Update on Kenwood / Sacred Heart Convent / Former Doane Stuart School

At Historic Albany Foundation’s request, the City of Albany, namely Rick LaJoy, Director of the Department of  Buildings and Regulatory Compliance, is overseeing the boarding up over 100 windows and 20 doors at Kenwood, Convent of the Sacred Heart campus on Southern Boulevard.  The windows and doors were removed as part of a failed development project begun in 2018.  It is imperative that this historic structure be buttoned up and not be exposed to the elements of another winter.

Sadly, even before that failed project, the campus has sat empty and deteriorating since the Doane Stuart School moved to Rensselear in 2009.  HAF has worked with several developers over the years, however, none of those initiatives came to fruition.  

A timeline of the past 13 years includes*:

2007

Doane Stuart School fails to reach an agreement to purchase the campus from the Sisters of the Sacred Heart

2009

Doane Stuart School relocates to Rensselaer

Michael Cleary makes offer then backs out

Property listed for sale again as developable land, notes the buildings could be demolished

2010

HAF lists on Endangered Historic Resources List, Preservation League of New York State list on Seven to Save

Michael Cleary makes offer again

2012

HAF hosts Davis Downing Symposium to draw attention to the architecture

2014

Mike Cleary attempts to put project together, sale does not go through

New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation  tours building as part of initial phases for listing the building on the National Register, process stops when developer walks away from the project;

2015

Hospitality developer from New Jersey and another developer attempt to put projects together, but come to nothing;

Sonny Bonacio attempts to purchase Kenwood, then withdraws his plans for a $30 million, 125 luxury apartment project

2016

An anonymous developer attempts to purchase Kenwood

2017

Kenwood Commons, LLC owned by CEO Sandy Schaefer purchases Kenwood for $18 million

2018

Kenwood Commons, LLC proposes to develop a $500 million massive project on the 75 acre property including 13 apartment buildings with 1,700+ apartments, two hotels totaling 575 rooms, six clusters of townhomes totaling 305 units, in addition to retail and public space that would include an art gallery and amphitheater.

Kenwood Commons sues the City of Albany in an Article 78 proceeding filed with the Supreme Court in Albany County challenging the need for Planning Board review of its building permit application.

2019

Kenwood Commons, LLC project stops work and walks away as the developer owes millions of dollars in loan debt, overdue taxes, and $600,000 in contractor services to at least 15 businesses.  It is interesting to note that the project did not seek tax breaks through the Albany Industrial Development Agency, nor did it acquire historic tax credits, which left financing up to developers.

Lender begins foreclosure proceedings on $5 million loan to Kenwood Commons, LLC.

HAF meets with the City of Albany Planning Department to request Kenwood be listed as a local historic site.  Unfortunately this request was not granted due to the condition that a property needs to be seen from a public road or street, and Kenwood is located on a private road.

Kenwood Commons listed for sale for $60 million amid back taxes and contractor liens

2020

The City of Albany boards up windows and doors left open to the elements by Kenwood Commons, LLC for a cost of $42,000, which will be added to the current outstanding tax bill of over $2 million. 

We are grateful to the City for talking the first steps in protecting a true historic landmark within the City of Albany.  We will do additional updates as activities warrant.

For additional information on the history of this important property, please visit, https://friendsofalbanyhistory.wordpress.com/2018/04/27/kenwood-and-the-convent-of-the-sacred-heart-in-albany/

*This may not be an exhaustive list of attempted buyers and projects

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HAFs Position on the Proposed Stewarts

Historic Albany believes that the new application does not address any of the previous concerns by the community or Planning Board, which initially caused the Planning Board to deny the project. The project still involves the demolition of two occupied, structurally sound residential structures on a residential corridor, and demolition of a structurally sound commercial building. In a city plagued with vacancy, frequent emergency demolitions of structurally unsound vacant buildings that create pockets of developable land throughout the City, the proposed demolition of sound and perfectly useable structures sets poor planning precedent, adds needlessly to the landfill, and perpetuates “disposable culture”  which has no place in a City striving to be sustainable.

In addition, this project is not consistent with the USDO, would certainly cause negative fiscal and environmental impacts on adjacent properties as well as those across Colvin and Washington Avenue not directly adjacent to the project, would have a direct negative impact on traffic flow, and does not provide any services that are not already readily available across the street or one block away.

Read the TU Article >>

More Historic Fabric Lost

On Wednesday, September 2nd, HAF was informed that three row houses on First Street, between Hawk and Lark Streets, were slated for emergency demolition the following day.  

This section of the block consists of seven row houses, that from first glance, look to be an intact and maintained row.  However, look a little closer and you can see the sky through the upper front windows of 61 ½ First Street where the roof has collapsed.  The deteriorating east-facing wall of 58 First Street has generated numerous calls to HAF for bricks falling and large cracks appearing in the exterior wall.  Two of the other homes will be stabilized, while the two at the west end of the row are currently occupied.

After speaking with City of Albany officials, HAF learned that each of these properties is owned by a different owner, has had numerous outstanding code violations that were never complied with, and have sat vacant for many years.  None of the owners have applied for building permits to do any renovation or stabilization work.  In addition, most of these homes are delinquent in their taxes as well.  

A lot of people ask “why don’t developers just buy them and fix them up?”  It’s easier said than done.  Most of the properties that get to the emergency demolition phase are not for sale.  Most sit uncared for by absentee owners who are unwilling to sell.  They are not even purposely buttoned up to the elements and properly mothballed to allow them to withstand the elements.  And as we all know, water is a vacant building’s worst enemy, as we are seeing again in this case with roof and other collapses.

So who is to blame, and what is HAF doing about the issue of vacant buildings and demolitions in the City of Albany?

First, absentee and apathetic property owners carry the most blame in these situations.   Too many properties sit vacant and deteriorating across the City in every neighborhood.  But it is especially detrimental when we continue to lose buildings in our historic districts.  These particular properties have sat vacant for at least seven years each.  

HAF is working with the City of Albany and others to change legislation to at least allow for the court system to do their jobs effectively.  Currently, if a property is cited for a code violation, and the owner goes to court, the owner only needs to pay the fine assessed by the court.  There is no leverage to ensure the property owner makes the repairs that created the violation.  HAF has submitted a policy change that gives the court and the Code Enforcement Department more leverage to make property owners accountable for the repairs necessary.  We will continue to work on policy issues such as this moving forward.

In addition, HAF has been invited to participate in the new Blight to Betterment Task Force spearheaded by Albany County Legislators Matthew Peter and Carolyn McLaughlin.   This Task Force is bringing together individuals and organizations at the State, County, City and community level to tackle issues facing blight, vacancy, property maintenance, homeownership disparity, and how we can all work together toward a common goal.

The bottom line is that once buildings are gone, they leave gaping holes and empty lots that are not refilled.  Once intact rows have “missing teeth” that also threaten the stability of the remaining buildings as they were not built to stand alone, causing further decay.  Once demolitions happen, the historic fabric of our neighborhoods disappears and cannot be gotten back.  It is imperative that we all work together to find solutions to stem this tide.