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I like to revisit the Chalmers saga from time to time for no other reason than to point out the utter wrongheadedness of the Chalmers opponents.
What prompts this post the following from the Business Review story Kaufman gears up to transform iconic Albany Int’l complex:
“This is incredible,” said Kaufman, president and CEO of The Harmony Group, which just bought the 400,000-square-foot property for $1.35 million. “You never see a building preserved to this degree.”
Kaufman, who transformed the massive Harmony Mills cotton plant in Cohoes into 231 upscale apartments, is laying the groundwork for a $40 million to $50 million conversion of Albany International into apartments and professional offices.
And look what people in non-12010 zip codes say about such things:
“I think it is wonderful for Menands and the Capital District that Uri can have the imagination and the plans to take what has been an historic building and develop it into something that can be vital, that can make a difference in the area,” said Susan Siegel, a company spokeswoman.
Many questions come to mind reading the above but let me boil it down to 3 key sets of questions:
1) Where is the plan which was to have emerged for developing Chalmers once it was torn down? Where are all the developers and ideas that were sure to burst upon the scene once the site was demolished?
2) In light of the above, why are opponents to Chalmers still voted to hold political office? Or listened to on local radio? Or deemed relevant for policy and decision making?
3) Why does Amsterdam shun outside investment and ideas? What is the cultural and institutional mindset here that expends tremendous energy working against ideas while expending close to zero energy on working toward an idea.
Sadly, the answer is….it’s Amsterdam. Despite having a progressive Mayor small minds still prevail. Until they die off little will change.