Senate Passes Fahy Bill to Repurpose Seven Acres of Harriman State Office Campus & Create Master Plan as Session Winds Down

ALBANY, N.Y. – Senator Patricia Fahy (D—Albany) announced today the passage in the State Senate of legislation (S.1613A/A.5918) she sponsors with Assemblymembers Gabriella Romero (D—Albany) and John T. McDonald, III (D—Cohoes) requiring the Office of General Services (OGS) to designate 7 acres for mixed-use commercial, retail, or residential development of the 27-acre Harriman State Office Campus set aside for the $1.7 billion Wadsworth Public Health Laboratory project.

Moreover, this legislation directs empire state development, in conjunction with the office of general services, to develop a master plan for the redesign of the entire Harriman Campus. This plan will identify further opportunities for mixed-use commercial and residential development, the repurposing of portions of the ring road surrounding the campus, as well as an analysis of parking needs in surface lots. The plan will prioritize reintegrating of the Harriman Campus with surrounding neighborhoods in the City of Albany.

The bill now heads to the State Assembly for approval, and subsequently, Governor Hochul’s desk for signature. This legislation intends to ensure a 21st Century-economic development approach that will foster the growth of the regional economy and better integrate the surrounding community on the Harriman Campus. 

“I’m grateful that my colleagues in the State Senate have listened to our community and recognized the need to move beyond the design mistakes of the 1960s and free up land to build new housing,” said New York State Senator Patricia Fahy (D—Albany). “New York’s $1.7 billion Wadsworth Labs project is the largest state investment in the Harriman Campus since its construction and represents an opportunity for a bolder, broader vision as part of this project. Redesignating a portion of the 27-acre Wadsworth Project to be used for mixed-use commercial, retail, and residential space will ensure that we’re maximizing the economic development potential of this project on what could now be considered Albany’s uptown ‘Parking Lot District’. Ensuring that we’re limiting the number of surface-level parking spaces, reserving dedicated space for new housing stock and small businesses, and reconnecting the Campus with the surrounding neighborhoods must be critical components of this project moving forward.”

New York’s decision to relocate the Wadsworth Public Health Labs to the Harriman Office Campus was a result of years-long advocacy to ensure the laboratories remained in the City of Albany and broader Capital Region. Existing plans for the consolidation of the Wadsworth Health Labs include a dramatic expansion of parking spaces and no opportunities for mixed-use commercial, retail, and residential space, or Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). As the state seeks to redevelop the Wadsworth Public Health Labs, it should prioritize economic development on the Harriman Campus that can incubate businesses, provide new housing options to help address the local and statewide housing crisis, and collocate workers directly adjacent to the Harriman Campus.

Harnessing the full economic multiplier effects of the Wadsworth Laboratory project and state’s largest investment in the Capital Region since the 1960s will reconnect the surrounding community and neighborhoods and allow them to realize the full potential of a project of this size and scale. Co-locating mixed-use commercial and residential space will assist in undoing the car-centric and transportation planning mistakes of the ‘60s, which culminated in the inclusion of Harriman’s ‘ring roads’ that direct traffic flow out of the City of Albany, rather than into it. A 2007 study completed by the Capital Region Transportation Council (CRTC), the Capital Region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), called for mixed-use and residential development to complement a redesign of Harriman’s existing transportation grid, unlocking major economic development opportunities.

Sixty-three percent of the City of Albany’s properties are considered tax exempt, including the Harriman State Office Campus. Encouraging spinoff development on these acres can help to alleviate Albany’s unique tax burden as the state’s capital city. Finally, encouraging greater walkability and multi-modal transportation will reduce the need for additional parking spaces, stimulate the local economy, and incentivize private sector investment.

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