Proctors wins preservation awards for its subsidiaries’ buildings

For leading the remodeling and remodeling of an 1871 church in Saratoga Springs and an 1881 commercial bakery in Albany to artistic venues, Schenectady-based Proctors Collaborative was named one of this year’s winners. an award for excellence in historic preservation by the Preservation League of NYS.
The Proctors-led conversions of 19th-century buildings for its subsidiaries Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga and Capital Repertory Theater in Albany overlap significantly, with the UPH opening just before the pandemic in winter 2020 and the pandemic. The Rep postponed from its initial July 2020 opening to an unveiling in March 2021. The projects – led by Proctors CEO Philip Morris; The Rep’s artistic director and producer, Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill; and Teddy Foster, executive director of UPH – each cost around $ 14.5 million.
“Proctors Collaborative is a vital resource for the Capital-Saratoga region,” said Jay DiLorenzo, president of the Preservation League, in a statement accompanying Tuesday’s announcement of the 10 annual awards.
“Their high-quality performing arts programming reaches a large and diverse population, and recent restoration and adaptive reuse projects in Albany and Saratoga Springs will allow them to better serve their audiences,” continued DiLoreno. “Proctors has a long history of commitment to preservation. . The active return to service of these two very different buildings will undoubtedly have positive effects on their communities for years to come. The Proctors’ main theater in Schenectady received an award for excellence in historic preservation from the Preservation League in 2008.
Morris said in a statement, “What a fantastic honor. We are celebrating our historic properties and their reuse as cultural and community centerpieces.” Morris said the Proctors projects have been recognized as models for how the creative reuse of historic but empty and deteriorating buildings can boost the creative and commercial economies of inner-city neighborhoods.
The representative performed at a rented property at 111 N. Pearl St., about four blocks south of his new home, starting in 1980, shortly after moving from the Catskills to Albany. He had long wanted to renovate 111 N. Pearl but chose to buy a building and move out after the owner refused to sell the property except as part of a building complex. It effected an administrative merger with Proctors in 2011, becoming fully under the umbrella of Proctors a few years later.
After approximately 130 years as a Methodist and then Baptist Church, the UPH building, located at 25 Washington St. in downtown Spa City, was doomed in 2000. A group of citizens intervened for the to save. The organization became known as Universal Preservation Hall and affiliated with Proctors in 2015.
Since 1984, the Preservation League’s Excellence Awards have recognized buildings, organizations, people and publications across the state that “exemplify best practices in historic preservation and recognize people who use preservation. history to build stronger neighborhoods, create local jobs, provide affordable housing, open our eyes to little-known history and save the places we all hold dear, ”according to the league.
The Clinton Avenue project in Albany was completed last summer by Home Leasing, a Rochester firm focused on affordable housing and community development. The $ 56 million project renovated 70 dilapidated townhouses along Clinton Avenue and Ten Broeck Street into 210 apartments, 40 of which are reserved for those previously homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
The other winners announced on Tuesday:
- SUNY Broome Culinary and Event Center, Binghamton, Broome County
- Arbor Gerard Block and the Carroll Street Warehouse Rehabilitation Project, Elmira, Chemung County
- Steven Engelhar, | Keeseville, County Clinton
- Buffalo Niagara Preservation, Buffalo, Erie County
- Whitcomb Garage Adaptive Reuse Project, Whallonsburg, Essex County
- Historic Green-Wood Chapel, Brooklyn, Kings County
- Exterior restoration of the Central Presbyterian Church, Manhattan, New York County
- @syracusehistory (Instagram by David Haas), Syracuse, Onondaga County
Founded in 1974, the Preservation League is the only statewide nonprofit focused on historic preservation in New York City.