The Business Review

Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 6:50am EST – Last Modified: Thursday, January 26, 2012, 7:40am EST

A planned urgent care center off Exit 12 of the Northway will receive more than $4 million in tax incentives, the Post-Star is reporting.

The Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency    also voted to provide a $185,000 grant toward the extension of sewer lines to the site, according to the Post-Star.

The new urgent care center is being built for Saratoga Hospital    and Albany Medical Center    .

The joint venture, known as Healthcare Partners of Saratoga Ltd., will employ 108 physicians, nurses, technicians and support staff—including 52 new positions—within the first three years of operation.

Columbia HPS LLC, the developer of the $19.3 million urgent care center and medical imaging practice, sought more than $4 million in tax breaks for the project. Columbia HPS is a subsidiary of Columbia Development    of Albany.

via Saratoga IDA OKs $4M in tax incentives for Malta urgent care center – The Business Review.

via RPI: News & Events – Looking Back at 2011 at Rensselaer.

via Albany-area rainmakers behind some of the most transformative deals – The Business Review.

Date: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 6:33am EST

ShopRite is planning to open a Bethlehem, New York, store in 2012. Michael DeMasi Reporter – ShopRite Supermarkets plan to open its fourth store in the Albany, New York, region, this time at the new Vista Technology Campus in Bethlehem. The announcement will be made today by ShopRite, Columbia Development Co., BBL Construction Services LLC, and local and state elected officials. The 65,000-square-foot, full-service store is expected to open in 2012. The Vista Technology Campus is located at Vista Boulevard (Lagrange Road) off Route 85 in Slingerlands, a hamlet in Bethlehem. Columbia Development and BBL developed the 440-acre tech campus. ShopRite opened a store in Niskayuna in October, its first in about 20 years in the region. Another store is being built on Central Avenue in Albany, and the company is pursuing municipal approvals for a store on Central Avenue in the village of Colonie. ShopRite is owned by New Jersey-based Wakefern Food Corp.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced today an agreement with Columbia Development Companies to assume ownership and begin work on Proctor’s Theater and the adjacent Chasan office building on Fourth Street in Troy.

The $14.4 million public-private project, including a $3.3 million Restore New York grant, is an important step in the further revitalization of downtown Troy, according to Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. The overall project consists of three components: The redevelopment of the Chasan building into office space, the redevelopment of the Proctor’s office building into office space, which includes the restoration of the Proctor’s façade, and the stabilization and environmental remediation of the Proctor’s Theater.

“The university is a committed, long-term partner in the revitalization of downtown Troy,” Jackson said. “As business, government, and institution leaders seek new economic development opportunities across the state and the Capital Region, we rely on the kind of creative public-private partnership exemplified by this agreement among Rensselaer, Columbia Development, and the City of Troy.”

In the first phase of the project, Columbia will convert Chasan into office space. This will be followed by the redevelopment of the Proctor’s Theater office building and façade restoration, along with the environmental remediation of the theater. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — current owner of the properties — will become the anchor tenant of Chasan when work is completed next summer. Rensselaer will lease the building and relocate the Institute Advancement team from its current location in the Hedley Building to Chasan to handle expected growth in that organization, bringing about 72 employees into the heart of downtown Troy.

Rensselaer acquired Proctor’s Theater and Chasan at the request of state and local officials to steward the properties and help develop an effective, sustainable redevelopment plan. Since 2002 Rensselaer has invested nearly $1.5 million in the stabilization of Proctor’s Theater and stewardship of both buildings.

Rensselaer’s tenancy in Chasan is the latest in a long series of actions by the university to help bring about the renaissance of downtown Troy. Since 2000, Rensselaer has brought nearly 200 employees into downtown Troy to work at the Hedley, Rice, and Gurley buildings — paying nearly $1 million annually in rent. Through an innovative public-private redevelopment strategy that also included Columbia Development, in 2009 Blitman Residence Commons opened as the newest housing option for Rensselaer undergraduates. This $15 million project brought nearly 200 students to the Sixth Avenue corridor to be housed at Blitman. This fall, the university celebrated the United Companies opening of the $13 million College Suites at the City Station retail and apartment complex on Sixth Avenue between Congress and Ferry Streets. This 184-bed complex houses Rensselaer graduate students.

Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian said, “The redevelopment of the Proctor’s and Chasan buildings is another positive step in revitalizing our downtown. By continuing our partnership with RPI we are creating jobs and encouraging private investment into the Chasan and Proctor’s buildings, both of which will remain on the tax roll as they’ve been since RPI purchased them. I’ve always said the revitalization of downtown wouldn’t be complete without bringing Chasan and Proctor’s back to life and I’m proud to see this project move forward.”

“The Restore New York grant was designed for just this reason, to encourage sustainable community development, create jobs, and attract residents and businesses to our downtown neighborhoods. Empire State Development is pleased to see this project moving forward and to be a part of the revitalization effort. We congratulate all the partners involved for their commitment to building a better and more vibrant community in Troy,” said Empire State Development Capital Region Regional Director Peter Wohl.

“The agreement announced today represents another significant and positive step forward in these efforts,” said Claude Rounds, Rensselaer vice president for administration. “This project is a great example of the economic progress that can be achieved when the public and private sectors roll up their sleeves and work shoulder-to-shoulder. I want to thank Columbia Development and Mayor Tutunjian and his administration for making this project a reality.”

Daily Gazette, The (Schenectady, NY)-September 22, 2011

Author: CHRISTOPHER D. RINGWALD

Gazette Reporter

By next June or July, if your daughter sprains an ankle playing soccer at the Clifton Common or you have an allergic reaction to a bee sting, your family will have help at hand at Ellis Medicine’s Enhanced Urgent Care facility on Sitterly Road.

Ground was broken at the site Wednesday as a bevy of hospital employees, officials and politicians gathered around and praised the effort.

“Ellis has long provided care to the Clifton Park and Halfmoon area, and our commitment to meet the community’s growing health care needs continues with this project,” said Christine Cioffi, chairwoman of the Ellis Medicine board of trustees.

The facility will be a step up from the typical urgent care center in that it will have emergency room capacities, with trained doctors and nurses, emergency room features such as imaging and a full lab and special services such as general surgery and cardiology.

Officials called it a hybrid of an emergency department and urgent care.

A child with a broken bone will be able to see an ER doctor and get an X-ray and a cast or splint all in one stop, said Dr. Roger Barrowman, chairman of emergency medicine at Ellis.

The two-story, 38,000-square-foot center will include six hospital treatment rooms and will be open from 10 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. There will be a walk-in lab for blood work, and mammograms will be available.

The project will cost Ellis $3 million for equipment and furnishings. Ellis will lease the space from the developers, Columbia Development and the Galesi Group, who are spending $10 million overall.

The site is just south of Clifton Park Center; the former Alpin Haus showroom was demolished to make way for the new facility.

Local politicians who worked on the project welcomed its inception.

“It’s a great redevelopment project, taking an empty building and turning it into a lovely facility,” said Philip Barrett, Clifton Park town supervisor. “Quality health care facilities are a vital part of improving our community.”

Seton Health and others already operate urgent care centers in the area. Proposals for stand-alone emergency rooms were blocked by the state Department of Health as redundant.

Last month, the state gave final approval to plans for a $4.1 million, 24-hour urgent care center just off Northway Exit 12 in Malta.

The 60,000-square-foot center, which will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week when completed, is a joint project of Albany Medical Center and Saratoga Hospital called Healthcare Partners of Saratoga Ltd.

The new Ellis center will employ about 15 people during each shift, according to Paul Milton, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ellis.

“Providing services here should relieve some of the overcrowding at the main Ellis emergency room,” according to James Connolly, president and CEO.

Ellis says that it operates the busiest emergency department in the region between its two ER locations, with 80,000 visits a year.

Columbia will tackle the adjacent Chasan Building first and mothball Proctor’s, said Jeff Pirro, spokesman for Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian.

The city cleared a hurdle Wednesday toward receiving up to $3.3 million of state money for the work. The properties are owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy.

Columbia aims to have the Chasan site ready to market by the end of this year or early 2012, Pirro said. The three-story structure has about 33,000 square feet of space.

After that, Columbia will turn its focus to Proctor’s, which is a 60,000-square-foot site.

“Whatever way that occurs, it’s still progress for downtown Troy, and we’re excited it’s moving forward,” Pirro said.

Columbia’s original plan called for demolishing Proctor’s, but the state would not give the grant money if that action was taken.

Columbia has since revised its plans to focus on trying to stabilize and save at least part of Proctor’s. If the stage house is saved, Columbia would build a 24,000-square-foot office/retail building next to it, according to plans.

The state says the total project will cost $14.4 million, though earlier estimates from Columbia had ranged as high as $25 million.