Historic Albany seeks bids to stabilize city's oldest building

The foundation, beams and framework of Albany's oldest building will be stabilized — the first time in a few years that work will be done at 48 Hudson Ave.

Historic Albany Foundation is seeking bids for the project at the downtown building, known as the Van Ostrande-Radliff House.

Bids are due Aug. 23 at 2 p.m. at John G. Waite Associates Architects in Albany.

The foundation received a $268,000 grant from the state Historic Preservation Office to do the work and must raise $150,000 in matching funds. About $20,000 has been committed so far, said Pam Howard, executive director.

Separately, the foundation wants to raise $50,000 to create a full-color report explaining the history of the building, who has lived there and what the future may hold for the property.

The stabilization is the latest effort to preserve the structure, which was built around 1728 as a Dutch-styled home.

The remains of the building are wrapped in a scrim with an image of how it may have originally looked. The scrim, which cost about $6,000, was hung in 2017 and paid for by the Dutch Consulate in New York City.

Historic Albany Foundation took ownership of the property for $1 in 2013, with the goal of finding a new public use.

"It's not our intention to keep it forever," Howard said. "We want it to be open to the public as much as possible. It's not our intention to create another house museum in Albany."

Much depends on what happens to the surrounding land, which is mostly parking lots and empty buildings owned by the Albany Convention Center Authority.

The authority has been trying for almost two years to transfer ownership of the land to Capitalize Albany Corp.

The administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo in May committed up to $15 million to redevelop the site, known as Liberty Park, but the property continues to be controlled by the convention center authority.

The authority in 2016 had to spend about $180,000 for an emergency demolition of the adjacent 50 Hudson Ave. because the vacant building started to collapse.