Albany’s Central Warehouse: From icon to eyesore

At the time, Central Warehouse is considered a sign of Albany’s prosperity. A Times Union article under the headline “Albany’s building boom” in August 1927 boasts “the permit granted by the Bureau of Buildings to the New York Central Railroad Company, authorizing the erection of a warehouse, at Colonie and Montgomery Streets.” Its unique design allows trains to stop inside the second floor of the building to unload cargo.

Reports over the next six months estimate the cost of construction at $2.2 million to $3 million — or $39 million to $52 million adjusted for inflation. The article goes on to say the city’s “undiminished vigor” for construction “is an impressive illustration of the progress and expansion that is taking place in Albany.”

“Twenty carloads of Maine potatoes are scheduled to arrive in Albany for storage” in the new 11-floor warehouse according to a brief in the Times Union. The report says the storehouse is “virtually completed with the exception of a few minor jobs on the interior.” It was scheduled to be turned over to the owners on Jan. 15, 1928, and employ about 350 people.

Amid the Great Depression, Central Warehouse is the site of fresh veal distribution to those holding federal surplus food tickets, according to a Times Union report.

The novelty of frozen meat means Commissioner of Public Welfare Leo M. Doody had to be quoted explaining how to thaw it: “Those who are to use it should first place the veal in cold water until the frost is completely removed, then the veal can be used in any form the family desires.”

The Times Union’s front page featurs black smoke billowing from the Central Warehouse roof in a “three-alarm fire.” The blaze is blamed on hot tar boiling over and igniting on the roof. After the fire was put out, the damage is estimated at $15,000 ($318,000 in today’s money).

However, most of the goods inside the building are safe because the exterior cement casing prevents most of the smoke from entering the building. Temperatures in the cold storage units never rose above freezing, according to the article.

Connecticut Cold Storage Corp. of East Hartford, Conn., signs an agreement to buy all Central Warehouse stock from Central Warehouse Corp. at $37 per share. The new owners continue to run the warehouse until the New York State Teachers Retirement System foreclose on a mortgage loan to Connecticut Cold Storage Corp. in 1978.

Standing next to Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd and touting downtown Albany’s resurgence, Richard Gerrity holds a press conference in front of Central Warehouse announcing its purchase. He acquires the property from the New York State Teachers Retirement System.

At the time, the warehouse employs 30 full-time workers and has a year-round occupancy rate of 65 percent. While the purchase initially fueled investment into the building, it also marked the beginning of the end of its life as a food storage facility.

A businessman and philanthropist, Gerrity is also deeply religious as evidenced by a large “Year of the Bible” painted on Central Warehouse in 1983.

The sign draws the attention of the state Department of Transportation, which says it violates a section of the Highway Law. A year later C.W. Associates, the company in which Gerrity is a partner, sues for the right to use the walls of Central Warehouse as billboards to advertise to motorists along I-787.

Finally in 1986, after three years of complaints, a lawyer representing C.W. Associates says the “Year of the Bible” sign would be painted over the following spring.

C.W. Associates, the company that owns the mammoth cold storage building files bankruptcy liquidation with debts of $6.3 million. Gerrity had begun liquidating his assets years earlier saying, “I was a slave to the banks and then I got saved. God told me to get rid of the stuff.”

Gerrity was also the subject of an A1 Times Union story in 1993 after flooding the Capital Region with religious messages in the form of television and radio ads promoting his Bible study group — ads that included direct attacks on the Catholic, Jewish and Episcopalian faiths.

Then-state Attorney General Dennis Vacco steps in to prevent TrustCo Bank from shutting off power to Central Warehouse for fear that closing down the roughly 70-year-old, 500,000-square-foot facility could cause an environmental disaster. He says the building contains an old refrigeration system with thousands of pounds of ammonia gas, along with layers of 18-inch-thick ice on several upper floors.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation recommended the system be purged of ammonia before being turned off. TrustCo ultimately takes possession of the property.

The Times Union reports that Frank Crisafulli, a retired owner of a food distribution company, bought the property for $1 and a promise to clear $120,000 in back taxes. “It’s a sad state of affairs when you can purchase a 500,000-square-foot building for $1,” Crisafulli said.

The new owner didn’t have any specifics or a timeline for what he planned to do with the building, saying a previous development project took 10 years.

Crisafulli keeps his promise and sells the structure in 2001 for $500,000 to Pine Tree, a development group that wanted to use the building for warehouse space — or flip it for profit.

The following year, Pine Tree found a buyer in New York City developer Joshua Guttman, who pays $800,000. Guttman initially investigated converting the building into apartments, retail space or a parking garage.

A March 9, 2003, article in the Times Union also suggests redeveloping the building into a train station, retail center, art piece, or baseball stadium. The headline of that story reads: “Central Warehouse — Albany eyesore or 11-story gold mine?”

The warehouse officially enters the digital era when Guttman lists it on eBay. He claims to still have interest in redeveloping the building — that is unless someone wanted to take it off his hands for a minimum bid of $3.6 million.

At the time, the demolition of the structure was estimated to cost $1 million. Four weeks later, the online auction closed with no bidders.

Guttman finds a buyer, CW Montgomery, an LLC associated with Albany investment firm Axiom Capital. “It’s an eyesore, period,” said Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings at the time. “We’re going to do whatever we can to help this happen, because I’m sick of looking at that building.”

By that point, officials already concluded that any successful redevelopment plan would include the costly task of replacing the concrete façade.

A work crew that was not authorized to be in the building accidentally starts a massive, multi-day blaze while cutting sprinkler pipes to sell as scrap metal. Investigators believe sparks from a saw ignited the fire and it spread to the building’s cork insulation.

More than 48 hours later, firefighters are still shooting 1,000s of gallons of water per minute into Central Warehouse’s 10th floor as the fire continues to smolder. Albany Fire Chief Robert Forezzi Sr. said the vacant eyesore was not in danger of collapsing.

Five months later, George Ellis pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary and faced 1⅔ to 5 years in prison for his role in the incident. After the fire, Sunmark Credit Union is able to wrest control of the building from CW Montgomery and put it up for sale. In 2015, the list price is $499,000.

Evan Blum, a New York City dealer of architectural oddities and artifacts, buys Central Warehouse for $1 in the summer of 2017. Sunmark had been listing the building for $199,000.

Like previous owners, Blum has grand designs for the big-boned structure. “This building is blank canvas to me,” said the 60-year-old Blum, who called his new acquisition “the ugliest building ever built in the state of New York” and an example of the Brutalist architectural style. Blum also envisions operating a revitalized facility as a kind of hub for local artists who could display and sell their work. Back taxes totaling $273,000 were owed at the property.

In subsequent years, city officials try repeatedly to get Blum to secure the building. They take him to codes court and win a more than $77,000 judgment for past violations as the property’s tax bill increases to more than $400,000 by 2020.

Fed up with a tax bill that continues to go unpaid, Albany County moves to auction the property to the highest bidder, triggering a two-year legal battle in which Blum declares bankruptcy twice and makes a last-ditch effort to sell the building.

Blum also files a federal lawsuit alleging the county did not follow the rules when it moved to seize the property through foreclosure. He sought $1.5 million in damages.

Albany declares a state of emergency as chunks of the Central Warehouse façade fall near train tracks next to the building. A structural engineering report the city received that week says portions of the exterior southern wall are in danger of imminent collapse. Contractors work through the weekend to remove loose concrete on a wall as well as a smokestack, said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

Train service resumes the following Monday, four days later. The report calls for the entire fascia wall on the building’s south side to be attached to the inside of the building using steel rods and plates, and then anchored to the floor with cables. Inside the building, some of the reinforced concrete beam structures and staircases on the upper floors are also in imminent danger of partial collapse, according to the report.

While the final legal battles play out in federal court, an LLC operated by Redburn Development and Columbia Development takes control of Central Warehouse. The partnership paid $50,000 for the building in exchange for the county agreeing to wipe out $500,000 in back taxes.

Days earlier, the state awarded the new owners a $9.75 million Restore NY grant to assist the rehab effort. Phase one of the project will create more than 100 market-rate apartments on the second, third and fourth floors of the 11-story building, with the ground floor being redeveloped into about 25,000 square feet of commercial space.

The city will pay $462,000 to install protective netting on two sides of the Central Warehouse after masonry falls from the building. The development company that owns it, CW Skyway LLC, will be billed for the work.

Two months after the new owners took possession, the city cites the building for the same code violations it cited Blum. They range from administrative violations like adding the property to the city’s vacant building registry, to more difficult undertakings such as making the building weathertight.

Jeff Buell, a principal at Redburn Development, confirms he had conversations with public officials on whether the 500,000-square-foot famed Albany eyesore should be demolished or receive an influx of public cash. Buell estimates that $20 million in repairs are needed before actual rehabilitation can begin. Overall, the cost of the project could be $100 million.