By Tiffany Pearson
Contributing Writer
A new Family Dollar store planned for 418 South Pearl St. will include windows more in keeping with the demands of the Historic Resources Commission.
The commission reviewed updated plans for the proposed retail location at its meeting Wednesday late afternoon.
The site is adjacent to Groesbeckville H.D., a historic district in the south of Albany and a few blocks west of the Hudson River. The store is planned to be located at the site of Albany Industrial Supply, which will be demolished to permit construction of the store. The zoning was changed last year from commerical manufacturing to neighborhood commercial.
A representative of the project, Paul Bulmer of Maple Development Group, presented a design before the city in an informal meeting on February 10 and was advised to add additional windows and a tan band along the top of the building, to give it an architectural feel. The design has double windows and a band that is made out of a material called Diving.
During project review, the commission was concerned with how much space was allotted between windows.
“The windows need to be broken up. Have three windows under the store sign and two on the other side,” advised Sean Raggerty, a commission member.
“We do a lot of work with Family Dollar, and they studied different markets and based off of their research, studying the demographics and looking at the amount of people in a certain area, they determined that this would be a good market for them,” said Bulmer.
The project is scheduled for further review March 4 at 5:15 p.m. in the Albany Common Council chambers, in the second floor of City Hall.
If the proposal gets the city’s approval, Bulmer said the store is expected to open by the end of the summer or early fall.
“It’s a business decision on the city’s part. Certainly many people are in favor of really seeing this project happen, but we have to do it in a way that is cost effective and makes sense for the project overall,” Bulmer said.
