Jul. 27--ALBANY -- When it comes to the construction of a convention center in Albany, Common Council member Dominick Calsolaro is the most persistent questioner.
He worries about where the money will come from to cover the price tag now estimated at $300 million. He worries about Albany taxpayers ending up footing the bill if the two proposed hotels aren't full enough. And he worries about a parking being built beneath the center in a 100-year flood plain.
Last month, George Leveille, president of the board of the Albany Convention Center Authority, estimated the cost for the project would be $300 million, $100 more than originally expected.
"Three hundred million is probably still not a high enough estimate especially when they are talking about knocking down parking garages and building parking garages," Calsolaro told the Times Union's editorial board this week.
The facility is to be built on Hudson Avenue between Liberty and South Pearl streets. It would include two hotels: one full-service hotel with 250 rooms and a 150-room hotel offering more limited amenities. The convention center would include a 60,000 square foot exhibit hall, a 25,000 square foot room that could be used for multiple purposes, and a 22,350 square foot ballroom.
The state has provided a $75 million grant for the center. It also will be funded by a 3 percent hotel tax, and its bond repayments will be guaranteed by $192 million in additional state aid that the city of Albany can use for other purposes if it is not tapped for bond repayment.
Calsolaro wants the extra state aid, but not for it to be used if the hotel revenue falls short.
"If it is a state convention center, then all the money should come from the state," he said.
Assemblyman Jack McEneny, a member of the convention authority board, has noted that the extra state aid would not be available to Albany if not for the proposed center.
"We're going to need additional funds," McEneny said Wednesday. "We'll be appealing to the state. In September or October, we'll have a much better idea. This is still a plan. We're working on it."
Calsolaro said he is concerned new ways might be found to tax residents to cover the costs.
In San Diego, he said, a tax was added on rental cars to help pay for a convention center. In Cleveland, a sales tax of 0.25 percent was added. Nashville's council rejected a controversial plan to add a tax to restaurant meals to pay for its center.
Leveille said the authority is working to develop specific plans and cost estimates for the project.
"We need to put a plan in place to go find the resources for it," Leveille said. "It is a state authority. We expect the state will take the lead here."
The authority is seeking both an operator for the hotels and a design firm, but the board president said he doesn't expect firms to be hired when the board next meets at 8:30 a.m. today at the Harold L. Joyce County Office Building at 112 State St. in Albany.
Calsolaro said he expects the cost to continue to rise, especially now that the authority is talking about building a skyway to connect to the Times Union Center for increased exhibit space.
He also opposed the demolition of a Green Street parking garage, which the authority would then replace with parking underneath the convention center and larger hotel.
"That's a 100-year flood plain," he said.
Leveille said that issue would be reviewed by the design team once it is in place.
"Building has been going on in this area for hundreds of years," he said. "That's a design issue. We haven't designed it yet."
McEneny agreed and said flooding is unlikely.
"I don't believe we've had a serious flood there since 1928 when we opened up the Sacandaga Reservoir," he said. "I expect we won't go deep enough to be a problem."
He also noted that Calsolaro has said, and the councilman repeated it to the editorial board, that his preferred site would have been the Washington Avenue Armory.
A trade show that required 24 tractor trailers to unload could not possibly be held at the armory, McEneny said. "How he thinks that would be practical reflects upon what he is saying," the assemblyman said.
Leveille said he doesn't mind Calsolaro's persistent questioning. The councilman is a regular speaker at the start of most meetings of the convention authority board.
"He's constantly raised a variety of issues that are legitimate and worthy of raising," Leveille said. "We're working on preparing a study that will be done in a couple of months that will be much more detailed." m O'Brien can be reached at 454-5092 or by e-mail at tobrien@timesunion.com.
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