February 29, 2024

Charlie Williams
Vice President
Dormitory Authority of the State of New York
28 Liberty Street, 55th Floor
New York, NY 10005

Subject: Response to DASNY SEQR Lead Agency Request for NYSDOH Life Sciences Public
Health Laboratory
Dear Vice President Williams:
We appreciate your efforts to initiate the SEQR process for the Wadsworth Center Labs revitalization
project and we are eager to see shovels in the ground for the consolidated rebuild of public health labs
here in the City of Albany.
While we sincerely appreciate the commitment to rebuilding these nationally renowned health labs, we
write to share concerns regarding the proposed external design for the labs at the Harriman State Office
Building Campus.
The current proposal perpetuates the flawed 1960s design that physically disconnected the campus from
the City of Albany – thus failing to maximize the impact of the historic investment in the Harriman
Campus redevelopment to create a vibrant, mixed-use environment that catalyzes economic growth and
innovation. Our understanding is the plan includes a fence around the entire 27-acre project, further
cutting off the campus from the surrounding neighborhood. Fencing should be strictly limited to the lab
building itself, not the entire project, to maintain open access to the campus grounds, fostering a more
welcoming community environment.
Unfortunately, the proposed design also retains much of the car-centric Harriman Campus design,
including consuming roughly half of the designated 27-acres for parking. The proposed 930 parking spots
waste valuable land that could otherwise be utilized for mixed-use development that would benefit
employees and the campus’s neighbors. The total number of parking spaces should be reexamined and
reduced in the final design, which, paired with CDTA Universal Bus Access and other measures, would
further encourage a walkable community and multi-modal transportation.
Further, the design does not incorporate any schematic for future plans to remove the ring roads
surrounding the campus – ignoring the potential to convert as many as 30 acres of pavement into critically
needed housing, commercial space, and retail. The 1960s design with ring roads physically disconnects
the Harriman campus from the City, and it also fails to accommodate multi-modal transportation. The
final project needs a plan to repurpose portions of the ring roads to facilitate access for bicyclists,
pedestrians, and users of public transportation.
With a long awaited and transformative $1.7 billion investment – the most significant investment on
Harriman Campus since its creation in the 1960s – it’s essential that we integrate Harriman with the City
of Albany and undo 50+ years of disconnect while transforming the 1960s layout of the loops. The land
reclaimed from the ring roads and the behemoth proposed parking lot should be harnessed for spinoff
development, multiplying the effect of the public’s investment. We should incentivize private sector
involvement to create commercial spaces that complement Wadsworth’s activities, with a focus on the
semiconductor, AI, and biomedical sectors.
To ensure that the final project maximizes its potential to spur development and integrate with the City of
Albany, DASNY should convene a 21st Century Harriman Working Group. The Working Group is
necessary to foster collaboration and innovation, bringing together state and local officials, public and
private stakeholders, academia, and relevant state agencies..
It is vital to the future of the Capital Region that the revitalization of Wadsworth Labs be combined with a
multi-modal 21st-century Campus design. The Working Group will help lay the foundation for reclaiming
the ring road land for future development, without slowing down the completion of the SEQR process.
We remain anxious to “get shovels in the ground” as it relates to the commencement of construction for
Wadsworth and feel there is no better time to plan access and integration than now for the neighborhoods
adjacent to the Harriman Campus.
We look forward to meeting with you or your designee. Thank you in advance for your attention to this
matter.
Sincerely,

Assemblymember Patricia Fahy Assemblymember John McDonald Senator Neil Breslin

109th Assembly District 108th Assembly District 46th Senate District

cc: NYS Governor Kathy Hochul

NYS Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
NYS Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
NYS Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James V. McDonald
NYS Department of Transportation Marie Dominguez
NYS Division of the Budget Director Blake Washington
NYS Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette M. Moy
Empire State Development President and CEO Hope Knight
Wadsworth Director Dr. Leonard F. Peruski, Ph.D., M.Sc.
Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy
City of Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan
Capital District Transportation Committee Executive Director Sandy Misiewicz

ALBANY OFFICE: Room 717, Legislative Office Building, Albany, New York 12248 • 518 -455-4178, FAX: 518-455-5737