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The plaza was the town’s first mall, built in the mid-1950s, and is zoned for commercial use, allowing a drug store.

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Both Godlewski, a Democrat, and Renna, a Republican, are running for Town Board in November for the only open seat.

Quoted from Rene

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Both Godlewski, a Democrat, and Renna, a Republican, are running for Town Board in November for the only open seat.

I thought Godlewski was running for County Leg.?

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ROTTERDAM
Capitol Plaza nearly cleared of businesses
Walgreens drugstore will be built on property
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

Like the rest of the nearly barren Capitol Plaza, the storefront at Newest Lunch remained dark Tuesday evening.
Inside, a scattering of booths and kitchen equipment was all that remained of the bar and grill that once bustled in the 1950s-era shopping center. The restaurant was one of the final businesses moved from Capitol Plaza last month, as HDB Ventures prepares to take ownership of the soon-to-be demolished building at Curry Road and Altamont Avenue.
    “If you drive by,
you’ll find an empty plaza,” said Bob Blank, a partner with HDB Ventures.
    Of the 15 businesses once located in the building, only Alesio Chiropractic remains. Blank said the owner of the plaza — Jeff Musiker — is relocating the business.
    Blank expects to complete the purchase of the building later this month and demolish it in late February or early March.
    The site should take about a week to clear, with work beginning on a 4,550-square-foot Walgreens drugstore shortly thereafter. Blank said the new drugstore should be built within five months and is anticipated to open sometime during the fall.
    Members of the town Planning Board approved the project in July 2006, but stipulated that the developer would need to acquire an eighth of an acre nearby the shopping center to ensure adequate parking. A dispute over the strip’s ownership stalled the project for nearly a year.
    In April, officials from the state Department of Transportation determined that the land belonged to Schenectady County, which promptly sold the parcel to HDB Ventures for $25,000. The sale wasn’t confi rmed until December.
    Meanwhile, the last vestiges of the shopping center are being liquidated, said George Keleshian, who is running the sale of all remaining equipment in the building for Musiker.
    Keleshian said any item not sold Monday will be moved at an auction on Jan. 17.
    Keleshian said an assortment of items from the New- est Lunch — including most of the bar signs and even the bar fixtures — have already been snapped up by restaurant owners around the Capital Region.
    Still, he said thousands of dollars worth of commercial kitchen equipment, restaurant furnishings and other remnants — everything from the doors to air conditioning units — remain to be sold.
    “Everything is being sold for 10 cents to 15 cents on the dollar,” he said.

Quoted from bumblethru

It's like the building on the corner of Curry Road and Guilderland Ave.. CVS bought it...and the property, that looks like it's ready to fall down with a good wind, just sits there....empty!!!

Quoted from bumblethru

I thought the hold up was DOT and Walgreens needing some of the public road for parking. There was something about the street that runs in back of the Plaza that runs from Curry to Altamont. I don't recall exactly...it was such a long time ago.

Quoted from JRaup

I thought that the exemption had been approved?  Or am I misremembering that?

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Walgreens drops Rotterdam move
After 14 businesses depart Capital Plaza, Illinois drug chain cancels expansion plan

By ALAN WECHSLER, Business writer
First published: Thursday, July 31, 2008

ROTTERDAM -- First the pizza place departed. Then the printing store left. The men's shop followed, as did the salon, the lunch spot and the chiropractic office.

     
By early 2008, 14 tenants had left the Capital Plaza, a 50-year-old shopping center at the busy corner of Curry Road and Altamont Avenue.

But it was all for naught. It seems plans for a Walgreens drug store -- the reason for this retail diaspora -- have been abandoned.

"Walgreens has no plans for a store in Rotterdam, N.Y.," wrote Carol Hively, a Walgreens spokeswoman, in response to a recent query on the status of the store. She did not respond to requests for more information.

The Deerfield, Ill.-based company operates nearly 6,300 stores, but has slowed down its expansion plans to save $500 million in the next three years, the company announced in early July.

Two years ago, developers had won approval to build a 14,700-square-foot Walgreens drugstore at 1925 Curry Road. HDB Ventures LLC of New Jersey had planned to demolish the plaza and begin construction last year.

It never happened. Property owner Jeff Musiker said HDB Ventures never even bought the property from him, despite a contract dating back more than two years. He said he's heard nothing about Walgreens abandoning the project.

"I don't know what's going to happen," he said. "As far as I know, Walgreens has a commitment."

Calls to HDB weren't returned.

The delay has left Musiker holding a plaza with no tenants. With storefronts empty and weeds growing around the perimeter, it's become an eyesore for the town and a weight on Musiker's back.

"I'm sitting on a building with no income and all the expenses," said Musiker, a stockbroker and financial adviser with Wachovia who owns the property through his own business, IJM Associates. "I might have to put it back as a shopping center."

That may not be so easy. Most tenants have set up shop elsewhere in town.

"We're doing very well," said Jacquie Bond, owner of La Bella Salon. She left her space at Capital Plaza in January and bought a two-story building down the road.

"It was a lot of work, and we had to rush to do it," she said. "It's kind of ironic -- all the hard times we all went through, and now to see (Walgreens) fall through."

Anthony Denning, owner of Vincy's Printing, moved two blocks to a building he now owns.

"We're doing fine in our new spot," he said. "It's probably one of the best things I ever did."

The plaza was built in the 1950s with a variety of spaces on several levels for both offices and stores. It brought a lot of independent businesses together in an area increasingly being taken over by chain stores.

Town officials say they still haven't lost hope that Walgreens will come in. On Wednesday, Peter Comenzo, the senior planner, had just phoned Musiker, the property owner, to ask him to clean up the property.

"It was nice in its heyday," said Lawrence DiLallo, the town's Planning Commission chairman. "It's not nice anymore."

Alan Wechsler can be reached at 454-5469 or by e-mail at awechsler@timesunion.com.

Quoted from Kevin March

Where's the Metroplex when you need it???