News - Future of public safety

During three separate one-hour meetings Saratoga Springs based Bonacio Construction, Clifton Park’s Yorkshire Properties and a group working under the name High Rock Partners detailed their proposals during separate hour-long sessions in City Hall.

Aside from a new police station, two of the three bids included a movie theatre and the city’s first paid parking system that would help offset the cost of building the facility.

Yorkshire Properties proposal would feature an up-to-three-story public safety building at the northern end of High Rock Avenue parking lot and a 600 space parking garage behind the building. The facility also has options for a third-floor court house or a shell that would enable the city to expand the floor into a court house at a later date.

The group proposed financing the building by having the city form a development corporation to issue 30-year bonds. They would then lease the building to the city for $862,000 to $1.1 million and the parking garage for approximately $1.1 million for a total cost of $2.2 million. After the city pays off the facility at the end of the 30-year lease period, the title would be sold to the city for $1.

Bonacio Construction in conjunction with BBL Construction Services proposed constructing four separate buildings, including a 45,000-square-foot movie theatre on Broadway. The proposal would pay the city $4.5 million and give the city their much-needed public safety facility and court with no cost to taxpayers. The only catch would be that the city would have to implement a paid-parking system for the city’s downtown area to help finance the project.

The companies would then own the High Rock and Collamer parking lots which they would use to develop into a movie theatre, a 10,000-square-foot restaurant and a 92,000-square-foot residential building behind City Hall.

The downtown parking system would meter downtown parking spots for $1 per hour, off-Broadway spots for 50 cents per hour and a $130 annual parking fee for residents and people working on Broadway. According to the proposal, the city could also stand to gain a profit from the metered parking. The group would also construct a 910-space parking garage.

If the city accepts the proposal by January of 2009, construction could be completed on the Public Safety building by as early as fall 2010.

Forum Industries along with Dallas-based Garfield Traub Development presented their proposal under the name High Rock Partners. The group proposed two separate public safety building options.

The first would feature a 56,000-square-foot facility and an 850-space parking garage, six theatre cinema and retail outlets and a 40-unit affordable housing complex. The second option included all of the perks listed above, but offered a 30,000-square-foot building and a 600-car parking garage.

The project would be financed through parking fees and sales tax income generated by the retail outlets. Non-residents would pay $65 a month and residents would pay $50 a month to park in garages. Temporary parking in lots would cost $1 an hour, $3 for two hours and $5 for three hours, while on-street parking would remain free.

City officials have said they prefer the Bonacio Construction or the High Rock Partners proposals to the Yorkshire Properties bid.