Items tagged with 'Albany Warehouse District'
Follow up: Fort Orange Brewing
AOA is on summer break. So we'll have new follow-ups with people we've met and covered during the last year.
Fort Orange Brewing became Albany's third operating brewery when it opened in a space on North Pearl Street in the Warehouse District last October. It's the product of three friends from Castleton -- Craig Johnson, John Westcott, and Jim Eaton -- who decided to make the jump from home brewing.
The space serves as both a brewery and taproom, and on a recent Wednesday night it was busy with people playing in the brewery's popular cornhole league.
"We're very pleased with where we're at being nine months into this thing," Jim Eaton told us a few days later as we talked about how things have gone for the startup brewery -- and their plans to keep growing...
A look around the new Vintage House in Albany
The new Vintage House tapas bar/gastropub on Broadway next to Wolff's in Albany's Warehouse District had its grand opening this past weekend. The project -- in the works for more than two years -- is a remarkable transformation of what had been had been a rough, old warehouse and garage space.
Here's a little bit about what's up, and a photo tour....
A look around the new Fort Orange Brewing
The new Albany brewery -- Fort Orange Brewing -- officially opened Wednesday afternoon.
Its space, a combination brewery/tap room, is on North Pearl Street in the Warehouse District. Six of its brews were on tap, along with cider from Nine Pin.
Fort Orange Brewing is the product of Craig Johnson, John Westcott, and Jim Eaton. The three friends from Castleton started brewing at home together a few years back and decided to make the jump to a full brewery. As Eaton told us back in August, the plan is to offer their beers in the tap room, along with snacks. They'll also be inviting food trucks to set up outside. Eaton said the goal is to create a family-friendly atmosphere.
It's the third brewery now operating in the city of Albany, joining the C. H. Evans Brewing (the Pump Station) and Druthers. The craft beverage producer list also includes Albany Distilling Co. and Nine Pin Cider.
Here's a look around the new place...
Fort Orange Brewing
Albany's Warehouse District is in line to add another craft beverage producer this fall with the planned opening of Fort Orange Brewing.
Here's a quick overview of what's in the works and who's involved...
What's up with that plan for a new food hall in Albany's Warehouse District
The food hall is one of the hot food/dining concepts around the country at the moment, and it's popped up here, too -- in Troy with Troy Kitchen, and Latham with Galleria 7.
There's another new-school food court on the way: GoodMRKT -- "Good Market" -- planned for the Nipper Building conversion in Albany's Warehouse District. Word of the project first surfaced in late 2015 as part of the state's Regional Economic Development Council grant process.
Roughly a year and a half later the project is still on, and the backer is planning to open later this year.
Here are a few bits about what's up...
Big new Albany residential construction project get OK to move ahead
The plan to build a new 100-unit residential project at 760 Broadway in Albany got the OK to move ahead about the city planning board Wednesday evening.
The has been making its way through the planning process since this past January. Details related to storm water management at the site had been the last item to be squared away before site plan approval. (The project will include the installation of a new sewer line that will keep storm water out of the city's combined sewer.)
In the wider picture of the ongoing boom in downtown Albany residential, the 760 Broadway project is notable because it and another project at 191 N. Pearl Street (18 units) are the first new-construction residential projects in the downtown/Warehouse District area in many years. (Though if you consider the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood as being downtown, the Habitat/Housing Visions redevelopment project would also qualify.)
Here are a few more details about 760 Broadway...
Nine Pin expanding its production capacity in Albany Warehouse District
Nine Pin Cider Works is expanding cider-making facility in Albany's Warehouse District, and it'll be
This expansion has been in the works for a while -- you might remember the state awarded it $100k in the last round of Regional Economic Development Council grants in December. And the company has been posting updated on its Facebook page -- here's a quick video of one of the seven new 6,000-gallon fermentation tanks being installed. (The expanded production facility also makes large apple juice deliveries easier.)
The official announcement came Friday via a Cuomo admin press release. A clip:
Nine Pin Ciderworks will expand its operations by 7,000 square-feet at its leased facility in Albany's warehouse district; investing $511,000 to upgrade its fermentation and aging processes to increase cider production by 20 percent. Through Governor Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Council initiative, Empire State Development is providing a $100,000 grant to support the purchase of new equipment and machinery and leasehold improvements as part of the company's expansion of operations. Nine Pin has made a commitment to retain six current employees and create seven new full-time jobs with the completion of this project.
Nine Pin started building out its Albany facility in 2013. And it was the state's first farm cidery, a special license that smooths the way for a cidery to operate if it sources its apples from New York. (There are similar farm distillery and farm brewery licenses.) Nine Pin gets its apples from orchards right here in the greater Capital Region, including Samascott in Kinderhook.
The facility open house on Saturday is part of Hudson Valley Cider Week.
Nine Pin advertises on AOA.
Updates on a few Albany residential conversion projects in the works
The area stretching from downtown Albany to the Warehouse District continues to ferment and bubble with residential projects as those neighborhoods slowly change.
Here's a quick update on a couple of projects...
Making Nipper a landmark -- officially
Chuck Schumer was in town today calling for the National Park Service and the State Historic Preservation Office to add 991 Broadway in Albany's Warehouse District -- and the Nipper statue that sits atop it -- to the National Register of Historic Places.
You might be thinking: Wait, isn't there a residential redevelopment project in the works for that building? And haven't the backers of that project said they intend to keep the exterior -- and Nipper -- pretty much as is?
And the answers to those questions are: yes and yes. So why the push for the designation if Nipper isn't, in the words of Schumer's office, in line to be "ruffed" up?
A few more bits about the Nipper Building conversion, and other residential conversions
The proposal to convert the Nipper Building in Albany's Warehouse District into residential and retail space was up before the city planning board for the first time Thursday evening.
Here are a few more bits about the project, and others like it...
Residential conversion planned for Nipper Building, and another residential redev for downtown Albany
A plan to convert 991 Broadway in Albany's Warehouse District -- AKA, the building on which Nipper sits -- to apartments and retail space is on the agenda for the city planning board next Thursday.
The proposed project would create 65-75 residential units on the building's upper floors, with 7,750 square feet of retail space on the first floor. To go along with the conversion, there'd be approximately 156 parking spaces (some of which would be used by 960 Broadway). From the project's planning board application:
No significant exterior alterations to the Nipper building are proposed. It would be anticipated that facade restoration, general window repair, replacement and new general cleanup of the site will occur. Interior alterations include structural repairs, new enclosed exit stairs, build-out of apartments and commercial space and parking garage. The single sort building adjacent to the Nipper building [to the south] is proposed to be demolished and ancillary parking provided.
We have a call in with the applicant and we're hoping to find out more.
The building is big -- more than 100,000 square feet -- and includes a courtyard cutout in the middle. It's currently used primarily by the Arnoff Moving and Storage Company, and it's been up for sale since December 2014.
Approvals for Warehouse District projects, and a potential complication
Two projects in fermenting Albany's Warehouse District -- the 24-unit residential/restaurant conversion in the old liquor warehouse building at 960 Broadway, and the wine bar in the building next to Wolff's -- got site plan approvals from the city planning board Thursday night. (The approvals are conditional on a handful of reviews for things like sewers, traffic, and street trees.)
So, here's a little bit more info about that wine bar project -- and also a quick look at an issue that could potentially complicate development in the neighborhood.
Warehouse District wine bar, new supermarket among plans up for review in Albany
A plan for a new wine bar in a space along Broadway in Albany's Warehouse District is among a group of notable projects on the agenda for the city planning board meeting on February 18.
So, let's have a look at some of the details.
The next shapes of the Warehouse District and Central Ave
The first "module" of the Rezone Albany project, and there are two public meetings coming up to review it.
Zoning might not sound like the most exciting thing, but it plays a in role all sorts topics. Examples? Well, this first chunk of the project (technical term) describes new zoning districts and potential uses -- so there are proposed rules for marijuana dispensaries, urban agriculture, food trucks, electric vehicle charging stations, and live-work spaces.
But the stuff that will probably first catch your eye are proposed special mixed-use districts for the Warehouse District and Central Ave.
So, let's have a quick look at those...
Rose refreshed
We noticed this week that the prominent rose mural gracing the side of an office building on Broadway in Albany's Warehouse District was looking a bit brighter. And it turns out the mural recently got a refresh. (Here's how it looked last year.)
In one of those coincidences of fate, the artist who painted the mural almost two decades ago was Casiano del Peral -- the father of Nine Pin Cider Works founder Alejandro del Peral. As you know, the cidery opened a few years back in a building right below the mural. And Casiano was the one back on the scaffolding to refresh the rose.
Nine Pin advertises on AOA.
Checking out Huck Finn's Playland
Last fall, my family visited Hoffman's Playland during its final weekend. The mood was as somber as it gets at an amusement park. The Playland was being sold after over 60 years in business, and at that point there were no known plans for saving any aspect of the park. The land was headed to commercial development, the rides to auction.
Hoffman's Playland was woven into the childhood memories of anyone who grew up in the Capital Region. It was the place to celebrate good report cards and birthdays, the place where we overcame fears, laughed with our families, ate too much cotton candy, grew up. It was a place we hoped our children and grandchildren would know and love. The thought of losing the Playland broke many hearts.
Just as the rides were set to be sold, Huck Finn's Warehouse announced that it would be buying all of the rides and opening a park adjacent to its furniture store in Albany's Warehouse District.
Huck Finn's Playland opened to the public last Thursday. I went by to check it out on Friday (with my 4-year-old Playland fan in tow, of course). We rode the train and the carousel together, she took the boats for a spin and made new friends on the mini ferris wheel. She got a chocolate-vanilla twist soft serve which melted all over her dress. She was a ball of glee.
So, how does Huck Finn's Playland compare to Hoffman's Playland?
One version of the next Warehouse District
Quick follow-up on the Albany Warehouse District rezoning project: The consultants who were in town last week to study the neighborhood, talk with people, and start roughing out new guidelines for the Warehouse District presented some of their work at a public event Friday evening.
The presentation included what might be possible in the neighborhood with new design standards -- and the potential transformation is significant.
A couple of the renderings are after the jump, along with a few quick bits.
The Warehouse District and thinking about change
We stopped into the public workshop about rezoning Albany's Warehouse District Tuesday evening. It was interesting to hear people talk about their aspirations and concerns for a neighborhood that appears poised for a possible transition to something different. And if anything, it was heartening to see so many people -- more than 50, easily -- commit a few hours to discussing the future of their city on a beautiful summer evening.
Many of the ideas expressed will sound familiar: a desire for walkability, waterfront access, mixed-use housing, boulevarding 787, ways of possibly fostering businesses that draw on the arts, a supermarket. There was also a notable segment of people who wanted to make sure industrial businesses aren't pushed out.
This intensive look at the neighborhood continues through Friday, when there's another public session to discuss some of the work produced by the zoning consultants this week. So we'll probably circle back around to this topic again in the near future because there are a bunch of interesting threads.
But here's one sort-of-big-picture thought we had while listening Tuesday night...
A look inside the new Druthers Albany location
The new Druthers brewery/restaurant in Albany's Warehouse District opens today. The location -- a renovated plumbing supply building -- is the third for the local company, which first opened in downtown Saratoga Springs in 2012 and also recently opened a location at the McGregor Links Country Club in Wilton.
We got a chance to see the new Albany space Monday -- here are a bunch of photos and a few bits.
What sort of place should Albany's Warehouse District be?
What's become known as the Warehouse District in Albany has a long history as an industrial area -- populated by foundries, factories, and breweries -- dating back more than a century.
But its future could look much different, in large part because people have started to view it as a scene for entertainment and residential, both now and in the near future.
So, what's possible in the Warehouse District? Or, to put the question a bit differently, what should be possible in the Warehouse District?
That's one of the questions people will be answering next week at an event focused on the future of the neighborhood.
"What would it take to turn this into..."
Maybe you've stood outside one of the Capital Region's many old, underused industrial buildings and thought: "What would it take to turn this into (insert thing)?"
Well, The Preservation League of New York and the Troy Architecture Program have provided some answers to that question. Specifically, they've provided some detailed answers -- about building condition, code issues, variances, and costs -- for what it would take to transform a handful of buildings in Albany, Troy, Schenectady, and Amsterdam.
The reports are the product of the Preservation's League's Industrial Heritage Reuse Project, which is aiming to find new uses for historic former industrial buildings. (As mentioned last summer.)
One example: 960 Broadway in Albany's Warehouse District, which a developer would like to flip to restaurant and residential space.
The Nipper building is for sale
For sale: 991 Broadway in Albany, AKA the Nipper building. List price: $3.975 million. Here's the listing brochure from Carrow Real Estate Services.
A tip of the hat to the Biz Review's Mike DeMasi, who was the first person we saw to point this out -- he reports that Arnoff Moving and Storage, the current owner, is looking to move to a more efficient facility. [Biz Review]
The Nipper building -- well, to be more specific, the large dog sitting atop it -- is the most prominent landmark in Albany's Warehouse District, a neighborhood that's heading in more of a restaurant/residential direction. And, at least on the surface, the 125,070-square-foot main building at 991 Broadway looks very much like it could be a candidate for redevelopment -- century-old warehouse spaces tend to make good residential conversions, the building has a courtyard cutout in the middle, and there would be ample space for parking.
The listing is very much pushing this idea: "Landmark Warehouse District Residential Redevelopment Opportunity," "Walk to Dining, Entertainment & Exciting Nightlife."
Another project bubbling in Albany's warehouse district
Via Steve Barnes comes word of another bar and brewery planned for Albany's warehouse district, this time in a building next to Wolff's on Broadway -- head over to Table Hopping for the details.
A few quick things:
+ The transformation of the warehouse district neighborhood continues. There's obvious potential there, but also some complications.
+ This bit of news starts to flesh out the story around Albany Brewing Co, which apparently has been in planning for a while. Albany Brewing would be the third brewery/cidery along that stretch, with Nine Pin already there and the Druthers brewery planned for just up Broadway.
+ How big is the market for craft breweries (and bars)? Over at Drink Drank recently, beer writer Craig Gravina (also of the Albany Ale Project) had some thoughts about this topic -- he thinks the beer market is "over-crowded." See also his thoughts earlier this year on "the beer bar saturation point."
Architecture gawking in Albany's warehouse district
The recently announced project to develop plans for reusing a handful of historic industrial buildings around the Capital Region -- and specifically, a very early plan for a restaurant/residential conversion on Broadway in Albany -- got us thinking (again) about Albany's warehouse district.
It's one of those areas that might necessarily jump out as a place with notable buildings, but there is interesting architecture there. And the neighborhood might have a lot of potential.
After the jump, a photo tour -- and a few thoughts on that potential.
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?