Troy

Construction workers, it seems, are everywhere in downtown Troy and neighboring Green Island as a resurgence in city living gathers speed.

Drive up Fourth Street and you'll pass the latest project by Rosenblum Companies, a five-story apartment building at the corner with Congress that's replacing a former one-story bank branch. The $18 million Vicina Modern Urban Flats, as it will be called, will have 80 apartments with retail space on the first floor.

Related: Work continues at former Marshall Ray building after blaze

Farther up Fourth, you'll see on the left the $76 million Starbuck Island project by developer Peter Luizzi on the other side of the Hudson — four apartment buildings and two smaller commercial buildings — with the first two apartment buildings well under way.

Continuing north, Fourth merges into River. On the right is the $13 million King's Landing project, another five-story apartment building that wraps around Wolff's Biergarten. On the left is the $19 million 444 River Lofts being developed by Springfield, Mo.-based Vecino Group.

Just beyond is Hedley Park Place, where long-time Capital Region restaurateur Angelo Mazzone plans his first Troy presence, a banquet and meeting facility in developer First Columbia's multi-story office building, the former Cluett, Peabody & Co. shirt factory.

First Columbia President and CEO Kevin Bette has additional work in progress, following on the grand opening the River Street Market, a food hall, on the Hedley building's first floor last week.

New parking garages, two new apartment buildings, and an expansion at First Columbia's Flanigan Square to accommodate the relocated Children's Museum of Science and Technology are also in the works.

Continuing north, you'll see two completed projects, the 80-unit, $19.4 million Hudson Arthaus developed by Vecino Group, and the 80-unit, $22.2 million Tapestry on the Hudson, developed by Community Builders Inc.

Both projects occupy former riverfront warehouse buildings. Farther north, Redburn Development is in the midst of a $16 million redevelopment of the former Marshall Ray factory building into 77 apartments, although a fire July 19 may have slowed progress.

On Thursday, workers were busy clearing the damage at the building.

"I think that project will continue to move forward," said Steve Strichman, Troy's commissioner of planning and economic development.

At the other end of downtown, the former Old Brick furniture warehouse also is being converted into apartments. Developer of the $13.5 million project David Sarraf plans 80 units, Strichman said.

Two other projects of note include the redevelopment of the Taylor Apartments public housing complex at the east end of the Troy-Watervliet Bridge. A request for qualifications drew seven responses, said Thomas Hulihan, director of planning and program development for the Troy Housing Authority.

Two of the four buildings are vacant and will be demolished as part of the redevelopment. But the authority, which is partnering with the city on the project, is open to developers' proposals on how the rest of the project will proceed.

The bridge approaches to downtown are also likely to be reconfigured. Currently, the ramps split River Street.

At One Monument Square, the site of the short-lived Troy City Hall that has been a vacant lot since 2011, a fifth attempt is under way to redevelop the prime riverfront property. A New Jersey developer with experience in urban projects has been enlisted.

The project is expected to include 75 apartments and cost at least $30 million.

So far, there appears to be enough demand to fill the apartments that have been built.

"We feel very good about Troy," said Jeffrey Mirel, executive vice president of the Rosenblum Companies, which earlier redeveloped the former Record newspaper offices into The News apartments. "Some people might say it's competition. But there's a positive feeling about the trajectory of the city."

Strichman expects the 2020 census will show an increase in the city's population which, like many older industrial cities, has seen stagnant population growth through the years.

He said the city has added more than 1,000 units downtown. Meanwhile, more than $30 million in public funding has been invested on a new seawall, public walking and bicycle trails, and a new boat launch at Ingalls Avenue.

A new study will look at redeveloping Riverfront Park and how to make the Green Island Bridge gateway to the city more pedestrian friendly.

It's all part of focusing more on walkable cities and mass transit, and less on cars.

City officials have assisted with tax breaks and other incentives.

Mirel says they help offset some of the hidden expenses a developer might face.

"Our upstate urban centers — a lot of the buildings that were ripe for conversion were challenges in themselves," Mirel said. "You're working on tight parcels in properties where you might have unseen environmental conditions."

Starbuck Island's developers, for example, had to remove tons of contaminated soil from former factories and a fuel farm that once occupied the site. A spokesman for developer Peter Luizzi couldn't be reached for comment.

But the cleanup efforts appear to be worth it.

"Urban renewal was really a huge step backwards in trying to suburbanize our urban centers," said Mirel. "This new gospel is that we can live more sustainable, more environmentally friendly, more socially dynamic lives."