ALBANY – A six-story, mixed-use building at Livingston Avenue and Broadway providing affordable housing for artists and retail and community space is one of 12 specific projects selected to receive a chunk of the $10 million awarded through the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced $9.7 million total for the projects aimed to revitalize Albany’s Clinton Square, with efforts ranging from creating pathways to affordable homeownership for lower-income households to turning an underused exit ramp off I-787 into a linear park and improving streetscape in the community.

"The neighborhoods are where the people work, and we're trying to get young people who want to live downtown and empty-nesters, like myself, who want to feel younger by hanging out with younger people," Hochul said. "We also have to provide the housing, and safety and security and other people to congregate with. That's how you get a sense of place, and that's what we're creating with Clinton Square."

The Clinton Square area is in the larger neighborhood of Arbor Hill and is a considered a key entryway into Albany.

The funded projects include:

$2,818,010 to enhance pedestrian safety and improve the streetscape along Clinton Avenue from Broadway to North Hawk Street. The design will include lighting enhancements and trees, new traffic signals, trash receptacles and sidewalk and bicycle improvements.

$2 million to build a six-story, mixed-use building at the corner of Broadway and Livingston to provide 70 affordable live/work lofts for artists as well as ground floor retail and community spaces.

$1.1 million for infrastructure, like electricity and water drainage, to provide pop-up event opportunities on the Albany Skyway linear park. Another $800,000 is going to the Skyway to create an artistic gateway to the linear park.

$1 million to renovate Federal Park at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Broadway into a market collective for start-up businesses.

$650,000 to enhance connectivity and pedestrian safety, including sidewalks and crosswalks, in the Quackenbush Square area, designated as the area around the garage, Federal Park and the Palace Theatre.

$400,000 to install streetscape improvements along Steuben Street, Columbia Street and Livingston Avenue. Another $250,000 is designated for illuminating the Livingston Avenue railroad bridge underpass with artistic lighting.

$250,000 for a second entrance-only access point to the Quackenbush Garage on Montgomery Street.

$200,000 to develop up to 10 new homeownership units at Ida Yarbrough Homes that will be pathways for lower-income households to own homes.

$160,240 to build a two-story building at 71 Livingston Ave. for a Death Wish Coffee café.

$71,750 to create and promote four large-scale mural projects on highly visible walls in Clinton Square.

As part of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative process, the selected projects are expected to spend the allotted funds within an 18-month time period, ensuring swift progress.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan said the awarded projects are game changers for the distressed neighborhood, which will create jobs and affordable housing as well as a community where people can easily navigate and feel safe.

“Some of those cosmetic improvements and infrastructure improvements are going to be really important,” she said. “I can’t stress enough how important it is for people to feel safe, to feel as though they’ve entered an area where they can navigate.”

The funding to improve the Clinton Avenue corridor, which received the most funds, as well as the area around the Quackenbush garage and Livingston Avenue aim to tackle those issues.

Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, championed the funding and the projects the money will buoy as a way to turn around the community that still faces many challenges.

“If we don’t invest and strengthen the core, the entire region suffers,” she said. “It is about a strong core, and that’s what this investment is today.”

Nearly $2 million will go to necessary infrastructure as well as aesthetics and signs for the Albany Skyway, which has been met with mixed opinions by residents and some Common Council members. Council members voted against borrowing $1.5 million for the linear park earlier this year. Opponents of the project have said money should be spent elsewhere, like addressing vacant buildings in Albany.

Sheehan said they’re currently working with the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration on the Skyway project, but she expects visible construction to begin next year.

Albany applied for the downtown revitalization grant in two previous years but was unsuccessful. The third time was the charm.

During the first go-around, Albany’s targeted area was a bit “unwieldy,” Sheehan said, but targeting Clinton Square as the area for investment helped them land the grant. It also has paved a path for larger, more diverse cities to follow.

“Seeing that investment happening in a diverse city and looking at how Albany listened to all those diverse voices and came out with projects that are reflective of all of the voices we heard in the community is a model for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative going forward,” she said.