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Should the Central Warehouse building be demolished or should public funds be used to rehabilitate it?
- Tear it down
- Rehab it
Members of the Albany County Legislature are calling for Albany’s 11-story Central Warehouse building to be demolished following years of repeated failed attempts to rehabilitate the building.
In a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul and other state and federal leaders, Legislators Frank Mauriello and Paul Burgdorf requested that any public funds spent on “Albany’s greatest eyesore” go toward tearing it down and “starting from scratch.”
“Though it once served as ‘an impressive illustration of the progress and expansion that is taking place in Albany,’ Central Warehouse has more recently been described as ‘Albany’s greatest eyesore’ and the ‘ugliest building ever built in the state of New York,’” the Republican legislators wrote.
“The building earned these distinctions thanks to years of property neglect, mismanagement and government inaction.
"Leaving Central Warehouse standing is a sign of a failure for New York State, Albany County and the City of Albany.”
Built in 1927, the 40,000-square-foot building was originally a refrigeration warehouse. It has sat abandoned since the early 1990s.
A private developer came along decades later and poured over $1 million into cleaning the building in hopes of turning it into a residential and retail complex.
In July 2022, the City of Albany declared a state of emergency after chunks of the concrete wall began to fall near a rail line used by Amtrak. The incident halted passenger service west of Albany for three days.
The building’s owner, Evan Blum, later received a bill from the city for repair costs.
In October 2022, a judge ordered the property foreclosed and Albany County planned to convey it to a private developer for $50,000. However, skyrocketing costs have stalled that plan.
The county forgave $500,000 in back taxes to the current developers of the project, which was also awarded a $9.7 million state grant toward rehabilitation efforts.
Mauriello and Burgdorf said the developers have since asked for more public funding and have been billed nearly $500,000 by the City of Albany for the installation of safety netting.
The developers have even considered demolition themselves, they said.
“In government, we are elected to lead and leave behind a better legacy for future generations," they said.
"We encourage you and all of our colleagues at the state and federal levels of government to join us in advocating for the best course of action.
“Any public funds on the project should be used for one purpose – demolishing Central Warehouse.”
What Do You Think?
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