July 16, 2012

Nano going downtown

By: Brian Nearing

Source: Times Union

ALBANY — The city's landmark, century-old Union Station, vacant for two years since a bank pulled its operations, is getting new life as offices that may help create nanotechnology to make cities run better.

On Monday, the UAlbany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering announced part of the station will be home to the top leadership of the Colonie-based CHA engineering firm, formerly known as Clough Harbour & Associates.

The 100,000-square-foot station has been vacant since 2010, when Bank of America left during the depths of the financial recession. CHA will lease about 10,000 square feet and move 30 of its executives to the station from the company's current headquarters, said CHA Chief Executive Officer Ray Rudolph.

"This provides us with exciting new opportunities to continue to expand our services in clean-energy technology and advanced manufacturing," he said. The move will take place by the end of the year.

Also, the NanoCollege announced an agreement with Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region, an Albany-based, not-for-profit social services agency that promotes inner-city education, to create nano-related education and job training for students.

Alain Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of the NanoCollege, said partnerships with CHA and Trinity will focus on "smart cities" technologies, including sensors and computer chips, integrated systems and operating software to collect and analyze data for such applications as highway conditions, infrastructure like bridges and utilities, and security for educational settings.

Nanotechnology involves the use of very small materials. Several dozen students from Trinity could become part of the nanotech training program by the end of the year, a move welcomed by JoAnn Morton, head of the South End Neighborhood Association.

She said residents there are in need of better jobs, and training in nanotechnology issues could create a pathway to such jobs. "This a great opportunity for residents of the South End and the entire city," Morton said.

Trinity is also building a new $5 million academic campus, the Capital South Campus Center, in the South End, at Philip and Warren streets, that will help support the NanoCollege program, said Trinity CEO Harris Oberlander.

He said the nanotech training program would provide "opportunities that have historically bypassed our inner cities."

The NanoCollege would hold its courses and training programs at the new campus, at the CHA offices in Union Station and at the NanoCollege's main facility off Fuller Road in Albany, Oberlander said.

The NanoCollege is leasing Union Station from owner Gramercy Capital Corp., a New York City-based real estate investment trust, said Kaloyeros. He said the term of the lease, as well as the NanoCollege's lease with CHA, were still being negotiated. The college also is negotiating with other prospective tenants for the building, he added.

Rudolph said CHA executives will come from the firm's headquarters on Winners Circle and will include himself, the chief financial officer and chief operations officer. He said the firm needs more room because it has outgrown its headquarters.

He said repopulation of Albany as the urban hub of the Capital Region is critical. "We are putting our money where our mouth is," said Rudolph, who is the husband of former Albany City Engineer Deirdre Rudolph.

Kaloyeros said that total investment in the Union Station project approaches $15 million. The beaux arts-inspired building opened in 1900 as train station, and fell into disrepair by after closing in 1968. It was restored as the headquarters for Norstar Bank in 1984.

Also Monday, city officials submitted an application to support the Union Station project with eight-county Capital Region Economic Development Council. The NanoCollege wants to develop the station into high-technology business incubator.

Earlier this year, the state passed on a $4 million application for the project. NanoCollege officials could not immediately indicate the amount of funds being applied for this time.