Albany City Commission gives OK to raze dilapidated apartment building

ALBANY – An Albany housing development that city officials and tenants say are not fit for human habitation could be coming down, and a scramble is on to get the remaining residents out of the building.

The Albany City Commission on Tuesday gave its approval to a request from the Albany Housing Authority to demolish the Hudson Malone Towers apartment complex. The 401 Flint Ave. complex houses low-income residents with disabilities.

In the resolution, the commission gave its support and willingness “to enter into an agreement to allow the Albany Housing Authority to obtain potential financing” for the structure’s demolition and reconstruction.

Currently, there are 34 tenants, all living on the first floor, in the five-story building. A resident who had lived on the fifth floor recently told The Albany Herald that the upper floors were abandoned because of air conditioning system leaks that caused mold.

The building, completed in the mid-1980s, has also brought complaints of bed bug infestations on several occasions. An assessment performed on the property indicated it would cost as much to repair the aging building as it would to replace it.

“We had some tenants in there (and) over a period of time things were not fixed and the property is uninhabitable,” Commissioner Willie Weaver, in whose Ward II the building is located, said during an interview following the Tuesday commission meeting. “Since I’ve been on the commission, I’ve been talking with Commissioner (Jon) Howard and Commissioner (Diane) Brown. We want to get them out. The question we can ask is why they’re still there and they weren’t moved.”

No date has been set for when all of the 34 remaining tenants will be out as they need vouchers to help pay for other housing.

“We’ve got to do some other process before we can get them out of that building,” Weaver said. “Even then we don’t know when vouchers will be issued. We still have no idea when the folks are going or where they’re going.”

There are 16 units available to be renovated that can house nearly half of those who need to be moved, City Manager Terrell Jacobs said. 

“I’m going to go look at the conditions and put my eyes on it,” he said. “The mayor and commission did the support letter for the potential demolition and reconstruction of Hudson Malone Towers.

“Hopefully, we will place the 34 tenants in housing around Albany/Dougherty (County).”