SCHENECTADY — One of the largest commercial real estate developers in the state is relocating its headquarters to Mohawk Harbor, the new mixed-use community it built on the Schenectady riverfront.
The Galesi Group announced the move Wednesday. It will put 50 employees in Two Harbor Center, the recently completed 65,000-square-foot office/retail building along Erie Boulevard.
Galesi’s headquarters is now in the Rotterdam Corporate Park, a former Army supply depot off Route 7.
The move will help continue Mohawk Harbor’s evolution into a live/work/play community, with apartments, offices, restaurants, retail stores, a marina, an amphitheater and, of course, Rivers Casino & Resort. Much of the site is complete, but work continues on a second office building and a block of townhouses, and efforts continue to fill the various commercial spaces with tenants.
Galesi Group CEO David Buicko said in a prepared statement: “Our entire team has been deeply involved with making Mohawk Harbor a reality. We are proud to announce the move of our corporate headquarters to this new waterfront destination.”
Galesi’s headquarters space in Rotterdam will be leased to new tenants. With 4 million square feet of enclosed space on 290 acres, the Rotterdam Corporate Park is the largest industrial park in the Capital Region and is enjoying steady demand. On Tuesday, Galesi announced it would build 100,000 square feet of new space — at a cost of $5 million — without first securing a commitment from a tenant to occupy it.
Galesi Group has a variety of ventures. It has been in commercial real estate for a half-century, in many cases acquiring unused or rundown industrial or military facilities and repurposing them for modern commercial or light industrial use. These include military depots in Glenville, Guilderland and Rotterdam; the former Ford plant in Green Island; and a rail yard in the Bronx.
In 2010, Galesi bought the derelict former Alco locomotive factory between the Mohawk River and Erie Boulevard in Schenectady.
Eight years and $480 million later, Galesi is winding up final construction on Mohawk Harbor.
“When we purchased the site on April 1, 2010, we had one of the largest waterfront properties in the region and a blank slate to work with,” Buicko said in the news release. “The vision was to create a mixed-use urban community that would include residential, offices, retail and hotels.”
