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Part of Big House up for lease

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
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Last updated: 10:31 a.m., Tuesday, April 29, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- The owner of the long-stalled, taxpayer-funded Big House night club and restaurant is trying to lease first-floor space he once touted as the spot where he planned to open a Schenectady themed restaurant.

     
Metroplex Development Authority board Chairman Ray Gillen insists that despite years of delay Big House owner Stephen Waite still plans to open a night club in the basement of the building at 411 State St.

But he said that Metroplex is helping Waite search for a tenant for the first-floor restaurant space. An advertisement for the property is listed at RealtyUSA.com.

"We've been showing the space for months," Gillen said this morning. "No one wants to talk about the hundreds and millions of square feet we've opened. There is nothing new here. Someone is trying to call attention to it. They're trying to create issues."

The opening of the Big House has been delayed for more than two years.

Metroplex gave Waite, who operated a similarly named restaurant in Albany, a $950,000 no-interest loan and a $250,000 facade grant after the project was unveiled in 2005. In March 2007, Waite said the project had temporarily stalled because of problems converting the 100-year-old building.

But there has been no apparent movement since then to open up the business. Still, Gillen has maintained the club will open.

In previous interviews, Metroplex and Waite have said Waite planned to use the first-floor as a restaurant that would have rooms designed to reflect different parts of Schenectady.

Neither Waite nor Metroplex had previously made public statements that the plan was to have an outsider run the restaurant.

Gillen said Metroplex has been showing the first floor of the building for months, but the basement space is where the nightclub is going to locate.

Information in the Multiple Listing Service shows that a tenant is being sought for 9,000 square feet of space on the first floor of 411 State St.

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"We've been showing the space for months," Gillen said this morning.

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Quoted from JoAnn

And I never heard of the Gadfly Syndrome before.

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There are "things" some have found on the internet that seem to come up missing soon after it was questioned.

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Retail store, other uses could fill first floor of long-delayed Big House project in Sch'dy
The Business Review (Albany) - by Michael DeMasi The Business Review


The first floor of the long-delayed Big House restaurant and nightclub in downtown Schenectady may not be a restaurant after all as owner Stephen Waite pursues other options.

A real estate agent is showing the building at 411 State St. to prospective tenants who could wind up using the space for a retail store or other purposes, Waite said Tuesday.

But Waite said he could end up running a restaurant there as originally planned.

Armida Rose Realty in Schenectady has the listing for 9,000-square-feet on the first floor and for office space on the second floor, Waite said.

Waite, an attorney in Albany, N.Y., still plans to open a music club in the basement called Big House Underground and use most of the upper two floors for offices.

Much of the work is finished in the basement but Waite was reluctant to say when the music club would open because he has missed previous estimates.

Waite said he started considering leasing the first floor to other users because people were expressing interest in the space. The facade has already been restored to resemble its original, 100-year-old look, and other new development is happening downtown.

"Since the building is coming to life and Schenectady is getting more attention, we've gotten inquiries from probably two dozen people," Waite said. "It started us thinking."

Ray Gillen, chairman of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, said the first floor has been shown to other potential users "for months." At this point the agency would like to see a retail store or something else other than a restaurant.

"We have a lot of successful restaurants downtown and are looking to diversify our product mix," Gillen said.

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Quoted from MobileTerminal:
... Brad, IIRC, you're in Real Estate?  What's with the $1 price tag?

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Comments
9,000 SF - A one of kind commercial lease opportunity on the ground floor of a newly renovated historic building amidst the growing art & entertainment district. This prime location is directly across the street from Proctor's Theatre, GE Theatre and 6-screen Bowtie Cinema. Space is suitable for retail/restaurant, upscale night spot and/or multi-tenant eatery. Ample public parking and pedestrian friendly area. Come join this innovative urban redevelopment now!

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SCHENECTADY
Big House project falls through
Restaurant will not be built
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

After three years of delays and more than $3 million spent in private and public funding, the Big House restaurant project has died without serving a single customer. Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen confirmed Tuesday that there is no restaurant taking shape behind the papered-up windows of 411 State St. Instead, his development agency has been searching since January for businesses that want to lease the 9,000-square-foot space.
    The news came as quite a surprise, particularly since Gillen made no mention of it when he responded to county Legislature questions about the long-delayed Big House project last month.
    The change in plans stayed quiet until Monday night, when Metroplex critic Joseph Suhrada ran across a real estate listing for the site. The listing specified that the century-old building lovingly restored by owner Stephen Waite is not for sale — but the first floor is up for lease.
    But Suhrada, a Republican county legislator, leaped on the listing as proof that Metroplex had wasted its money on the project.
    Metroplex gave Waite a $1 million, 15-year loan, a $250,000 facade grant, $50,000 to remove asbestos from the building and a $100,000 loan toward a tax payment under the Empire Zone plan.
    Waite has also invested more than $1.6 million of his own money in the project. However, he said Tuesday that he was never dedicated to the idea of a restaurant. He just had to come up with a project so that he could get the money to do what he really wanted — turn the basement into a club.
    “But that was the basement. It’s a four-story building. We couldn’t just open the basement,” Waite said. “To get the financing, we had to propose what made sense, but the restaurant was never our focus. It was just a means to an end.”
    Waite said he will put his law offices on the fourth floor. No plans were discussed for the second and third floors.
    Suhrada said Waite shouldn’t have asked for money to build the Big House restaurant if he didn’t intend to open the business.
    “I feel like he’s used this zerointerest loan to make a real-estate flip. He’s fixed it up, now he can lease it,” Suhrada said.
    Metroplex has worked with many developers to rehab derelict buildings like 411 State St. and then market them to business owners, so Waite’s new formula is not unique. But Suhrada said Gillen should have announced the change in plans as soon as Waite backed away from the restaurant project.
    “I think Ray Gillen should’ve been upfront with the people of this county,” Suhrada said.
    Gillen met with the county Legislature in March and discussed the Big House project, but never mentioned that the restaurant was dead. He focused on the club instead.
    One bright note amid the disappointing news is the response from other business owners. Retailers — not restaurateurs — are eager to move into the building, according to Gillen.
    “We’ve had tremendous interest from other retailers,” said Gillen, who thinks a retail establishment would be far better for downtown than yet another restaurant.
    “We love restaurants, but we need other kinds of retailers. We want to diversify the retail mix,” he said.
    Waite, however, is still holding out hope for a tenant who will open a restaurant. But he acknowledged that the space makes such a use awkward: It’s just too big.
    “It’s narrow and it’s long. The kitchen was scheduled to be in the back and the operators were very, very concerned. We’d have to run people 250-plus feet from back to front,” Waite said. “We thought, maybe we can rent the back portion. … That’s how the whole thing got started.”
    After he missed three announced openings — the latest was last summer — Waite apparently gave up on the restaurant idea. He said he was persuaded to lease when retailers kept calling to ask for his rates.
    “At first we just said, ‘No, we’re really not interested,’ ” Waite said. But the calls kept coming.
    In December, he asked Metroplex to find someone to lease the space, Gillen said. Metroplex has been showing the building to retailers since January.
    The response has been promising. One prospective tenant even brought in a construction crew last weekend to determine how much it would cost to install the counters and other furniture needed for his store, Gillen said.
    He added that Waite has set a reasonable rate — $12 to $15 per square foot — and has finished the interior work.
    “All the sprinklers, the really tough stuff, is done,” Gillen said. “All the retailer needs to do is pick out the colors. It’s ready to go.”

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Big House in big trouble?
Three years late, Schenectady project helped by Metroplex shifts focus; critic calls for action

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- After more than $1 million in public support and three years of delays, plans for a downtown restaurant have been abandoned, raising questions about the fate of the Big House project.
Developer Stephen J. Waite says he still intends to open a nightclub, called Big House Underground, in the basement of the 411 State St. property, but will not open a Schenectady-themed restaurant on the first floor, citing problems with the layout of the century-old building.
     
Renovation problems have also delayed another restaurant project, Bombers Burrito Bar, which is supposed to locate at 433 State St.
The Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority and Waite are now showing the first floor of the Big House project at 411 State St. for lease -- despite the original plans for the restaurant.
Waite closed the original three-story Big House brew pub in Albany in August 2005 after he decided to move the business to Schenectady.
But with the latest changes, some are concerned the Schenectady nightclub will never open. Metroplex has sunk a $1 million loan into the project, which was originally slated to open in October 2005.
"We should have put (Waite) into default and taken the property back," said Schenectady County Republican Legislator Joe Suhrada, who has been critical of the project. "You can't just hand money out."
But Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen insists the nightclub will open, and that detractors are unfairly targeting Metroplex, which has a previous record of success with other projects, such as the nearby Hampton Inn and BowTie Cinema.
"There is nothing new here," Gillen said Tuesday. "Someone is trying to call attention to it. They're trying to create issues."
Metroplex has been assisting Waite in trying to lease the building's first floor for months, Gillen said. A listing on realtyusa.com said all 9,000 square-feet of the first floor is for lease, with multiple pictures provided of the building's unfinished interior.
Waite said he decided against opening a restaurant because the space was too long and narrow to accommodate a logical seating layout. Even though the listing is for the entire first floor, Waite said he's considering developing a portion of the first floor, and trying to lease out the rest.
Delays have continued because of the poor condition and layout of the 102-year-old building, Waite said. For example, he said fire code required that a third entrance be put in the basement because of the size of the space.
Waite said he won't provide an opening date, which has already been pushed back several times.
"I can't do anything about the criticism. It's unfortunate, people aren't involved in the process so they don't know how it goes," Waite said. "There aren't a lot of people who can take on a building like that."
Gillen said the $1 million has gone into the rehabilitation of the building, which benefits the city no matter who uses it. Metroplex also provided $250,000 to improve the building's exterior. Waite said he has also received a $1 million loan from a bank, and is putting more than $1 million in himself. The project could cost up to $3.5 million.
Waite is planning on moving his law practice to the third floor of the building. The second floor will be leased.

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"There is nothing new here," Gillen said Tuesday. "Someone is trying to call attention to it. They're trying to create issues."
Metroplex has been assisting Waite in trying to lease the building's first floor for months, Gillen said.