Having last visited then beleaguered Albany 30 years ago this summer, I was intrigued to discover first-hand its revival as a group and visitor destination. Arriving the day after Albany’s 330th birthday this July for a weekend hosted by the Albany CVB (40 this year), the rewards began with a tour and lunch at the aptly named Renaissance Albany Hotel.
Opened last October, this artful 203-room reinvention of the 1926 DeWitt Clinton Hotel is a stylish address with elegant ballroom space for 300 and six versatile meeting rooms, plus Wellington’s restaurant. Steps from the State Capitol and main business district, the hotel sits adjacent to the Albany Capital Center—the city’s long-sought convention center.
Our hard-hat tour of the site, three days before its ceremonial topping off, revealed a sleek, spacious venue on schedule for its March 22, 2017 debut with an opening show booked. Connected by enclosed walkways to the Renaissance, Times Union Center and majestic Empire State Plaza (50 this year), the 82,000-square-foot, two-level Center anchors the new 159,000-plus square foot Capital Complex, set to become Upstate’s largest group facility—and source of confidence and optimism.
“There’s a new energy in Albany,” said Albany County CVB President & CEO Michele Vennard over dinner at venerable, event-capable Jack’s Oyster House, before taking me on a city-wide nighttime driving tour. The many highlights, all walkable or a short ride from the Center, included the 385-room Hilton Albany, with 30,000 square feet of space; event venue 90 State Street, housed in a historic bank; the 1931 Palace Theatre; outdoor Park Playhouse; and resurgent Warehouse District.
For Albany, the new season has begun.