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By Tim O'Brien, Staff writer
On the shores of the Hudson River, replicas of famous
ships will sit in a new harbor beside a hotel, conference
center and aquariums filled with fish native to the
Capital Region.
This is the vision of developers behind a $470 million
project estimated to create 650 jobs, attract 1.3 million
visitors a year and generate a $48 million economic
impact.
Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno announced Thursday
he is providing $500,000 to develop a master plan for
the project. The developers behind the proposal helped
revitalize the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, Faneuil Hall
in Boston and a riverfront project now under construction
in Hartford, Conn.
"About 5 years from now, we will be gathered,
celebrating one of the greatest buildings in the Northeast,"
Bruno said.
Bruno said the elaborate plan is realistic, because
the developers involved "have done it before."
John Hannigan, one of the principals in the Hudson
River Group LLC, had worked with the Rouse Foundation
and Enterprise Development Co., which developed Faneuil
Hall in Boston and the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Both
are major waterfront development projects that are credited
with revitalizing those cities.
Other principals are Josiah J. "Cy" Kirby
and Pieter S. VanDerzee.
"They did their homework," Bruno said. "It's
going to happen, and it's going to happen over the next
several years."
The centerpiece would be a $150 million Hudson River
Heritage Center and four historic vessels, including
full-size replicas of the Fortune, a 17th-century ship
used in Hudson River trade; the Experiment, an 18th-century
sloop that was the first ship to sail from Albany to
China, in 1785; and the Monitor, a 19th-century Civil
War battleship whose iron sides were made in Troy. The
USS Albany, a nuclear submarine soon to be decommissioned,
will be part of the center.
A marina would be built and lined with shops, and an
outdoor performance center would also be constructed.
The $470 million figure is the projected cost for the
entire project, including stores.
It also would be located next to the satellite office
of the Rivers and Estuaries Center, a state project
in association with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
to study and monitor the upper Hudson.
The new development will include private and public
funding, including a $50 million commitment from the
U.S. Navy for the Commodore John Barry Academy, where
students and Navy recruits would be trained to operate
the ships on display.
"It will be live, it will be interactive. We think
this will make the Heritage Center the most compelling
attraction of its kind in the country," Hannigan
said.
The development would be on 35 acres alongside the
river where Russell Sage College now has tennis courts
and an athletic field. The city also aims to move Callanan
Industries, an asphalt plant that adjoins the site,
south to make room for the project.
Mayor Mark Pattison said the development is the payoff
from years of work to make the Hudson River more accessible.
The city's yearlong South Troy Working Waterfront study,
completed in 2000, came up with the proposal to rezone
the riverfront and move the heaviest industry south.
"It has the possibility of transforming Troy,
and not only Troy," he said. "It's a big vision
but we worked hard on it."
The city secured $6 million for an industrial road
to take truck traffic off South Troy streets and another
$2 million for a hiking trail through the area.
"This is why we are working on moving Callanan,"
Pattison said. "It is a result of the South Troy
Working Waterfront Plan."
But Pattison said the council, which has not acted
on the plan, needs to move swiftly to change the zoning
from industrial to planned development.
"If someone else comes up with an incompatible
use, we can't stop them," he said.
Council President Harry Tutunjian said he expected
the rezoning would happen soon.
"We're eager to take the necessary steps to make
this a reality," he said. "This is a very
exciting project, and it can help our economy and our
tax base a great deal and make Troy a tourist destination."
Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings said he saw the proposal
as a complement, not competition, to what his city has
been attempting to do with its waterfront. He said he
was not worried that visitors would be drawn away from
seeing the USS Slater docked in Albany.
"It will benefit all of us," he said. "This
will encourage more boat traffic and more tourism."
When he first saw Troy, with its seven miles of interrupted
riverfront, Hannigan said he instantly realized its
potential.
"When I see something like this as a developer,
I say, 'This looks like something I'd build,' "
he said. "I think we have something special here."
Hannigan said he expected the master plan to take six
to eight months to complete. He hopes construction will
begin in 2005.
"There clearly is a need to revitalize Troy,"
he said. "It is a place where a transformational
project is ready to happen."
Daniel B. Walsh, president of the Business Council
of New York State, noted the project would be located
in an Empire Zone, which provides property-tax and utility-cost
savings to developers.
"It's an extraordinary achievement. It's got all
kinds of potential," he said. "The more of
that kind of activity, the more attractive the banks
of the Hudson get."
The project is modeled on Adriaen's Landing, a 30-acre
project now under development in Hartford, Conn. Construction
began there in 2000 for a hotel, retail and residential
development on the Connecticut River. more information,
go to http://www.harbor-at-troy.com
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