COHOES — The city is seeking a $1 million Restore NY grant to help pay for the demolition of the vacant Saratoga Sites public housing complex, paving the way for a new warehouse and commercial property in the city’s south end. The Luizzi Companies plan to invest $11.5 million in the project after they complete the purchase of the site on Saratoga Street for $125,000, Mayor Bill Keeler said Friday at his office in Cohoes City Hall. The 72-unit housing complex has been vacant since about 2022 due to pollution from the adjacent Norlite aggregate plant and incinerator at 628 Saratoga St. The two roadways into the housing site have been blocked with three cement barriers at each location.

“There never should have been housing there in an industrial zone,” Keeler said.

The mayor said when he first took office in January 2020 that he immediately met with U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko to discuss resolving the issues at the Saratoga Sites. This led to the eventual approval by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to have the site vacated. The city then purchased the location from the Cohoes Housing Authority, which owned and operated it.

The Common Council approved the city application for the Restore NY Communities Initiative Municipal Grant. The grant will allow the city to allocate $30,000 toward demolition and $970,000 for redevelopment of the Saratoga Sites, said Stephen Napier Jr., the city’s director of community and economic development. “This is the first step to handing it over to a responsible builder,” Keeler said.

Luizzi Companies will handle the demolition work as part of its $11.5 million project, according to city officials.

The proposed redevelopment calls for warehousing, storage and storefront areas for businesses such as electricians or bathroom improvement companies, Napier explained. There will be no housing at the location.

“It will be light industrial,” Keeler said, emphasizing that would fit into the industrial zone where the property is located on Saratoga Street. Demolition of the two-story brick housing units is set to start in the spring of 2025. Construction would then begin later in the year.

Saratoga Sites residents had complained for years about the dust from Norlite’s slag piles, as well as smoke from its incinerator stack. The company mines rock on-site, which is then crushed into construction and road-building aggregate. The company temporarily shut down its main operations in March. It has operated at its site since 1956.