Albany Union Station vacated and available...

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/st ... yID=855271

A landmark soon to fall empty
New tenants sought as sole occupant of former Union Station will leave

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer
First published in print: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
ALBANY -- The only occupant of Albany's landmark former train station will move its employees elsewhere, leaving the building vacant for the first time since its celebrated restoration 23 years ago. Kiernan Plaza was once Union Station, a grand and impressive gateway to the city. The train station closed in 1968 and sat empty and decaying until it was reopened as a bank headquarters and office building. Bank of America now occupies the building. But a company spokesperson on Tuesday said the bank is consolidating its Albany operations to cut costs and will move all its Kiernan Plaza workers to a State Street building.

OTTO,
If you read on in the article the building is owned by an outfit from New York and they have not determined just what they
will do with it. It is a shame that B of A is moving out, I hope they find a tenant for that facility and if not that they can find
a suitable use for it. Unfortunately that particular part of Albany is not exactly thriving.
Noel Weaver

Did that building slip out of the hands of the railroad or was the newer location at Renselear preferred (or both) ?

3rdrail wrote:Did that building slip out of the hands of the railroad or was the newer location at Renselear preferred (or both) ?

Rennselaer replaced Albany Union Station. I dont know how long Penn Central held onto the property before it was sold to the bank.

Some historical discussion here: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 93&t=55408

-otto-

3rdrail wrote:Did that building slip out of the hands of the railroad or was the newer location at Renselear preferred (or both) ?

Actually, a number of elevated highways displaced the former passenger tracks and platforms along the Hudson, which wasn't much of a problem at a time when the passenger service was dwindling and any substantial station facility represented a huge liability due to property taxes - a situation that was peculiar to New York State.

The station was relocated to Rensselaer due to a prevailing upgrade that would have made a downtown Albany station impractical.

The New York Central wanted to unload that facility for some time before they actually were able to do so. It was simply too
big, too costly to operate and the taxes were un-real. Just the heating costs alone for a building plus the yard (they still used
ground steam for cars parked locally at that time) were probably more in the winter months than they brought in through the
ticket windows.
It would not be at all practical to return passenger trains to this location today, it is not on the existing tracks of the Amtrak
route between New York and Albany and would require a reverse move for every existing Amtrak train to use, there is little to no parking in the area and it is not in a very good part of town anymore either.
The current station is just across the river from Albany in Rensselaer, it is brand new and has a large parking garage plus a
spacious lot too for parking. It has every facility that Amtrak could possibly need for the forseeable future and it is a pleasant facility for Amtrak's passengers to use as well. Albany in my opinion is not large enough to support a commuter
rail system or even one line so I doubt if any rail use can be found for this building.
I think I can safely say that there is no way that the old Albany station will ever see Amtrak trains and probably no other
passenger trains either.
I still hope they can find something useful for that building, it would be a terrible shame for it to go back to the status that
is was before the bank acquired the building. The first bank was NORSTAR which was a large but locally owned bank, they
got gobbled up by Fleet and banking service got worse but at least Fleet saw fit to keep their local operations bases out of
that building. When Bank of America took over Fleet you now have a huge nationwide banking corporation and their
leadership could probably care less about the heritage of this beautiful building.
Noel Weaver

I have worked for BOA in the past, and my Uncle is one of their Vice Presidents. I can see why they want out due to costs... it is much too large for their needs and staying in a building just because is historical means that any increased costs from their decision is passed onto customers. And banks are already very good at that!

Check out the book "Trackside in the Albany, NY Gateway 1949-1974" from Morning Sun books. You will see AUS in its glory, but you will also see why it will never be an Amtrak station. It really is unbelievable how different the trackwork in the area is today.

One funny thing in the book: there were parking problems way back in 1962!

That part of the city has always been the mayors' favorite project, and has really come back to life over the past 14 years he has been in office. They are building luxury condos on the same street just north of the station, new office towers were built a few years back. I'm sure the old station won't be vacant for long.

Let's please drift back to the discussion of the current day, there's already a thread full of historical discussion that I pointed out above...

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 93&t=55408

Here is an old-time picture that shows the area in question back in the heyday of passenger train travel in Albany. I don't know the date, but it predates the building of the architectural mess on the back (north) side of the State Education Building and I believe that was some time in the early 1950's. Of course there is no evidence of the Empire State Plaza in this photo because that was still the red light district.

historical discussion here: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 93&t=55408

That building is landmarked, is it not, so it can't be torn down?

No one mentioned, but the last time I was there the New York State Board of Education (at least I think it was them) had done a great job of renovating and reusing the old D&H Building right next door.

To answer my own question, the City of Albany's official website lists Union Station as a nationally registered historical site meaning there is zero chance of it being demolished for, say, a downtown Costco or Home Depot.

I did read (in the news link provided here) that the banking tenants built an additional floor into the original high-ceilinged waiting room (I had a hamburger at the lunch counter there in 1963) which was what I think they call the "barrel-vault type," with a 110-feet high ceiling.

If you've been there since the remodeling, the front is closed off and employees enter from the rear. There's no public access I'm aware of.

PS - Nowadays the D&H Building (just south of Union Station) is actually the administrative headquarters for SUNY, the State University of New York, See link-

http://www.albany.edu/museum/wwwmuseum/ ... build.html