For decades, anyone driving past Exit 5 on I-90 could not miss Tobin First Prize. The old meatpacking plant was one of those places that felt like it had always been part of the Capital Region.
It opened in the 1920s, and for generations it was a major employer, a familiar landmark, and a reminder of the area’s industrial roots. Long after the plant closed in the 1980s, the buildings stayed put. They weathered, they emptied, and year after year they stood as a silent piece of local history.
According to the Albany Business Review, the property is finally moving into a new chapter. After nearly a century on the landscape and nine years after early redevelopment ideas were first floated, plans for the site have cleared their final hurdle. A mixed-use project is officially approved, and the space that was once a factory will eventually become a place to live, visit, and gather…