Plans for a development along the Mohawk River and Aqueduct Road were recently submitted to the town of Niskayuna by developer Richard DiSarro.
The development will be approximately 40 acres of residential units interspersed with commercial units along the Mohawk River and Aqueduct Road.
Plans call for 48 apartment units, 178 townhouses and 24 duplex condominiums, with two commercial buildings along Aqueduct Road. One of the commercial buildings is designed to hold a fast-food venue and the other an office building.
DiSarro’s development will be across from the Luizzi Brothers Contracting development on Balltown Road. Peter Luizzi’s $30 million development, which was proposed in January of this year, will be built where Williams Auto Scrap Yard is located and will include over 200 residential units and several green spaces.
The residential units included in DiSarro’s plans are modeled after the luxury apartments of the Iroquois Village complex, which DiSarro also developed. Renderings of the apartments for the new development are not yet available.
“With this project there is the potential for improving park lands near the residents,” said Niskayuna Supervisor Joe Landry.
Plans also allow for pavement repairs along the Hike/Bike Trail and for the addition of a few benches. DiSarro is also planning to build a public access road from Aqueduct Road to a parking lot along the Mohawk so that town residents can easily access the bike path and the river.
“Something like this was planned back in the ’80s, but it was too expensive at the time because the developer would have had to put in a sewer line,” said Town Planner Laura Robertson.
The project was attempted twice within that decade, but could not be carried out because of the need to install a sewer line, which would measure almost a mile, according to Landry.
The town’s Planning Board is set to review the project during their next meeting on Monday. Should they approve it, the plans will be passed along for further approval from the Town Board.
Because similar plans were approved in the ’80s by the Town Board, Robertson believes that this plan is more likely to be approved.
“He’s [the developer] within his density and won’t be disturbing the wetlands,” said Robertson.
There may be a few minor adjustments that the town will ask the developer to make as the plans progress, but so far Landry is in favor of the development.
“The two developments should complement each other very nicely,” said Landry, referring to the Luizzi Brothers’ project.
Luizzi’s development includes residential units specifically for those who are 55 and older. DiSarro’s development doesn’t include this restriction. The development would allow residents in the townhouses and condominiums to own the space.
“This will be nice because it allows for a variety of owner occupied and renter occupied housing,” said Robertson.
There is also a potential for a boating dock off the public access road within the development, according to Robertson, although it is not currently included in the plans.
DiSarro hopes to have the project completed by 2017, but this will depend on the approval of the plans, and on how quickly DiSarro is able to break ground on the development, according to Robertson.
With the ongoing bridge construction, the Luizzi Brothers’ development, and now DiSarro’s development, the Rexford-Niskyauna border is set to become a series of construction sites.
Reach Gazette reporter Indiana Nash at 417-9362, [email protected] or @indijnash on Twitter.
