If you attended the public meeting last night (Thursday, June 11th), chime in-- I'm curious as to the attendance and general reaction of the audience. I'm personally in the camp of believing it when I see it. Article text below: 





Commercial real estate developer Luizzi Cos. is the latest to take on what has been a fruitless, frustrating effort by others over the past 15 years: redevelop One Monument Square in downtown Troy.

Mayor Carmella Mantello announced Thursday night a plan that would see a mixed-use building with offices and apartments rise on the vacant riverfront parcel where city hall once stood.

“That hole in the ground, a shovel’s going in,” Mantello told the crowd. “We are confident that this project is going to excite so many folks.”

The project will be a partnership between Luizzi Cos. and Velan Studios, the video game company owned by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala that has called downtown Troy home since its founding a decade ago.

Velan will be the anchor office tenant, moving 80 employees to the building with space for more in the future.

The two companies will be 50/50 equity partners in the development.

“Velan, to me, is the game-changer,” Mantello told the crowd at the Arts Center of the Capital Region, just down the street from the site.

A few details about the plan:

* Estimated total investment: more than $50 million
* Total size: 110,000 square feet
* Office space: 30,000 square feet — Velan will occupy the majority, if not all of it
* Retail space: 20,000 square feet — talks are in progress with a potential restaurant tenant to take 5,000 square feet
* Apartments: 51
* Parking: more than 100 spaces in two-level garage at the base of the development
* Public space: The developers will give a strip of land along the riverfront, approximately 50 feet wide, back to the city but will maintain it. There are also plans to extend the public space into a nearby park.
* Projected timeline: The goal is to get a shovel in the ground by the end of the year. Once construction starts, it would be two years to completion.

Luizzi Cos. has demonstrated the ability to get complex projects done, including Starbuck Island, a mixed-use development across the Hudson River from One Monument Square built on land that was once an oil storage and distribution terminal.

The challenges at One Monument Square in the past have included litigation from an abutting property owner, local pushback over the design and, most recently, a funding shortfall.

A total of five previous development plans under three different mayors were all pulled or blocked.

“We've taken our time. We have confirmed budgets. We've worked with many different partners to walk through this thoroughly,” said Christian Luizzi of Luizzi Cos. after the public presentation. “We've specifically designed the building to fit the site and fit what grant money we have … We've taken on quite a few large complex projects where a lot of people have doubted, and we're going to bring that same expertise to this project, and we're confident we know we can get it done.”

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Guha Bala, left, and Karthik Bala of Velan Studios.

Donna Abbott-Vlahos | Albany Business Review

Karthik Bala said Velan has run out of room at its current offices nearby. They very much wanted to stay in downtown Troy, but finding suitable space was a challenge.

“So we had to look for alternative solutions, and really sort of think outside the box,” Bala said. “And, frankly, Monument Square was one of those things where … we're like, oh, maybe someday, maybe that could be a possibility.”

The story of One Monument Square has had many previous chapters.

After taking office in January 2024, Mantello said her vision for the site didn't include apartments. She also didn't want to pursue another request-for-proposal process that had resulted in previous failed development plans.

But, alternative ideas, including a permanent home for the popular Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, didn't pan out. Meanwhile, $19 million in state aid to redevelop the site was just secured by Assemblyman John T. McDonald for the fourth year in a row.

When the funding was reauthorized last year, McDonald had language inserted into the appropriation that expanded the geographic scope beyond the empty parcel.

The funding can go towards services and expenses for redeveloping One Monument Square "and for projects that expand the availability of housing within 3,000 feet north, east, and south of Monument Square."

  


Luizzi to take on One Monument Square with a surprise partner