Project of the Month: United Group and Collar City celebrate College Suites at City Station East with grand opening ceremony; Project team includes: QPK Design, Hershberg & Hershberg, BBL, Kathy Andrews, CW Engineering and Stroud Pence

A ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening event for the recently completed East building of College Suites at City Station was held on Wednesday, October 16th at 1520 6th Ave. from 4 to 6pm. Elected officials and over 200 guests from New York state, Rensselaer County and the city were invited to celebrate the latest addition to the City Station neighborhood—a brand new, 157-bed graduate student housing community for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's graduate students, with 13,000 s/f of prime retail space. A wide selection of hors d'oeuvres and mocktails were served by Troy's Illium Café. Cakes and an array of deserts were provided by one of the city's local bakeries, Sweet Sues. In addition to individuals involved in City Station East's development, invitations to the grand opening event were extended to the Rensselaer community at large. In addition to Michael Uccellini, president and CEO of United Group of Companies, who owns and manages City Station, speakers included: Ann Luby, capital region representative for governor Andrew Cuomo; Claude Rounds, vice president of administration for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; New York state assemblyman John McDonald III; Kathleen Jimino, Rensselaer County executive; and mayor Lou Rosamilia. At full capacity, College Suites at City Station now has 151 apartment homes to accommodate up to 396 Rensselaer graduate students. With a total of three residential buildings (East, West, and South) now available within walking distance to the Rensselaer campus, City Station supports Rensselaer's housing need as their graduate program continues to grow. In addition to graduate housing, like West, the new East building's ground floor consists of multiple retail spaces. An enclosed underground parking garage with 88 spaces is dedicated to retail customers. Plum Dandy and Birkmayer Travel are already scheduled to move into two of the retail spaces this fall. Interested parties in commercial space should contact Tommy Uccellini at [email protected] or 518-687-7344. "The City Station project was named a priority project for the Capital Region Economic Development Council in both rounds 2 and 3, as it aligns with the council's goals to focus on developing the region's downtown economies," said Empire State Development president, CEO & commissioner Kenneth Adams. "The project is already having a meaningful impact on the revitalization of downtown Troy." According to Michael Uccellini, the companies' plans for the fourth phase of the City Station project will include multifamily apartments, garage parking and an urban grocery store. This fourth phase will be built on the northwest corner of Congress St. and Sixth. $60 million, inclusive of infrastructure, has been invested thus far into the 247,000 s/f of the City Station neighborhood. The United Group has received support from mayor Rosimilia and the city, as well as the state of New York through governor Cuomo's regional economic development councils, as part of their continued efforts to grow the local business community.