Albany's 24,000 s/f Coliseum to celebrate it's 5th year!

Upscale men's and women's clothing, gifts and novelties, books and original artwork, kids clothing, and a barber shop, are just some of the shops doing a brisk business. Couple that with a recording studio, an office with trained legal advocates, a mobile phone store, a deli, a church, and the two newest tenants, The New Netherland Museum and The Halfmoon Ship, and you have the Coliseum, a name for the unique office and retail building given to it by it original founding tenants, known as the Lions. This four-story 24,000 s/f building at 153 South Pearl St. has 24 onsite parking spots, a rare find in downtown Albany, making convenience and location the reason to shop here or to stop in and do business. The Coliseum operates something like a business incubator, providing small blocks of office, retail or production space for start-up companies. In return for a nominal rent and a low utility overhead, retailers and office users get a permanent presence here in a very busy section of downtown Albany, without the bother of having to sign a long-term lease, pay high utilities or deal with all the myriad obstacles to opening an independently owned business. The Coliseum was given a 2001 Preservation Award from the Albany Historic Foundation and the Preservation Initiative Award in 2008 for adaptive use to promote neighborhood business. Gallagher & Company, SEAC and the Downtown BID have worked closely together to bring this redeveloped building to the neighborhood.