Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Hilton Comes To Troy

Just so we are clear, the headline is correct. We held a press conference this morning on Hoosick Street to announce that after years of planning, studying and not much doing, a major development is going to take place on the region's second busiest road. At long last we will take a major step towards capturing the monumental traffic that passes through Troy each day.

The details of the project are tremendous and will be a long term boon for the City for years to come. This will be a seven story hotel featuring 125 rooms, two restaurants, including a high-end steak house, a coffee shop, bank, sports grill, conference center, and a number of other amenities. And yes, it will be a Hilton Garden Inn. I cannot tell you the credibility that name brings to Troy.

Much like the City Hall announcement a couple of weeks ago, this project is really a win-win for the City of Troy. This will bring much-needed tax base to our great City, provide a state-of-the-art hotel for the entire community, including the year round visitors to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, tremendous eateries, and perhaps most importantly, be the project that puts the anticipated redevelopment of Hoosick Street over the hump.

If you want more excitement, this development will bring more than 150 jobs to the City of Troy. That is true development.

The most exciting part of the announcement today? The developers would like to break ground later this year, and have the project completed by next summer. It is an ambitious schedule and one that we fully embrace.

The developer of the project is Hoosick Hospitality, LLC which have a track record of developing projects such as this around the region, including the Hilton Garden Inn near Albany Medical Center. This is a $22 million project that the developer is pursuing at no cost to the taxpayers. A true "win-win."

The developer will appear before the zoning board later this week, and will then appear before the Planning Board next Thursday evening for a review of the project.

The good news continues to roll in, with much more to come.

Have a great night!

Harry