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Mayor Keeler outlines downtown projects, $1.5M Cohoes Music Hall restoration and DRI-funded work
Summary
Mayor Keeler told the Common Council that a $1.5 million restoration of the Cohoes Music Hall has begun with roughly $1 million covered by state grants, and announced several other downtown and infrastructure projects including Columbia Street work and planned DRI renovations.
Mayor Keeler used the March 24 meeting to outline a series of capital and downtown projects intended to accelerate local redevelopment and infrastructure repairs.
Keeler announced that restoration of the Cohoes Music Hall began last week with a total project cost of $1.5 million and that about $1 million of that cost will be covered by New York State grants; he thanked Assemblyman John McDonald for help securing the state funding. The mayor also said Phase II of the City Hall window replacement will begin this spring, replacing original 1895 windows on the Ontario Street and Canvass Street sides.
On infrastructure, Keeler reported the Columbia Street Project — which includes new sewer lines, sidewalks, trees and paving — has gotten underway and that tree removal adjacent to the work has already occurred; a daily schedule and weekly updates will be posted on the city's website and Facebook page. He said closing on the 'Saratoga Sites' parcel is scheduled for April 9 and is expected to net the city approximately $100,000 in profit and start generating property tax revenue in 2026.
Keeler described several DRI-funded downtown rehabilitation projects: demolition of the former Cohoes Savings Foundation building on Remsen Street in preparation for a new four-story mixed-use building, asbestos abatement at the Carter building (the former Caulkin’s Pharmacy), restoration at 139–141 Remsen that will create three first-floor commercial units and seven apartments above, and near-completion of rehabilitation of upstairs apartments at Smiths Public House. He added the DRI Small Projects Fund will accept façade and small-business support applications this spring.
Keeler also said the Cohoes Housing Authority will undertake a broad rehabilitation of several properties, including Manor Sites, Roulier Heights and McDonald Towers; he estimated the city will receive roughly $800,000 in building-department fees from that work.
The mayor framed the updates as steps toward downtown revitalization and said the city will provide regular schedule updates to residents.
