Rain showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High around 45F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Higher wind gusts possible..
Tonight
Cloudy and windy this evening, becoming partly cloudy after midnight. Low 27F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
SCHENECTADY — The former St. Clare’s Hospital campus in Schenectady is set to be converted into a 250-unit apartment complex with an accompanying daycare center.
The city is currently seeking $1.5 million in state funding to move the project forward.
The sale of the former hospital to developers Jeff Buell and Chris Spraragen was approved by the Ellis Medicine board of directors in August following the closure of Ellis’ nursing home at the site. Ellis shuttered the 82-bed Ellis Residential and Rehabilitation Center in the summer.
Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority is currently assisting the city with a Restore NY grant application that could provide $1.5 million in state funding for the development.
In 2022, the city received $2.3 million in Restore NY funding for the ongoing construction project to revitalize the Wedgeway Building at the corner of State Street and Erie Boulevard. It also received $4 million in Restore funds in 2009 to redevelop the former Alco site on Erie.
During a public hearing on Tuesday night regarding a potential City Council resolution supporting the state grant application, Metroplex Chair Ray Gillen said the St. Clare’s rehabilitation fits the bill for the Restore NY program, which aims to redevelop blighted properties.
“It’s really an ideal application for Restore NY,” Gillen said. “Restore NY is about restoring major structures that are vacant and putting them back into productive use, helping to revitalize the local economy.”
Gillen noted that the apartment project would place the property on the city’s tax rolls for the first time since the hospital was built in 1949.
Ellis Medicine will continue to operate its Belanger School of Nursing at the McClellan Street complex during construction on the apartment project, with a pair of medical office buildings on the campus also remaining open.
“There’s three buildings on the campus that are going to continue to have positive activity there, which is good,” Gillen said on Wednesday.
Buell, the principal at Redburn Development Partners, told the council on Tuesday that the project would total a $50 million investment into the 400,000-square-foot former hospital building.
Buell projected that the complex could open in 2026 or 2027.
“We stand ready to move as quickly as possible should the funding be secured,” Buell said. “I think that it will be a very dynamic investment connecting two neighborhoods.”
The City Council is set to vote on a resolution supporting the grant application during its Nov. 25 meeting, in advance of the Dec. 20 state deadline for Restore NY applications.
“Restore NY is designed for bigger, more significant projects within a community,” Mayor Gary McCarthy said following Tuesday’s meeting. “This is probably the most significant, largest project that we have on the table right now in terms of the adaptive reuse of that site. It’s got a long and proud history and we want to make sure that it can continue to add value to the neighborhood and the community as a whole.”
Gillen said that securing the state grant funding would be key to moving the apartment project forward.
“It’s critical,” Gillen said on Wednesday. “That with the historic tax credits that they’re seeking, but Restore NY played a critical role in the Wedgeway project and the Alco project at Mohawk Harbor. It’s a great program and we’ve applied before and been successful. We’re hopeful this time around. It’ll provide additional funding and encourages banks and financial institutions to get involved in the project. It’s a critical component of the project financing.”
