Have you seen the City of Schenectady's Holiday Tree at Center City?

The spectacular holiday tree stands nearly 20 feet tall outside of Center City, at the corner of State Street and Jay Street, in the heart of downtown stands nearly 20 foot tall tree.  This year's tree was donated by Everett and Kathy Whitaker, and decorated by Experience Creative Design.

The Capitel Region Building Owners and Managers Association (CR-BOMA) hosted its 4th Annual Awards Dinner at the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center on December 1st, 2011.

Representatives from the Capital Region’s Commercial Real Estate Industry gathered for the annual holiday gathering to recognize The Office Building of the Year (TOBY) Award Winners.

The CR-BOMA TOBY Committee select Commercial Building Owners, Property Managers and Professional Service Providers in the real estate industry who have achieved excellence in building management, operational efficiency, tenant retention, emergency planning, and community impact.

The Galesi Group was presented with the “Corporation of the Year” award as an outstanding Real Estate Developer and Property Management Company.

BOMA President, Sarah Jermano, honored Galesi for being a long time supporter of the Association and the community at large, applauding Galesi’s involvement in enhancing the skyline in downtown Schenectady among many other Capital Region development projects.

The Galesi Group hosted its Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon as its employees joined together to recognize the accomplishments thus far and to discuss opportunities for the year to come. 

Following lunch, Chief Operating Officer, David Buicko delivered a speech thanking each employee for their dedication and hard work this quarter.   

• The Schenectady Chamber of Commerce presented the Galesi Group with the “Renaissance Award” for the development project at Center City. The Renaissance Award is given to companies that have “contributed to the revitalization of Schenectady County by renovating or constructing an outstanding building.”

• Rotterdam Corporate Park: During the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, we donated warehouse space to the Salvation Army to set up a Hurricane Relief Center at the Park. The Salvation Army continues to collect donations for flood victims.

•   Glenville Business and Technology Park: In an effort to enhance these facilities, we are making renovations from the inside-out. Upgrades include new energy efficient lighting, dock doors and equipment, exterior metal siding and façade improvements.

• Ecovative Design is expanding its space at the company’s headquarters in Green Island.
•  Adecco Engineering & Technical, based in Switzerland, moved into Center City. The company provides recruitment, temporary staffing, consulting, and outplacement services.

• Schenectady County Community College started Fall Semester at their newly constructed classrooms at Center City. Over 1,600 students are enrolled at the new Center City location.

• Demolition of the buildings at the Former ALCO site is complete and we have begun site work to prepare for redevelopment. Land use feasibility study continues to progress.

•  Residential: Construction is well underway at Market Center in Saratoga Springs. This six-story urban complex, anchored by a new Price Chopper, offers one, two and three bedrooms with retail space available for lease on the ground level. We are now accepting apartment applications at www.marketcentersaratoga.com

• Commercial: This September, Ellis Medicine broke ground for the construction of a 38,000 square foot urgent care center in Clifton Park.

• Distribution Unlimited has picked up additional business at the Northeastern Industrial Park. To date we have received in excess of 6,000 rail cars of various commodities for distribution throughout the Northeast.

• Sales have tripled this quarter as we continue to expand into new territories.

On Wednesday, September 21st Ellis Medicine broke ground at the site of the hospital's future Enhanced Urgent Care Center on Sitterly Road in Clifton Park.hospital’s Enhanced Urgent Care facility at 103 Sitterly Road in Clifton Park.

Ellis Medicine will lease the 38,000-square-foot building from co-developers, the Galesi Group and Columbia Development.

To see video footage on the groundbreaking event, click below.

On May 25 Tony Riccio Jr., Senior Vice President of the Galesi Group, will be presented with the 2011 Big Apple Brownfields Award in Economic Development. The award will be in honor of his work with Harlem River Yards Ventures and their efforts over the past two decades to clean up and develop the formerly hazardous unused land in the Port Morris section of the Bronx.

 Prior to transforming into the Harlem River Yard Transportation & Distribution Center, the 96 acre site was the abandoned Penn Central Railyard. Harlem River Yards Ventures carried out all remediation procedures and faced the challenge of cleaning up contaminants that included abandoned underground tanks, lead and other metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons related to coal and ash, and asbestos.  The entire site was covered with fill or topsoil, and the new Harlem River Yard Intermodal Transportation and Distribution Center was built on top.

 The development at this former Brownfield has resulted in creating an additional 700 jobs and a key railroad infrastructure that serves the NY Post, FedEx, and the City by providing a truck-to-rail waste transfer facility.

 To date the economic impact of the development has been substantial, including:

•  The development by the NY Post of a $300,000,000 color printing facility on 16 acres creating 400 jobs which utilizes rail for delivery of newsprint.

• The development by Waste Management of 13 acre $75,000,000 solid waste transfer facility creating 50 jobs which utilizes rail for shipment of solid waste to out of state landfill facilities.

•  The recent opened $50,000,000 10 acre Federal Express distribution facility which has created 274 new jobs and utilizes rail for movement of packages to the facility for distribution center.

• The reserve of 28 acres of land for future development of a full Trailer To Flatcar Facility (TOFC) intended to ship produce from Washington State and California to the Hunts Point Produce Terminal.

• Approximately 12.6 acres remain for future development.
  

The NYC Brownfield Partnership will host its third annual Big Apple Brownfield Awards Ceremony at the NYU School of Law.  The partnership will recognize five of New York City’s most outstanding brownfield redevelopment projects. To see all of the 2011 NYC Brownfield Aware Recipients click here: www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/oer/html/community/2011_awards_recip.shtml

In recognition of Administrative Professionals Day, the Galesi Group hosted its quarterly Employee Appreciation Luncheon. Each quarter the Galesi Group holds a lunch to recognize the outstanding efforts of its workforce. Our long term success has been attributed to our loyal employees, who in many cases have remained with the company for over 30 years.

This event is an opportunity for Chief Operating Officer, David Buicko to express his appreciation for everyone’s hard work and report a brief update on the company’s current performance and news of upcoming and ongoing projects.

Some positive news includes:

Industrial Parks

- Despite sluggish rental market, Galesi Industrial Parks’ occupancy rates have remained steady throughout the first quarter. Our focus is on retaining existing tenants and enhancing the Parks.

New Leasing

- Schenectady County Community College signed a new lease at Center City  

 Brownfield Redevelopment

- The demolition at the former ALCO site continues. Land use feasibility study in progress

 New residential and commercial development.

- In partnership with Bonacio Construction, the Galesi Group has expanded into Saratoga County with The Development at Market Center

 Recent Hires

- Distribution Unlimited hired Steve Ribét as Business Development Manager

 Promotions

- David Ahl promoted to Director of Industrial Parks Division

The Capital Region’s largest commercial and residential developers partner together for the recently announced development, Market Center at Railroad Place.

The Galesi Group, in a joint venture with Bonacio Construction, will develop a 196,000 square foot, mixed-use complex located on Railroad Place in downtown Saratoga Springs. This six-story urban complex will feature a new Price Chopper and a dry cleaner with additional retail leasing opportunities on the first level. The top five stories will contain 124 residential apartments available as 1, 2, or 3 bedroom units. Market Center at Railroad Place will be the first apartment style living developed in downtown Saratoga Springs in over 10 years.

Over the past 40 years, the Galesi Group has tackled complex residential projects including the development and sale of condominium units at Equinox on the Battenkill and at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, Vermont and the Top of the World in Lake George, NY. Currently, we are a partner in over 11,650 multi-family units located in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas.

We are excited to announce that we are making progress at the redevelopment project at the former American Locomotive Co. (ALCO) site.

In mid-November, the Galesi Group commenced demolition of the deteriorating industrial buildings and warehouses and have since removed two additional buildings from the site. We anticipate that the demolition will be compete by mid Spring, however this is just our first hurdle in this complex project. Our next step is Phase II, which will require an extensive environmental clean up and removal of contaminated soil and groundwater.

Fortunately the Galesi Group has had years of experience in redeveloping brownfield sites.

Since 1985, the Galesi Group has been actively developing brownfield projects including former military facilities as well as inner city sites. Most recently, we were acknowledged for the environmental clean up of nine acres of land at the former Big N site. Over 10,000 tons of dirt and more than 400,000 gallons of contaminated water were processed in order to begin redeveloping at this brownfield site. The once contaminated manufacturing site resulted in the construction of the $30 million Golub Headquarters and the largest private-sector structure in the Capital Region to receive gold verification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.

Similar to the polluted industrial site at the former Big N, the ALCO site was an abandoned industrial property with environmental contamination that has remained onsite since World War II, when thousands of steam and diesel locomotives were being manufactured.

The overall goal of the ALCO redevelopment project is to turn the site’s contaminated land into a regional economic development project that will complement the City of Schenectady recent developments.

During this initial development design, we are reaching out to the area business leaders to seek their input on the types of amenities will help attract and retain their business and their employees in the City of Schenectady. This information will be vital in determining the direction of this project along the one-mile stretch of riverfront.

After many months in the making, the Galesi Group is proud to announce the launch of it\s new website! Our new site will provide users with the most updated information on our commercial and industrial real estate properties. Check out our Available Properties page for the newest feature, downloadable brochures.