UAlbany turned down by Holt-Harris

GUILDERLAND — The McKownville Improvement Association is breathing a sigh of relief after the president of the University at Albany, which borders the modest McKownville neighborhood, reported that the school’s offer to buy a nine-acre parcel in a residential area had been refused by the seller.

John III and Susan Holt-Harris, a brother and sister, are asking $1.6 million for the largely vacant property that sits between about a dozen houses and the campus.

“What we bid was what the external appraiser appraised it at — it is a fraction of the asking price,” President George Philip said at a university council meeting last week.  “It was rejected and we have not made a counter offer.”

Karl Luntta, director for media relations at the university, said this week that he couldn’t reveal how much the school offered.  The town of Guilderland has assessed the property for $597,000.

“As I told the neighborhood committee, it would be very disingenuous for me to tell them that we have no interest in nine acres of contiguous property to this campus,” Philip said at the meeting, an audio recording of which is posted on the university’s website.

Don Reeb, president of the improvement association, is optimistic, though, that the university won’t make another offer on the land.  However, the Holt-Harris family could reconsider its asking price, he said, “which is my paramount concern right now.”  Reeb, who taught economics at the university for decades and has long been involved with the improvement association, lives a few houses down Norwood Street from the property that is for sale.

That land is 50 feet higher than the area where his house is built, Reeb estimated, so the prospect of more stormwater runoff if the property is developed is his primary concern — the hamlet of McKownville has severe trouble with drainage.  He is also concerned that it is not unusual for universities to encroach on the neighborhoods that they border since the houses in McKownville are modest in price, so it is conceivable that the university could buy up lots to expand the campus.

Currently, the university’s uptown campus is roughly 500 acres, according to Luntta.

There were no specific building plans for the nine-acre Holt-Harris plot, Philip said at the meeting.

According to surveys returned from McKownville residents, Reeb said, the neighborhood is very supportive of buying the property itself.  It wouldn’t be able to pay nearly as much as the asking price, Reeb said, but he plans to approach the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy about the property, which is untouched outside of an old house, which may have historical value.  Reeb estimated that the property is worth around $200,000.

“The neighborhood is very much interested in making sure the university stays on its side of the ring road,” he concluded.