Hamilton Hill housing to be named after Allen

PHOTOGRAPHER: DePaul Properties, Inc.

DePaul Properties, Inc., of Rochester, wants to construct this three-story, 51-unit affordable housing development on Albany Street in Schenectady.

A $14 million affordable housing development proposed for Schenectady’s Hamilton Hill neighborhood will be named after the late city councilman who spent his entire life there.

The Joseph L. Allen Apartments will provide low-income families and individuals 50 units of affordable housing on a stretch of Albany Street between Hulett and Schenectady streets. The three-story, 52,500-square-foot building will feature one- and two-bedroom units, with rent covering utilities, cable, WiFi, access to on-site laundry and flat-screen TVs.

DePaul Properties, Inc., the Rochester-based developer behind the project, said the name was chosen at the request of the community.

Allen was born and raised in Hamilton Hill, and lived his adult life there, as well. He was a tireless advocate for the community, which boasts a large population of low-income and minority residents. He was the first black man elected to the City Council in 1996, serving 16 years until 2011. He died earlier this year in April at age 79.

“I think he would be pleased,” his daughter, Lakeia Allen-Bowman, said Tuesday. “He was a big proponent of seeing some of the investment and revitalization that was happening downtown move into neighborhoods like Hamilton Hill. He had a great love for that neighborhood.”

Much of his family still lives in the neighborhood, she said.

The project is scheduled to go before the City Planning Commission next week. It would require razing six mostly blighted buildings to make way for the development, which was announced just months after another developer said it would invest $22 million in affordable housing developments on nearby Craig Street.

The DePaul project needs a zoning variance to allow for 50 units instead of the 47.4 units allowable based on parcel density, according to materials submitted to city planners. Additional land that would have allowed the company to increase the allowable density couldn’t be acquired, the company said.

DePaul officials said with approvals in place they could break ground on the project before winter, with hopes of a spring 2017 opening.

The commission will meet Wednesday, July 15 at 6:30 p.m. to review the project.