Construction of CityStation East now underway

By Ian Benjamin

Friday, November 9, 2012

TROY -- Construction of the third phase of the CityStation project along the Congress-Ferry Street corridor continued Thursday, as excavations took place to create a level grade for another mixed-use structure and a parking garage.

The construction, which began last week, has reduced Ferry Street, a one-way, two-lane eastbound road to a single lane, and shut down northbound traffic on Sixth Avenue between Ferry and Congress streets to a single southbound lane. The reduced traffic pattern will stay in place for the next nine months, according to the city's planning department, and will reopen after the project's expected August completion date, in time to house graduate students returning to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The developer, Troy-based United Group of Companies, is erecting a five-story, 100,000 square-feet mixed residential, commercial building mirroring CityStation West, the first phase of the project, constructed in fall of 2011. Like the building across Sixth Avenue, the first floor of the structure will have space of commercial retail, with five bays comprising 14,000 square-feet of available space.

City Station West is 80 percent leased, said Jeffrey Buell, a development executive at United Group. Present tenants include a Paesan's pizzeria, a Supercuts, a Subway franchise, and Marmora's Café.

"We always have people calling," Buell said, but that the last 20 percent has not yet been filled because the company is trying to find the right mix of businesses.

The phase under construction will house 157 beds inside two, three, and four bedroom apartments, each with its own bathroom.

Rent in CityStation West, aimed at single graduate students, is $685 per month, per student, for a room with bathroom in a four-bedroom suite. Rent is slightly higher for the three-bedroom suite, each also with its own bathroom. Utilities are included in all rents, and parking is free to residents.

Reflecting CityStation West through the incorporation of brickwork into the edifice, thereby aesthetically tying the building to downtown Troy, the new structure diverges from its sister in one major way: there will be a tunnel through the middle of the building from Sixth Avenue to a parking garage and surface lot built into the hill rising towards RPI.

The 100,000 square-feet garage will have space for 230 vehicles, with the first level set underground into the hill; the second level will be at Sixth Avenue grade level behind the building, and the third level at grade level further up Ferry Street.

"It will be behind the building, but it won't look like a parking structure," Buell claimed.

The project is estimated to cost approximately $13 million, but other costs are expected to bring the full cost closer to $15 million.

Current payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements with the city for CityStation South and West are worth $64,998.13 and $56,725.64 over 20 years, respectively; but the negotiated PILOT agreement for this phase is for substantially more, according to Bill Dunne, planning commissioner for the city.

"For thirty years the piece of land that we are about to build on was generating $0 tax revenue, and over the next 20 years will be generating $2.8 million," explained Buell. The land was owned previously by the Troy Housing Authority.

Due to the increased traffic that may be generated by students heading to the complex, there is a possibility that the city may install a traffic light at the intersection of Ferry Street and Sixth Avenue, but plans have not been finalized.

"We are going to have discussions about how we can best manage that area and ensure the safety of the pedestrians," explained Mike Frasier, a spokesperson for the city.

The construction marks the beginning of the third phase of a $160 million complex that, when completed, will comprise not only student housing and retail space, but also professional offices and possibly a movie theater.

"The movie theater has always been a long-range target whereby we would build up the critical mass of CityStation and really get some people living there," Buell said. "It's definitely still in consideration for future phases."