Parkside Apartments a proving ground for Townsend Park turnaround

The Parkside Apartment building is also home to Great Finds
Thrift Boutique, a great clothing store with beautiful displays.

Downtown Albany isn’t the only place to build apartments in Albany. The new Parkside Apartments proves that the office building-to-apartment building trend can be successfully leveraged in other parts of Albany, too.

The apartments also speak to the 
transformation that this part of town has gone through. “The fact that they rented out units ahead of schedule proves the desire to live in this neighborhood far exceeds supply. It shows that we’ve really turned a corner on Central Avenue,” says Anthony Capece, Executive Director for the Central Avenue Business Improvement District. “It’s really a case of, if you build it, they’re already waiting. As soon as someone puts a unit up, it’s rented.”

Parkside Apartments will hold a ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration May 28, 2014 from 12:30pm-1:30pm. Tours of the new apartments will be offered afterwards.

The project has an interesting history. When a spacious office building at 260 Washington Avenue lost its tenants in 2012, local developers decided to transform the property into Parkside Apartments, high-end apartments overlooking Townsend Park, a pocket park near Central Avenue.

“It’s right near the park, and it’s walkable. It’s close to restaurants and entertainment. It’s a very convenient place to live,” says Danny Sanders, a partner on the project.

Sanders has a commitment to this block. In 1996, Sanders and his father chose to move their growing architecture firm, Harris A. Sanders Architects, P.C., into a restored bank on this same block. It was a catalyst project for this stretch of Washington Avenue, and one that demonstrated the direction the neighborhood could take. Now, nearly two decades later, the firm is helping the neighborhood move in another new direction.

Construction started in August 2013, and will be completed in June 2014, and already, all the units -- 14 total -- have been leased. “We were surprised by how fast they went. This really demonstrates that there’s movement back to the city,” says Sanders.

The apartment building is between two parks, Townsend
Park and Washington Park, on a particularly shady stretch
of Henry Johnson Blvd. 

One- and two-bedroom units start at $1400, and include off-street parking, cable, internet, and a fitness room. The apartments feature skylights, hardwood floors, huge windows, and stainless steel EnergyStar appliances. Their proximity to two parks as well as entertainment and dining venues make them perfect for the savvy young Millennial, or the Baby Boomer looking to age in place.

In November, Dale Davidson opened Umana Restaurant and Wine Bar right around the corner from the new apartments. She notes that apartment building as one more indicator of the renewal taking place on this block. This park-front block will soon be a destination for residents and visitors alike.

Creating safe, livable, mixed use and mixed income neighborhoods is a key goal of the Albany 2030 plan, and experts agreed that mixed use projects like this one -- the building also includes retail space on the first floor  --  are critical for Albany’s future. “We’re bringing 25 new residents into this neighborhood, which is going to boost sales in these surrounding businesses,” says Sanders.