Schenectady

Galesi Group broke ground on a $15 million, 124-room Courtyard by Marriott, the first of two hotels being planned for its 60-acre Mohawk Harbor development, which will include the $330 million Rivers Casino.

The hotel, which will be built by BBL Construction of Albany, will be the first of 1 million square feet of new housing and commercial buildings that Galesi has planned for the Mohawk River casino property, which was once home to American Locomotive Co. and is being called Mohawk Harbor.

"It's a great pleasure to start going vertical," David Buicko, Galesi's chief operating officer, said. "We're the envy of upstate."

Galesi said that First Niagara is financing the hotel, which will be done by August.

And although the hotels Galesi is planning will serve the casino clientele, local civic and business leaders said they were excited to get another major hotel for the city, which doesn't have enough hotel rooms to serve business travelers now even before the casino is built.

Major downtown businesses like Golub Corp., Bechtel and General Electric as well as Proctors often send visitors to Albany or Saratoga county hotels. The new Courtyard and a Doubletree by Hilton, expected to open in December, will help keep those travelers in Schenectady.

"This is the first of many positive developments that will occur at this new regional destination," Mayor Gary McCarthy said. "In addition, this project helps us keep business travelers and visitors at hotels here in Schenectady."

Chuck Steiner, president of the Capital Region Chamber and its Chamber of Schenectady County affiliate, says that Mohawk Harbor and the first hotel will become an extension of downtown, which will help the city's retail sector by putting more people on the streets.

"It's people," Steiner said. "That's what drives retail."

Buicko says that the inner harbor being created should be filled in with water soon. Meanwhile, a lot of work is being done on other parts of the site that aren't visible by just driving by on Erie Boulevard.

"Until you really get into the site, you don't realize the size and breadth of it," Buicko said.

lrulison@timesunion.com • 518-454-5504 • @larryrulison