The "R" is for Rensselaer, not Realtor

Last April, the RPI administration announced their purchase of Proctor's Theater in downtown Troy, citing "the need for additional specialty hotel facilities in the region."

Now, as the Troy city government looks to renovate the site and turn it into the new city hall, the Troy Record coverage makes mention of the fact that numerous consultants have told RPI the site could not be used as a hotel. Says Troy mayor Harry Tutunjian in the Record:

"After a year, they've been unable to find a developer to make it into a hotel that is sustainable and financially worthwhile."

The city is now preparing to save Dr. Jackson and the other Donald Trump wannabes of the High Command by taking the property off their hands. Personally, I'd like to see Mayor Tutunjian walk into the negotiations and lay a dollar bill on the table as his opening bid, seeing as there's not exactly a mob on 4th street of developers fighting to get their hands on the property.

One final consideration: Proctor's has a 3,200 seat auditorium, which has been one of the selling points of the eMPA Center (current pricetag now exceeding $140 million). Just think, with a little more adequate planning, we could have had the same thing just a bit further down the hill for a fraction of the cost.

This may be a good time to start reconsidering The Rensselaer Plan--particularly the part that has Rensselaer executing it.