ALBANY — Ama Cocina, a Mexican restaurant downtown since fall 2015, will close after service on Saturday, Oct. 25. Its parent company, BMT Hospitality, which owns five other restaurants in the city, is blaming a moribund business climate in Albany, particularly downtown, where Ama struggled to find an audience and was closed for nearly three years because of the pandemic.
“Albany is having problems,” said BMT co-owner Brian Viglucci. “There aren’t enough events to bring people into the city, and if they do come in, they’re afraid to drive through the city because they don’t want to get a speeding ticket,” he said, referring to the lower 25 mph speed limit that took effect within the city at the beginning of this year and the 20 mph limit around schools, enforced by speed cameras that went online in fall 2024. During the first 10 days of the cameras going live, more than 12,000 $50 speeding tickets were issued to scofflaws driving more than 10 mph over the limit.
“I’m so proud of what our teams have done down there, and I love the food,” Viglucci said. “But there just isn’t business there to justify keeping it open. We got some increase from people moving downtown, but with the lack of workers around and fewer shows, there just isn’t the traffic there needs to be to make it viable.” Another factor, he said, is that Ama’s lease ends in less than six months…