Rent hikes at Two Rivers Market prompted their move

Don't look for Park Wise and the Albany Downtown Association offices in Two Rivers Market anymore because they're not there.

The two agencies initiated their move last Thursday into a building that once housed the post office and city hall located at the corner of Second Avenue and Broadalbin Street. The offices are on the main floor and to the right of the front door.

Park Wise and the ADA are expected to be settled in by Monday.

Downtown Association Executive Director Oscar B. Hult said Park Wise and the ADA moved because the owners of Two Rivers Market raised their monthly lease payments.

The ADA, which is charged with promoting downtown Albany, signed a lease for a year at its new location, but Hult hopes the agency doesn't have to move anytime soon.

"We'll be paying about what we were paying before the rate increase, maybe a tiny bit less," he said.

Hult prefers his new quarters that were built in 1913 as a post office.

"We have a couple hundred more square feet and we're in a very public-looking building," Hult said. "It feels more like we are in a public space rather than a shopping mall."

The ADA and Park Wise offices originally take up part of the former post office's main workroom, where all of Albany's mail was sorted for delivery.

On Tuesday afternoon, Nathan Human and Keith Semmel of Albany were installing a safety window at the Park Wise portion of the office. People with questions about or who are paying parking tickets will talk to Park Wise staff there.

The window prevents anyone angry about a parking citation from actually getting into the office, Hult said.

Both the ADA and the Albany Visitors Association, which remains at Two Rivers, faced about a 44 percent increase in their leases. Last June, Hult and AVA executive director Jimmie Lucht both discussed the possibility of moving.

Lucht said Monday his agency would remain at Two Rivers for at least another year.

"The building owner visited us and gave us a slight increase instead of what we'd been told earlier," he said. "He understood we were working with a smaller budget. He's willing to work with us for another year. Then we will discuss it again."

Lucht said it was not a good time for the AVA to consider moving. The agency just finished helping with the historic summer home tour and the river festival and now the criterium bike races and the Northwest Art and Air Festival are coming up.

The ADA can be reached at (541) 928-2469.