ALBANY COUNTY — Like the phoenix, the campus of The College of Saint Rose is set to rise again as an educational center — and more.

Today, Governor Kathy Hochul made an announcement at the campus to an appreciative audience, proposing that up to $40 million in state funds be spent to set up workforce training centers in three regions in New York: the Capital Region, the Finger Lakes, and the Mohawk Valley. 

The Capital Region center is to be located on the former Saint Rose campus.

The century-old college, facing financial hardship, closed last summer. At the end of last year, the Pine Hills Land Authority, backed by Albany County, won the bid to buy the 48-acre campus for $35 million.

“We know what this campus meant to the community,” Hochul said on Thursday.

She praised Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and “others who pulled together elected leaders from our state legislature who said, ‘We can do better. We can do something spectacular, Governor.

“‘Just give us a chance. Sign this piece of paper and we can make it happen,’ right? I signed that piece of paper. I'm glad I did for Pine Hills because I believe in this community.”

The three selected regions will advance to the planning stage of the $200 million One Network for Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnerships, known as ON-RAMP.

“It’s how you get on the superhighway, right?” said Hochul, highlighting the meaning of the acronym. “You have to get on the on-ramp first. That on-ramp creates the opportunity for people who otherwise might be left in the ditch or on the side of the road to be able to participate and be part of this incredible thoroughfare.”

The flagship center was set up in Syracuse, the Northland Workforce Training Center.

“We announced last year $200 million,” said Hochul. “It was very simple. We wanted to provide New Yorkers, especially those who start out life in a more disadvantaged community — they have extra barriers; they don't have role models necessarily in their own home or their own families; they don't have the nurturing environment that other communities may have. It's sometimes harder to get that ticket out to get a better job and come back to that community and reinvest in it.

“How you create generational wealth, which is so important. They just need the skills to find these jobs because the jobs are there — and we’re talking about great companies. Anybody hear of Micron? ….

“This is how you meet the Micron moment, the opportunity,” said Hochul, referencing Micron Technology’s plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20 years to construct a semiconductor fabrication facility in Onondaga County.

Hochul spoke of the “ripple effect” of Micron’s initiative that “is all over the state — indeed, all over the country. We build advanced manufacturing, make semiconductor chips so we’re not so reliant on foreign supply chains which can be so disrupted.”

In the Capital Region, the Center for Economic Growth will lead the Capital Region’s ON-RAMP center, with a regional consortium of industry partners, including GlobalFoundries, Plug Power, General Electric, NSH USA, P1 Industries, and Regeneron, plus local trades and workforce training providers.

The proposed primary location at the Saint Rose campus is to offer technical training, non-technical foundational and soft skills, and critical wraparound services, according to the governor’s office.

Hochul described “wraparound services” as “understanding that people, in order to be lifted out of their circumstances, have to get transportation and partnerships with human-service providers in the neighborhood.”

She said this includes child care, “one of the great barriers to bringing more women into the workplace: who’s taking care of the kids at home? We’re training the workers of tomorrow while looking after their needs today. That's how you get ahead as a state.”

The governor described the workforce center as part of her proposal to revitalize Albany.

“How about $400 million dollars for this community to have reborn, re-catalyze, reinvent Albany?” Hochul said, naming “$150 million for renovations at the New York State Museum to make it a showcase for our state. We can do this. It’ll be spectacular.”

 Hochul concluded, “I have some great ideas as well, but I’m going to defer to my locals. I think we’re all on the same page.”

“Redeveloping the Saint Rose campus will benefit everyone in this immediate area, of course,” said Joanne Cunningham, who chairs the county legislature, in a release from the county, “but these kinds of programs are the anchors that we need in order to move this property from a city-centric project to a further reaching one.”

“Creating opportunities, especially opportunities for young people and people from marginalized communities is something I emphatically stand behind,” said Wanda Willingham, the legislature’s deputy chairwoman, in the release. “Redeveloping this campus and making sure that it continues to have a symbiotic relationship with the Pine Hills Neighborhood, the city of Albany, and the county is something that I emphatically stand behind.”

She also said, “I highly encourage anyone in the community who has more ideas about how we can best utilize this campus — even if the idea seems untraditional or outside-the-box — to reach out to us because it might be just what we need and we haven’t even thought of it yet.”

Also on Thursday, the Advance Albany County Alliance and the Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority issued a joint statement, saying, “Today, Governor Hochul’s dedication of state funding and resources is a strong start towards ensuring that our redevelopment of the College of Saint Rose campus is a ‘jumpstart’ for the Pine Hills neighborhood and the greater Albany community.”

On Wednesday, McCoy, speaking at a Guilderland Chamber of Commerce event, had hinted Hochul’s announcement was coming.

He also mentioned other potential uses for the former Saint Rose campus, including moving county offices and workers from downtown, and creating subsidized housing for low-income seniors on the campus.

“I’m hoping the suburbs will come into the city and enjoy this piece of property,” McCoy told the Guilderland crowd on Wednesday.

He also said he hoped the transformation of the former Saint Rose campus would serve as a “model case” for closed colleges around the nation.

“Stay tuned,” said McCoy.