Luizzi Cos. wins state contract for warehouse in Green Island
Luzzi Cos. is building a 200,000-square-foot warehouse/office on a former junkyard in Green Island that will be leased to the New York State Office of General Services.
Site work has started on the facility at 25 Tibbits Ave. (also known as 147 Cannon St.), with an estimated cost of $25 million. Completion is expected in a year.
Luizzi Cos., a commercial real estate development and road paving company based in Colonie, won a five-year, $60.7 million contract to lease the space to OGS for storage and a 15,000-square-foot office for about 75 employees.
OGS oversees about 20 million square feet of state-owned buildings — 75% of which is in the Albany region. It also leases properties and, as of last year, administered about 1,500 contracts for $30 billion worth of goods and services statewide.
The 11.7-acre parcel at the corner of Tibbits Avenue and Cannon Street was originally Delaware & Hudson railroad yard and then became R. Freedman & Son, a junkyard. Eastern Metal Recycling was the most recent owner before the business closed there.
Industrial pollutants were removed under the state Superfund program, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Luizzi Cos. bought the property about 18 months ago from Eastern Metal Recycling for $1.6 million with the intention of building a 120,000-square-foot warehouse and 30,000-square-foot warehouse without a tenant commitment.
Peter Luizzi Jr., president/CEO of Luizzi Cos., said the state subsequently sought proposals to lease about 28,000 square feet for the Labor Department and ultimately signed a contract for space at Luizzi's Lincoln Avenue Industrial Park in Colonie (also formerly a Delaware & Hudson Railway railroad yard).
"From there we asked if there were any additional needs which led to this other [request for proposals]," he said.
The site will include about 100 parking spaces.
Exemptions on sales taxes and mortgage recording tax were approved by the Green Island Industrial Development Agency in August 2023 based on the original concept. Real property tax exemptions are also eligible under a state program for new construction.