Two dozen apartments proposed near Crossgates Mall

— From Viscusi Builders’ submittal to town of Guilderland 

A Rotterdam developer is proposing to build 24 apartments at 2 Crossgates Mall Road in Guilderland. The 1.54-acre parcel abuts a 192-room Hilton hotel and is across the street from the mall.

ALTAMONT — The Guilderland Planning Board on Wednesday got its first look at a proposal to build two dozen apartments on a 1.54-acre parcel of land sandwiched between Crossgates Mall and the Hilton hotel on Route 20. 

Viscusi Builders is seeking approval to construct the four-story residence at 2 Crossgates Mall Road. The building’s first floor would be dedicated to parking with apartments located on floors two, three, and four. The covered parking area would contain over half of the development’s 49 parking spaces (another 15 spaces are shown as banked, or potential future, parking).

The land, which was subdivided in 2017 to make way for the dual-branded 192-room Tru and Homewood Suites hotel from Hilton, is currently owned by Crossgates but under contract to the Rotterdam-based Viscusi, according to the project narrative provided to the planning board. 

The parcel abuts Site 3 of the contentious three-site development project from Crossgates’ parent company, the Pyramid Management Group, which has faced two lawsuits over the proposal.

One suit by a group of Westmere residents initially stopped Pyramid’s planned 222-unit apartment development and proposed Costco Wholesale, but was overturned on appeal. Pyramid then successfully turned back a lawsuit from Save the Pine Bush, but the not-for-profit advocacy group chose to challenge the lower court’s decision and is currently appealing the ruling.

More Guilderland News

  • Donald Csaposs, the chief executive officer of Guilderland’s IDA, had been both its FOIL officer, receiving requests for information, and its FOIL appeals officer, deciding if a records denial should be upheld or overturned. Going forward, the board’s lawyer will serve as the appeals officer.

  • Supervisor Peter Barber said the delay is because the Public Employee Relations Board “has possession of the cards and, if a majority of the cards are determined by PERB to be valid, then I will ask the board to voluntarily recognize CSEA.”

  • A 2015 approval from the Guilderland Town Board allows Wolanin Companies to construct nine apartment buildings, a mixed-use office and retail building, and a clubhouse with a swimming pool. To date, two of 11 proposed buildings have been built while 64 of 210 apartments have gone up. Wolanin this week attributed the delays and proposed changes to, among other things, financial hardships due to “skyrocketing prices,” as well crew loss, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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