non violent-non vomiting) activity......I keep praying that somebody will fix the corner building with Madison across from the park and then the momentum will continue throughout the city......"dear God in heaven allow me to enjoy Albany as a rejuvenated city for even just a little while before I die".....please don't want to hear how great it was when you could previously score some heroin needles in this neighborhood back in the day and you yearn for those good old days again!
... said BS on May 6, 2016 at 5:31 PM | link
The trees are gone but the ugly telephone poles remain.
... said Bullwinkle on May 9, 2016 at 11:43 AM | link
One of the buildings has a big ol' Bank of America banner stretching over multiple windows, so it looks like BoA is going to move into one of the new buildings too. The last time I was down there the ATM was locked off, which I take to mean that the old building is closed for good and going to get torn down with the rest of it.
Good to see Albany building more housing, now that people are starting to move back in. Way too many cities seem to get stuck unable to build due to hostile neighbors.
... said Daniel on May 16, 2016 at 9:00 PM | link