.JPG) |
| Conceptual Lighting design plans for Townsend Park, created by RPI lighting design students. |
The grant will enable the Central Avenue BID to add lighting to Townsend Park's trees, transforming the park into an exciting urban space for the community and for newly formed thriving business at Central Avenue's bustling east end.
Townsend Park has been the site of increased business development as of late. This year, two new restaurants, Umana Restaurant and Wine Bar and Flavors of India opened on the park, and a third, Terra Pescetarian, is expected by the end of the summer. Parkside Apartments, a new upscale apartment building whose beautiful units face the park, opened with much fanfare, and fully leased apartments, earlier this summer.
With its fully mature trees, monuments, and curving walkways, this brownstone bordered park is primed for outdoor lighting.
With its fully mature trees, monuments, and curving walkways, this brownstone bordered park is primed for outdoor lighting.
“As the Townsend Park area becomes more attractive and welcoming, nearby properties may also increase in value,” said Central BID Executive Director Anthony Capece. The lighting will make the park more user-friendly and add to its ambience, he says. The Central Avenue BID hopes the lighting will enhance the park, making it attractive for existing businesses and hopefully attract additional businesses.
The grant is intended to help Realtor Associations partner with others to plan, organize, implement and maintain place-making activities in their communities. The Greater Capital Chapter of New York State Commercial Association of Realtors will partner with Central Business Improvement District on this project who will also be providing financial, technical assistance and maintenance.
“Realtors® live, work and volunteer in their communities and take immense pride in working to improve them,” said Nick DeMarte, President of the NYSCAR Board. “Placemaking can help foster healthier, more socially and economically viable communities. It creates places where people feel a strong stake in their neighborhoods and are committed to making things better. This grant will allow us to address areas in our community that are in need of improvement or redevelopment and create a place where friends and neighbors can come together.”
In 2009, Townsend Park was been the subject of a series of planning meetings and visioning sessions with Barton & Loguidice Consulting. In 2010, the Central Avenue BID worked with lighting design students at RPI to create a series of design concepts for the park. Subsequent environmental design measures and the concerted effort of business owners and neighborhood engagement officers led the Times Union to report that the park had marked progress in 2012, and that quality of life issues that used to plague nearby residents and business owners, including vagrancy, public drunkeness and prostitution, had all but disappeared.
This lighting project represents the next step for the park, and would go a long way to economically enhance the City of Albany and, at the same time, preserve and restore and highlight a park that's been around for over one hundred years, says Capece. Revitalizing Townsend Park would increase real estate opportunities in the area and enhance the value of existing properties. It would also help to improve safety and enhance the atmosphere for those who live and work in that area, he says.
This is the first time a commercial board of realtors has ever been awarded a placemaking grant by the National Association of realtors.
