3tarchitects earns two preservation merit awards from Albany Foundation
Albany, NY Since 1976, the Historic Albany Foundation (HAF) has given annual awards for projects, individuals and organizations that demonstrate excellence and a commitment to preservation initiatives. 2015 was no different and HAF celebrated several area projects for preservation and historic adaptive re-use.
3tarchitects was recognized for two projects this year: The Arcade Building, 488 Broadway and Steuben Place, 58 North Pearl St. This makes it the 4th and 5th HAF awards respectively that the company has been the architect on over the past several years.
The Arcade building is located at 488 Broadway, an adaptive retrofit of a five story, mixed-use downtown building featuring 60 luxury apartments with retail space on the first floor. Contemporary accents add to the historic building and lend itself to an art deco feel adding to downtown’s atmosphere. Also located in the downtown area, 58 North Pearl is a six-story building bordered by a pedestrian walkway known as Steuben Place. The historic structure includes 29 market rate apartments above with Steuben St. Market on the first floor. The conversion uncovered hidden details and restored the exterior to its original historic condition. Modern upgrades and contemporary finishes and amenities were added to the interior.
The foundation awarded 16 preservation projects with six different awards. The group hosted a ceremony at their annual meeting at Livingston School Apartments, 315 Northern Blvd. During the ceremony photos of the award winner’s projects were shown with over 200 people in attendance.
3tarchitects was also the architectural firm for 374 Broadway, Overit Media Offices and 62, 68, and 70 Morton Ave., all Merit Award winners from past years.
This year, the firm recently finished the Larson Building on the corner of Lark and Madison, 33 2nd St. in Troy and is currently working on the adaptive re-use of 160 Myrtle Ave., 22 High St. in Rensselaer, 21 & 25 Second St. (Pioneer Bank) in Troy and, as a team member, the adaptive re-use of 444 River St. also in Troy, NY. 3t is also the architect for Sheridan Hollow Village, a 2013 ENY/AIA award winning project for the planning of 8 city blocks in a distressed neighborhood found directly adjacent to the historic fabric of Downtown Albany. When completed this summer, 37 new buildings, housing 87 residential units with street level commercial spaces and urban parkland will emerge.
“We are proud to be recognized by the highly respected Historic Albany Foundation once again this year,” said Scott Townsend, partner at 3tarchitects. “We would like to thank our clients, Fairbank Properties, Omni Development and Dawn Homes. Their trust in us and our ability to assist them in helping their vision come to life is what make these projects so successful.”
Geoffrey MacDonald, partner at 3tarchitect said, “We take great pride in being recognized by our peers and by organizations of such great standing. Thank you to Historic Albany Foundation for continuing to recognize historic buildings and transformative projects.”

