New images and pricetag for Albany convention center

    New images were released Friday of what the proposed Albany Convention Center will look like.

    At a meeting of the Convention Center Authority architects unveiled a series of renderings of what the 300,000 square foot complex will look like in the Division Street-Broadway area of downtown Albany near the current Greyhound Bus Terminal.

   The images show an expansive brick and glass curved front with massive tulips painted on the entrance facade.

   Architects say it will contain a 60,000 square foot exhibition hall as well as numerous meeting rooms and loading docks to accommodate the myriad of conventions that have ignored Albany as a destination for decades.

   The people who will build the convention center,Gilbane Construction of Saratoga, told the Authority members they were able to trim back the pricetag for the project from $240 million dollars to $220 million dollars.

    There was immediate reaction from the people in the audience including a manager from the '74 State Street' hotel who said the project would 'put heads in the beds of our hotels and diners in our restaurants.'

    A labor union representative said the "openess and design is fantastic,great for downtown Albany."

    Authority Executive Director Gavin Donohue was asked if he was concerned that the faltering economy had turned the public against the expensive project.  He said,"we can't just give up because the economy is bad."

    Donohue maintains the Convention Center will create 800 full time jobs and 300 construction jobs.  Officials are still buying land but hope to break ground by sometime in 2010.