South End Co-Development Cluster

City of Albany

The first and largest of the Land Bank’s proposed cluster development projects brings together the site control of nearly 75 properties by the Land Bank and the City of Albany with the expertise of developing vacant properties by MDG & TRC.  Through past and ongoing community outreach efforts and incorporating the community’s needs into the development, this project will include new construction for affordable rentals and homeownership opportunities.  The goal of this project is by stabilizing long-disinvested blocks, this new development will be a catalyst for additional community and economic development in the neighborhood.

Developer: Albany County Land Bank Corporation (ACLBC), Toporovsky & Sons Realty Corporation (TRC) and MDG Design & Construction LLC (MDG)

Partners: City of Albany

Background

The intent of this project is to create a mixed-use community that creates opportunity for existing residents of the neighborhood by creating quality affordable housing for persons of all incomes, providing opportunities for homeownership (including rent to own programs) and supporting retail or community-based uses.

At the time of the request for proposals in February 2020, ACLBC was the owner of fifty-two (52) properties, in addition to four (4) properties designated to be transferred to it by the County of Albany. Another eighteen (18) properties were designated to be transferred to the ACLBC by the City of Albany all located in the South End Neighborhood in or adjacent to a contiguous four-block area from Broad Street to Elizabeth Street and from Second Avenue to Third Avenue in the South End neighborhood.