Work continues to convert a historic building in Schenectady into housing and a community space.
The Wedgeway Building in Schenectady, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is being converted into apartments and retail space in the Electric City.
The white façade of a former theater at the corner of State Street and Erie Boulevard — the Kresge Building — stretches out into the Wedgeway, a block of brick bordering where the Erie Canal once flowed. Inside a maze of hallways framed by 2-by-4s will become modern apartments with old windows complete with brass sliding bolts looking out over the city’s Stockade neighborhood.
Speaking after a tour Tuesday, New York Secretary of State Walter Mosley says it will support economic rebirth for the whole city.
“It's one thing to see a project like this, you know, on paper and see renditions, but then it's another thing to see it, you know, live, to see how it's not only benefiting the actual project and the immediate surroundings, but how that trickles down to other small businesses, trickles down to our green space, our walkways, our traffic mitigation,” Mosley said.
Mosley says lessons learned at the Wedgeway complex can be applied statewide.
“Buildings like this don't get built anymore. We see buildings like this all over the state, in terms of our smaller cities, our smaller townships and the like. So anytime our developers and redevelopers have the ability to gather information and expand their knowledge base in terms of how they preserve sites like this, we, as a state, all benefit,” Mosley said.
The 55,000-square foot building’s last tenant left in 2021, and the previous owner had let the space fall into disrepair.
Mark Paquin is President of Cass Hill Development, the Latham-based firm working on the conversion. He says historic preservation is a must.
“Those of us who can have an obligation to save some of these buildings that are 125 years old and have the history of having Proctor's Theatre starting here. And if we don't, what an urban center is, no longer is an urban center. The cities as we know them aren't cities anymore; they become an extension of suburbia,” Paquin said.
The first Proctor’s Theatre opened on the site in 1912 and closed in 1926.
Mayor Gary McCarthy says he’s grateful the work is under way.
“This building sat here for a long period of time in steady decline, where it was really an embarrassment on one of our primary intersections in the city, and it was Mark stepping up with his team that has put this transformation in place,” McCarthy said.
Schenectady Metroplex is the city’s development authority. President David Hogenkamp says this project adds to ongoing efforts in the neighborhood.
“We started investing here on lower State Street about 10 years ago. We've seen incredible transformation in the Electric City Apartments across the street, Frog Alley complex, so this was the most difficult and the most visible building, and that's why the state's investment is just so important,” Hogenkamp said.
Paquin says the new space will be mixed-use development, with the first floor staying commercial space. He says he’d love to see businesses like those that once called the Wedgeway home refill it.
“The Wedgeway Barber Shop, who was here for 90 or 100 years, they moved out when the building was in such a state they couldn't occupy it anymore. We're hoping to replace them with another barber that will kind of extend that legacy,” Paquin said.
The first apartments are expected to be available by the end of the year, with all 80 expected to be complete by early 2025, including a mix of both affordable and market-rate housing.
