Downtown 'gourmet food court' in the works

TROY -- A Brooklyn transplant has big plans for an entrepreneurial food court in downtown.

Nelson at the 'food court' site.

Cory Nelson has unveiled the floor plan for what he is calling "Troy Kitchen: A Gourmet Food Court" at 50 4th Street. It would include four permanent food vendors, a wine and beer bar and a coffee bar, according to Nelson's Facebook announcement on Tuesday. He is hoping to have tenants in all the venues by early fall.

The former Union National Bank building includes original marble and brass elements, and a grand lobby with walls rising 32 feet to a glass ceiling.

The coming attraction is located a block from the Franklin Plaza Ballroom, itself housed in a former bank building, and just steps from the multi-level Uncle Sam Parking Garage. The lower level has a vault Nelson refers to on his plans as a "secret basement."

Nelson, 26, who moved from Brooklyn to study computer science and chemistry at Howard University in Washington, DC, now lives in Troy.  He is partnering with Kyle Engstrom, about whom he says, "I couldn't have asked for a better partner in this venture."

"[And} thank you," he says, "to the entire city and region for all the positive words and support thus fa. It means the world to us. We will continue to keep everyone updated of our progress. Also, feel free to reach out if you have a questions or just want to say hi. This project doesn't belong to me or Kyle, but to the entire city, so we want everyone to feel involved and excited about it just as we are."

Nelson has given major credit for inspiring his project to the example of local husband-wife entrepreneurs Vic Christopher and Heather LaVine. They have revitalized three once-crumbling buildings to create the Lucas Confectionery Wine Bar, The Market grocery, and the restaurant-tavern Peck's Arcade, all in the Monument Square neighborhood.

Although no details have been announced on potential tenants, if one is inclined to read the Facebook tea leaves, Brian Bowden may be involved in the new "food court." The well-regarded and well-traveled chef just left his position as founding chef at Mingle On the Avene in Saratoga Springs. And, he is a resident of Troy. Bowden has posted mention of the project on his Facebook page, and recently "friended" Nelson.

Bowden's resume includes stops at such popular restaurants as The Ginger Man in Albany, Creo' in Guilderland, and Javier's Nuevo Latino in Saratoga.

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Charter Review Commission needs to hear from you

The next meeting of the City of Troy's Charter Review Commission is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, May 8, in the City Council Chambers.

The purpose of the meeting is to allow city employees to comment on any changes they would like to see made to the revised Charter the Commission is preparing to be put on the November ballot.

While this session is for city employees, any member of the public is welcome to attend, as has been made clear of all Commission meetings and hearings.

So far, the Commission has held three hearings -- one for the general public, one for members of city government, one for City Council members. A second hearing for the general public will be scheduled for some time after May 8, making a total of five.

Feel free to exercise your civic responsibility and attend, comment and/or submit your suggestions in writing to Charter Review Commission, c/o Ian Silverman, City Hall, 433 River Street, Troy NY 12180, or by e-mail to the Commission as a whole.

In addition to Silverman, the other members of the Commission are Bill Dowd, Flora Carr, Kevin Glasheen, Patrick Madden, Patrick Morphy, Jill Nagy, Kevin Vandenburgh and Ken Zalewski.

If you are not familiar with the City Charter, you can access it online by clicking here.

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And then there were none

Chubby's Subs Eastside closed.

Chubby's Subs, a longtime player on the local casual food scene, is no more.

While the Lansingburgh location at Fifth Avenue and 114th Street closed several months ago, it was only in recent days that the remaining venue, at 769 Pawling Avenue near the Wynantskill line, went dark. A hand-scrawled, ripped piece of paper taped to the door reads: "CLOSED until further notice." Given the look of the interior -- furniture in a pile, no sign of beverages or foodstuffs, shades pulled down -- "further notice" won't be coming anytime soon.

Chubby's Subs was founded by the late Hank D'Arcy, who closed an East Greenbush location in the 1990s to open the Eastside spot that turned out to be the most successful of the trio. Eventually, his daughter Deanna D'Arcy took over the Eastside shop, and in 2011 brought ownership of the 'Burgh Chubby's back to the family. However, she closed it several months ago, while the Eastside shop had several different subsequent operators with brief tenures.

Chubby's had long been a local favorite, offering much more than its name implied. In fact, the extensive menu put many chain sandwich shops to shame. At one time, more than 40 basic sandwiches were available in two sizes each or as wraps, with a huge variety of toppings and breads. Doing the math, as they say, literally pushed the possibilities into the thousands. The shops also offered fish fry dinners, housemade soups and chili, four kinds of fries, chips made daily, and numerous specials, as well as catering.

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Former paint manufacturing building may get restaurant

The former Connors Paint building at 669 River Street.

The owners of The Local Pub and Teahouse in Saratoga Springs are working on a redevelopment project in Troy that may include a restaurant.

The Times Union reports today on its website that Mike Phinney and Jon Haynes "recently purchased a large, brick industrial building at 669 River Street in Troy" along with partner Brian McCandless from the city for $30,000. "Phinney, an architect who owns Phinney Design Group in Saratoga, [said] 'We’re strongly considering' a bar or restaurant for the ground level of the three-story, 40,000-square-foot building, with apartments upstairs. ... 'We think the location would be great for it. We’re very excited about what’s happening in North Central Troy'."

Back in 2006, plans were floated by a group calling itself 669 River Street Properties, with headquarters in Albany, to convert the derelict building to a commercial spot including office space, warehouse and trailer storage.

The new owners obviously have their work cut out for them since the condition of the structure has gotten only worse since 2006. The seller of the building, located between North Street and Middleburgh, cautioned in an online ad: "This building is without heat, electric, plumbing and in need of serious repair and rehabilitation. It is not a property for an inexperienced builder/developer/user."

The hulking brick building, formerly home to the William Connors Paint Manufacturing Co., makers of American Seal paint, is one of numerous large former manufacturing and/or warehousing facilities in the area of North Central that slowly is coming back to life. The first such major resuscitation was the Hedley Park Place office complex that now houses, among other tenants, City Hall.

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'Burgh in line for $1 million+ in rebuilding grants

Did you know the City of Troy is considering investing more than $1 million in down-at-the-heels Lansingburgh?

You would if you've read details of the "Proposed Project Funding 2015 Annual Action Plan." That document -- sometimes referred to as the "One Year Annual Action Plan" -- covers a wide range of potential grants all over the city. You can see it in its entirety by clicking here.

The 'Burgh portion of the proposal is broken into two components, one for $1 million and a the other for $100,000. It is an intriguing and promising idea that, if approved, could go a long way toward cleaning up a major neighborhood that has suffered through a rash of arsons, building abandonments, boarded-up structures, neglected vacant lots, lack of maintenance by both renters and absentee landlords, and general disregard for quality of life by far too many residents who either don't care about where they live or who have grown weary at the continual downslide.

Here, in the words of the document, are the two possibilities (I corrected its misspelling of Lansingburgh):

Lansingburgh Target Area Reinvestment (City of Troy Housing Department, $900,000): The Lansingburgh Target Area will consist of targeted infrastructure improvements, and neighborhood quality of life improvements including, new sidewalks and curbing, street milling and paving, streetscape improvements, lighting, street trees, public safety and neighborhood park improvements.

Program Delivery Expense (City of Troy Housing Department, $100,000): Direct program expenses related to the Lansingburgh infrastructure project including onsite project management oversight, design and engineering, Davis Bacon compliance and related work and coordination with contractors and homeowners.

(On the latter item, don't worry if you don't know who "Davis Bacon" is. Actually, it's not a he. The term should have been written "The Davis-Beacon Act." It refers to a 1931 federal law that requires the local prevailing wage be paid to laborers and mechanics on public works projects. It also applies to contractors and subcontractors who work on federally-funded or federally-assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for construction, alteration, repairing and/or decorating public buildings or public works.)

Anyway, if you'd like to make comments about this part of the proposal or any and all other parts, the process is simple. The proposal explains that a 30-day public comment period will end on Friday, May 8. Until then, "All residents. property owners, and other stakeholders of the City of Troy are encouraged to submit written comments or questions regarding the draft One Year Annual Action Plan to the Department of Housing & Community Development, 433 River Street, Troy, NY 12180, or e-mail to tim.mattice@troyny.gov."

There also is a public hearing scheduled for 5:30 p.m. this Thursday at City Hall, which this week remains located at 433 River Street on the fifth floor of the Hedley Building.

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Here's how deliberate lies can derail civic progress, Part 2

Is it any wonder volunteers trying to perform an honest, dispassionate and nonpartisan civic duty for the people of the City of Troy become discouraged?

In the latest instance of deliberate distortion and distribution of misinformation -- or, to be blunt, outright untruths -- in the service of the same partisan politics that have soiled this community's reputation for decades, we are seeing people fanning the flames of something that does not exist. Namely, the matter of the bipartisan, all-volunteer Charter Review Commission allegedly working to eliminate term limits.

The latest person to do so is, I am greatly disappointed to report, mayoral candidate Carmella Mantello. In a press release she just fired off, Mantello claims, " ... It has become readily apparent that the new Troy Charter Commission is discussing ways to eliminate term limits without any justification. ... This is something we should all stand up and fight against.”

And, the proof of this thing that has become "readily apparent" to her? There is none, for the simple reason that there is not even the tiniest shred of truth to her statement.

My response to her nonsensical charge is precisely the same as the one I posted on this blog after reading the same charge lodged in that cowardly and anonymous "Sound Off" column in The Record newspaper on Sunday. If you missed it, here it is again:

The Record's "Sound Off" column is a daily catch-all of phoned-in comments, frequently laden with complaints, uninformed declarations, purposeful misstatements and outright lies, all submitted under a cloak of anonymity and without any effort made by the newspaper to check their accuracy. 

In the latest batch, published today, one topic is the Troy Charter Review Commission. Normally, I would ignore such ramblings, but as a Commission member I think it wise to make an effort to keep the public honestly informed. 

The anonymous sniper claims Mayor Lou Rosamilia, a Democrat, and City Councilman Jim Gordon, a Republican, conspired to appoint a Commission to eliminate term limits, a topic that always is a hot-button issue in Troy. 

That claim is more than an error, it is an outright lie, as the anonymous caller well knows. 

First of all, the matter of term limits came up at the Commission's first public hearing only because representatives of the League of Women Voters brought it up. The Commission assured the LWV and the very few others in attendance -- including reporters for The Record and the Times Union -- that (a) no discussion of term limits, pro or con, had been held -- indeed, the topic had never been raised, and (b) that the subject would be evaluated just as every item in the current City Charter would be handled. A few comments were made around the table about the topic, but that is as far as it went. If any Commission members made public comments outside the Commission sessions, I have not heard them repeated to the group as a whole.

That is the sum and substance of it. The Commission has since held a hearing, open to the public, to listen to suggestions from the mayor and a number of department heads; will hold another hearing, open to the public, to hear suggestions from City employees, and will hold yet another hearing to receive suggestions from the public -- all before going heavily into the meat of the Charter. 

And, that is the accurate picture of the matter.

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Here's how deliberate lies can derail civic progress

The Record's "Sound Off" column is a daily catch-all of phoned-in comments, frequently laden with complaints, uninformed declarations, purposeful misstatements and outright lies, all submitted under a cloak of anonymity and without any effort made by the newspaper to check their accuracy.

In the latest batch, published today, one topic is the Troy Charter Review Commission.

Normally, I would ignore such ramblings, but as a Commission member I think it wise to make an effort to keep the public honestly informed.

The anonymous sniper claims Mayor Lou Rosamilia, a Democrat, and City Councilman Jim Gordon, a Republican, conspired to appoint a Commission to eliminate term limits, a topic that always is a hot-button issue in Troy.

That claim is more than an error, it is an outright lie, as the anonymous caller well knows.

First of all, the matter of term limits came up at the Commission's first public hearing only because representatives of the League of Women Voters brought it up. The Commission assured the LWV and the very few others in attendance -- including reporters for The Record and the Times Union -- that (a) no discussion of term limits, pro or con, had been held -- indeed, the topic had never been raised, and (b) that the subject would be evaluated just as every item in the current City Charter would be handled. A few comments were made around the table about the topic, but that is as far as it went. If any Commission members made public comments outside the Commission sessions, I have not heard them repeated to the group as a whole.

That is the sum and substance of it. The Commission has since held a hearing, open to the public, to listen to suggestions from the mayor and a number of department heads; will hold another hearing, open to the public, to hear suggestions from City employees, and will hold yet another hearing to receive suggestions from the public -- all before going heavily into the meat of the Charter.

And, that is the accurate picture of the matter.

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