Exploratorium eyes armory for home

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Edison Exploratorium officials say that they want to move their museum to the Schenectady Armory after losing their proposed site along lower Erie Boulevard to a downstate investment group.

Exploratorium President Thurston Sack said Friday that the nonprofit organization considers the armory a good fit for its collection of technological advances made by GE workers throughout the 20th century. Many consider the artifacts priceless.

Sack said the organization had to rethink its vision after a corporation called 104-112 Erie LLC, with an address in Parkville Station, Brooklyn, purchased the buildings at 108 and 112 Erie Blvd. along with 104 and 106 Erie Blvd. for $2.6 million from Warren Camp.

Charles Carrow of Carrow Real Estate Services in Albany is representing the group and will manage the properties. He said that the deal was closed recently, but it has yet to be recorded with the Schenectady County Clerk’s Office.

The exploratorium announced in November 2007 that it planned to relocate its artifacts to 108 Erie Blvd. and 112 Erie Blvd. once it purchased the buildings for approximately $7 million.

The building at 112 Erie Blvd., called Erie Crossings, is the original headquarters of the Edison Illuminating Co., which opened in 1892. In 1900, the building housed the General Electric engineering laboratory.

Sacks said the exploratorium did not have the money to buy the properties when they came up for sale last year. “We couldn’t take advantage of a first offering to meet the price,” he said.

With the loss of the properties, Sack said, exploratorium officials have “a couple of other things we are doing. Our vision is still excellent.”

Their Plan B is to share the armory with Schenectady County Community College.

“A group could buy it and we could be one of the tenants and do our conferencing, and the college could use it for athletic programs,” Sack said.

Sack said exploratorium officials are talking with local business people about the armory.

“We are real early on this. We got an empty building, and it is a good old building that has not been neglected,” he said.

The state Office of General Services controls the armory and plans to auction it off later this year, said spokesman Brad Maione.

“It is being appraised, and we are evaluating what shape it is in,” he said.

Maione said the auction may or may not start with a minimum bid.

“We have had success with these auctions before,” he said.

Armories in Rochester and Niagara Falls sold at auction for $1 million and $60,000, respectively, in 2008, he said.

SCCC’s basketball team had used the armory for years for home games, but it was forced out last year when the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs closed the Washington Avenue facility to save money. SCCC then contracted with the Patroons in Albany to rent their 3,500-seat arena through April 1 of next year for a total of $23,000.

Gary Hughes, an SCCC trustee, said the college has no position on purchasing the armory at auction. An early walk-through by college officials showed that the building’s antique heating system needs to be replaced, he said.

The work would end up as part of Schenectady County’s capital plan, resulting in a re-evaluation of other projects the college needs to undertake, Hughes said. The county pays for 50 percent of the college’s capital project costs, the state the other half.

The Edison Exploratorium opened its doors at 132 Broadway in March 2004. Hours are limited (from 2 to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday), but there is no admission fee. It has received funding largely through donations and $25 yearly memberships.