The 103-year-old College of Saint Rose closed its doors for the last time two years ago, leaving a gaping hole in the heart of Albany and handing the mostly tranquil Pine Hills neighborhood the unfamiliar challenge of having to reinvent itself.
“It is a major concern,” said Carolyn Keefe, a 32-year resident of the area and a member of the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association Board of Directors. “This is a huge portion of our neighborhood and impacts everything around us. If it were to stay vacant, it would affect us all.”
Albany County is now guiding redevelopment of the 26.5-acre campus and its dozens of educational facilities, office buildings, dormitories and homes…