SCCC to occupy space at former Schenectady YMCA

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

The former Schenectady YMCA, now 13 State Street Apartments, is shown March 21, 2018.

SCHENECTADY — Schenectady County Community College will be setting up at the former YMCA building across the street from its campus at the foot of State Street.

SCCC’s trustees on Monday approved a five-year lease for 8,572 square feet in the distinctive building at 13 State St.

The college plans to base a new academic degree program there, but college officials would not disclose details because SCCC has not received final approval of the program from the State University of New York system, of which SCCC is part.

The college is centered in the former Van Curler Hotel, near the former YMCA, and already has space in other remote locations: 14 classrooms at Center City, 433 State St. in the heart of downtown Schenectady; a workforce development program at 201 State St., closer to the campus; an extension site in downtown Albany near the state Capitol; and an aviation program at the Schenectady County Airport, a few miles north.

The college needs more space and found the YMCA project a good fit, according to Ray Gillen, chairman of the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority, which is closely involved in the deal.

The former YMCA was built in 1926. Eighty-eight years later, when the YMCA moved the last of its operations out, the building was a landmark, but one with heavy asbestos contamination and no immediate prospects for reuse.

Norstar Development USA bought the 104,000-square-foot building and has plowed $18 million into redeveloping it as a senior housing complex called 13 State Street Apartments. Residents began moving into the 61 units there early this year, and the last of the construction of the residential side recently was completed.

To keep rents affordable, Norstar relied on a complex array of funding sources, including housing tax credits, historic preservation tax credits, a $6.7 million block grant and a property tax break granted through Metroplex.

One of the requirements of the historic preservation credits was that the gym and its distinctive banked running track remain intact. The surrounding area, which includes an office, the former fitness room and a separate entrance, was partitioned off from the residential portion of the building and leased to Metroplex for $5 per square foot per year.

Metroplex is now subleasing it at the same price for five years, starting Sept. 1, to SCCC, which will have options to renew for additional five-year blocks. It’s the final unrenovated piece of the building; the final stage of the project will cost Norstar about $600,000.

It’s a flexible, low-cost space that fit SCCC’s needs, Gillen said.

“One of the things that attracted the college is the wide-open space,” he said of the gym.

College officials, in a news release, said expanding to the Center City was a successful move for SCCC, and they expect this next expansion to be another positive development.

“We are proud to take this step in providing our students with new learning spaces,” said Ann Fleming Brown, chair of the board of trustees, in the news release. “Through our partnership with Metroplex, the college will have an even larger presence in the city of Schenectady.”

A college spokesman on Tuesday said SCCC wanted the space for its close proximity to the Science and Technology Center and because it is part of the continuing revitalization of State Street. He said it would likely take occupancy in 2019.