Albany

The authority charged with building the downtown convention center will soon ask private developers to float plans for mixed-use development on about seven acres off Broadway that had been set aside for a larger, more costly version of the convention center project.

That solicitation is expected to go out within 90 days, Albany Convention Center Authority Chairman Gavin Donohue confirmed this weekend. News of it comes as the authority is poised to release the results of a report on the feasibility of its scaled-down vision for the convention center, which would now be built off Eagle and Howard streets for less than a third of the previous $220 million price tag.

While Donohue declined to comment on the results of the feasibility study, some of which could be public as soon as Monday, that the authority will entertain offers for the other site it owns would suggest that the state may soon lend its blessing to the new plan for the long-stalled project.

The land off Broadway between Hudson Avenue and the South Mall arterial, acquired by the authority with public money since 2009, is valued at between $8 million and $10 million, Donohue said.

Under a compromise said to have been hammered out by Mayor Jerry Jennings and County Executive Dan McCoy, who combined have appointees that account for almost half the authority's board, $6 million of the proceeds from its sale would be used to finance improvements at the county-owned Times Union Center arena while the rest would be pledged to the scaled-down convention center project.

Specifically, Donohue said, that money could be earmarked for upgrades like heating and air conditioning for the existing covered walkway that links the arena to Empire State Plaza above it.

One of the driving forces for moving the convention center from the off-Broadway site to the top of State Street — a location that had previously been considered and rejected — was that it would allow the authority to dramatically scale back the size of the new building from 300,000 square feet to 80,000 square feet by tying into existing meeting space in the arena and Plaza.

Times Union Center officials have said improvements to the 23-year-old venue, including enclosing the open-air atrium on South Pearl Street, will be crucial to attracting marquee events like the regional component of the NCAA basketball tournament.

Donohue said the request for proposals will ask developers to consider building new residences, retail stores and offices with space for technological and academic components as well as new parking. The plan would also entail moving the dilapidated Greyhound bus station, which the authority does not own but which was due to be replaced as part of the convention center project anyway, Donohue said.

"It's imperative that the bus station identify a new location and move so we can get the highest value for this property," he said.

The acreage in question is the same for which Omni Development has been pushing for the construction of a downtown aquarium — plans that have been met coolly by convention center and city officials.

Donohue said the impending RFP will not specifically mention an aquarium or — notably in the wake of the statewide passage of Proposal 1 this month — a casino on the site.

"We're looking for private sector suggestions to make the best use for this valuable property," said Donohue, who serves on the nine-member board as an appointee of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "Nobody at this point is convinced that private development of an aquarium would make the best use there."

Since the downsized convention center vision was announced in July, Cuomo has filled two long-standing vacancies on the authority's board, interpreted by many as another signal that Cuomo is at last ready to commit to the project, which would be built with the $63 million in remaining state seed money for the original convention center plan.

Donohue said the state — Empire State Development, the Office of General Services or both — will help oversee the RFP process.

"The reality is we're a creature of the state and a creature of state legislation," he said of the authority, "and the money that we have used to buy that property has all been taxpayer money."

What will become of the authority's existing land holdings — about four acres, not counting roads separating the parcels — monopolized much of the debate during this Democratic mayoral primary.

Former Councilman Corey Ellis backed the aquarium proposal, while city Treasurer Kathy Sheehan — now the mayor-elect — refused to endorse any plan without first asking the public what it wanted to see happen on the site.

Donohue said the RFP will also help accomplish something city lawmakers have wanted for several years: A way to derive revenue from the authority's tax-exempt landholdings.

Twice in the last four years the Common Council has voted to ask the authority to compensate it annually for the nearly $500,000 in forgone taxes. Private development of the property — which consists largely of parking lots and a handful of buildings fronting Broadway — would presumably generate more than that.

"This is very consistent with the governor's priority of getting property that is not on the tax rolls back on the tax rolls," Donohue said. "It's been underutilized there for a long time."

Meanwhile, Donohue said the authority is still in negotiations to buy the roughly one acre of land it will need to build on the new site.

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445