The Central Warehouse is a former refrigeration warehouse building in North Albany, a neighborhood of

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, and considered a landmark of the community and city. It is 11 stories tall, with of space. The building has a rail line that enters the second floor and the walls are thick concrete.

History

Central Warehouse was built in 1927. In 1981 the building began to have signs placed on it seen from I-787, and in 1983 one in particular "Year of the Bible" received numerous complaints, and the state began proceedings to have it removed. The signs violated the Federal Highway Beautification Act and were removed in 1986. Previous signs from 1981 to 1983 were not disputed by the state because Albany Mayor

Erastus Corning 2nd Erastus Corning 2nd (October 7, 1909 – May 28, 1983) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Albany, New York from 1942 to 1983, when Albany County was controlled by one of the last classi ...

had personally approved them, and the

New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation'' (NYSDOT) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit sys ...

(NYSDOT) chose not to enforce the law since it would be against Corning's wishes, Corning died in 1983. The building was abandoned in the early 1990s. In 1996, the building was found to have up to of ice built up on some floors. It was believed that the ice kept the

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

in the refrigeration system from expanding, bursting pipes, and being released into the atmosphere. The ammonia was subsequently drained from the pipes. On October 22, 2010, a fire began in the warehouse and lasted for days. The current owners claimed no structural damage was done to the building, and that plans to renovate the building into a residential and retail complex were still possible. Over $1 million had already been invested in cleaning the insides of the building. The City of Albany declared a state of emergency on July 29, 2022 after chunks of the building's concrete wall began to fall near the train tracks below. Amtrak, who uses this portion of the track for service west of Albany, temporarily suspended use of the track. On August 1, after the city made emergency repairs to the crumbling wall, Amtrak resumed use of the track. The City billed the building's owner for the repair costs. In October 2022, longtime owner Evan Blum lost control of the property after a judge ruled in favor of foreclosure. The building is now under the management of Albany County.

References

{{coord, 42.656513, -73.745295, display=title 1927 establishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Albany, New York Buildings and structures completed in 1927 Cool warehouses Unused buildings in New York (state) Warehouses in the United States