<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=45ARVE_1GqCY7NS00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=45ARVE_1GqCY7NS00" width="1306" height="667" ><figcaption>An artist’s rendering shows the corner of Broadalbin Street and First Avenue with the proposed building in place.</figcaption></figure>Some members of the Albany Landmarks Commission Thursday did not like assorted details, including its size, of the four-story mixed-use building developer Scott Lepman is proposing to build on the city-owned property at 300 First Ave. SW.The commission did not approve the project but did not deny it either. (It voted 4-2 against member Camron Settlemier’s motion to deny.) Instead it postponed a decision until its next meeting on Dec. 2.The postponement is intended to allow Lepman and architect Don Johnson to make changes in the proposal.The plan is for a building with 37 one- and two-bedroom apartments, 47 parking spaces and 24 bike spaces on the ground floor, plus three tenant suites of commercial space facing First Avenue.The Landmarks timing may be a problem. The Albany Revitalization Agency (meaning the city council) owns the former Wells Fargo Bank property and has given Lepman an option to buy it for $310,000.Last spring the council gave Lepman a Nov. 30 deadline to sign a development agreement. The agreement is a condition of the city selling him the property.The Landmarks Commission must review the proposed development for compatibility with the downtown historic district. But now the decision whether to approve the project will come after the council’s deadline by which Lepman has to sign the agreement to build the building.I followed the Landmarks meeting on Zoom and didn’t hear anyone mention the deadline. So maybe it’s not a problem at all.Landmarks members Setttlemier, Richard Engeman, Vance McDermott, Mason Cox, Chad Robinson and Rayne Legras all had something to say about the proposal before them, some of it complimentary but much of it critical of details.Settlemier objected most strongly to the size of the building, which would cover the block south of First Avenue from Broadalbin to Ferry Street.Chairman Robinson tried to keep members from trying to design the building from the dais, but in vain.Objections to the design before them included the height, the materials of some of the siding, the doors for the ground-level parking garage, the garage itself, the decorative gable on the western-most segment, the apartment balconies, and the variations of the façade to make it look like separate buildings.Some liked the variations, others thought they looked like an outlet mall.Johnson told the panel he could easily change plans for the siding and the little gable. Whether that’s enough for the design gurus and architecture judges on the Landmarks Commission, we’ll have to wait a month to find out. (hh)<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1AkMlQ_1GqCY7NS00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1AkMlQ_1GqCY7NS00" width="1312" height="367" ><figcaption>This rendering shows the First Avenue facade of the proposed building the Landmarks Commission considered.</figcaption></figure>çç</div></body>

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Some members of the Albany Landmarks Commission Thursday did not like assorted details, including its size, of the four-story mixed-use building developer Scott Lepman is proposing to build on the city-owned property at 300 First Ave. SW. The commission did not approve the project but did not deny it either....

Landmarks postpones decision on big project

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Some members of the Albany Landmarks Commission Thursday did not like assorted details, including its size, of the four-story mixed-use building developer 

Landmarks postpones decision on big project

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