TROY, NY (Times Union) — Troy’s political drama will soon play out in an actual theater.
Mayor Carmella Mantello said Tuesday that she plans to move city hall operations to the old Proctor’s building on Fourth Street. The plan would be Troy government’s first move to a permanent headquarters in more than 15 years.
“This is history, folks,” Mantello said during a news conference.
The announcement that the building will become the permanent home for Troy City Hall was made amid a war of words with the city’s landlord, First Columbia, which owns the government’s current home at Hedley Park Place.
First Columbia has argued that Troy must follow its lease up until 2029 based on a contractual technicality and described the Proctor’s announcement as “theatrics.” Mantello has made clear that she plans on moving into a new space by 2027 and doesn’t expect to be doing so while still paying for Hedley Park Place.
“[Our attorney] feels very strong per the lease,” Mantello said. “I’m not an attorney. We rely on our attorney. We will be in January 1, 2027.”
Troy City Hall has been located in a leased space since the late 2000s. Since 2012, it has been located on the fifth floor of 433 River St. Multiple unsuccessful proposals for a new site have been made since then — a pattern the Republican has pledged to avoid since becoming mayor in 2024.
More recently, the future home of City Hall has been the subject of widespread speculation since Mantello handed First Columbia a lease termination letter on May 30. Early on, Council President Sue Steele told the Times Union that she heard rumors swirling about Proctor’s.
Proctor’s is owned by the Albany-based Columbia Development Companies — one of seven developers to submit a request-for-proposal.
Columbia Development offered a sale price of $1.8 million to the Troy Local Development Corporation, a purchasing arm to the city. Redevelopment of the old space, including its theater space, could cost about $8 million, according to the corporation. The theater, which the city plans to use in some way, would need the bulk of the renovations; it still has a concession stand from when it closed and a fading stage curtain that’s more than a century old.
