Albany

No need to make way for the Albany Super Ducks.

A company called Albany Super Ducks, co-owned by Wayne Colwell and Curtis Dunagan, planned to offer 90-minute tours of Albany on 46-person amphibious vehicles starting last summer. Captains aboard the vehicles would take people on a tour of 44 landmarks around Albany, including the New York State Capitol Building, Albany City Hall and Herman Melville's childhood home, according to the company's website.

Six years after such tours were last offered in the city, people were excited about the prospect.

But after doing research and talking to experts, Colwell and Dunagan decided not to launch the business as-is because of insurance costs and recent fatalities connected to similar vehicles in other markets, Colwell said.

Tragic accidents and lawsuits have made insurance underwriters hesitant and insurance would have cost three to four times what the he and Dunagan initially expected. Plus, starting a business is expensive to begin with.

"The cost to get into this is so high right now," Colwell said. "It just didn't make sense for us from a business perspective. It would have been almost impossible."

An official launch event was held for the Albany Super Ducks in June at Tricentennial Park, several blocks away from the planned departure site in front of the Albany Heritage Area Visitor Center at Quackenbush Square, and advance tickets for tours were sold. The area was the same departure point used by the Albany Aqua Ducks, which offered amphibious tours from 2004 to 2012.

A video posted to the Super Ducks Facebook page last July showed people unloading a ticket booth for the Super Ducks near the Visitor Center. But shortly thereafter the company posted several notices on Facebook, apologizing for the launch hold-up and saying they were "busy wrapping up the final requirements" before later saying they are "are in the process of redeveloping the tours" because of "recent changes within the industry."

Then, over the winter the company told Discover Albany that they were nixing the project, said Michele Vennard, president and CEO of Discover Albany.

The company refunded the tickets and they are looking at the potential for a similar tour-based project, Colwell said. However, it won't involve amphibious vehicles.

miszler@timesunion.com • 518-454-5018 • @madisoniszler