Owen Speulstra of C.T. Male Associates details plans for the demolition of the parking garage at Riverfront Center to members of the Amsterdam Planning Commission on Wednesday.

AMSTERDAM — Plans to demolish the Amsterdam Riverfront Center’s parking garage to make way for ground-level parking and storefront entrances were approved by the Planning Commission despite concerns over the unknown condition of the mall walls that will be exposed.

Plans call for the demolition of the 48,000-square-foot parking garage on the southwest corner of the mall owned by Cranesville Properties and managing member Joseph Tesiero. The basement level of the existing three-story structure will be filled in to create the surface of a ground-level parking area with 80 spaces.

The parking area will span approximately 36,200 square feet, covering about 75% of the just over one-acre space. The lot will be reachable by car from Washington Street, winding around the rear of the mall.

Landscaping will be installed around the perimeter of the lot with several grass islands on the interior. A sidewalk from the southern end of the mall will run through the center of the lot and connect with an existing public walkway behind the property.

The corner concrete parking garage planned for demolition is a separate structure from the rest of the mall, reported Owen Speulstra, senior site civil engineer for C.T. Male Associates, to the Planning Commission on Wednesday.

Surrounding parking areas on the roof of the mall will remain intact, including the section carrying the footbridge to Riverlink Park. A sloped drive leading from the new parking lot to the southernmost rooftop parking area will be installed.

The project is intended to help attract new tenants to the southwest section of the mall by enabling individual storefront entrances to be installed on the ground floor level along the exterior walls that will be exposed. The mall is primarily used for medical and office space.

The timing and specific design of entrances would depend on the needs of individual tenants as leases are secured, Speulstra acknowledged.

“There are not particular tenants now, so a doctor may not want a picture window out front and a store would. There might be different considerations for different tenants,” Speulstra said.

Plans to initially paint the uncovered masonry walls to match the colors of the surrounding mall until available spaces are gradually filled and individual storefronts installed created unease amongst the Planning Commission.

“I’m concerned about the aesthetic of it,” Chairman Paul Gavry said.

Amanda Bearcroft, director of Amsterdam’s Community and Economic Development Department, pointed out interim plans to simply paint the walls without any other treatment were insufficient under design standards in the city’s form-based code.

The city could be trading one eyesore for another since the condition of the walls won’t be known until the parking garage is torn down, Bearcroft added.

“Now we don’t have to look at an abandoned parking garage when you come to the city, but now we might be looking at an even worse shape wall,” Bearcroft said.

The parking garage was closed to the public after being declared unsafe due to failing structural components by former Amsterdam Fire Chief Michael Whitty on Jan. 3, 2019. Cranesville Properties was directed to repair or remove the structure, but the demolition plans are the first steps being taken to finally address the unsound structure.

Housing Inspector Grant Egelston pointed out the board’s approval of the plans would technically give the property owners a year to complete demolition and update the building’s facade with the planned entrances. The approval would simply expire if none of the work is performed or code violations could be issued if the facade work is only partially done.

Recognizing the varying needs of future tenants, Egelston suggested the commission could allow housing inspectors to review plans for individual entrances internally when building permits are sought to ensure they comply with the code.

“I can see some flexibility with the storefronts because things do change,” he said.

If the project with facade work is not complete within a year, Egelston said Cranesville Properties could potentially request a one-year extension to avoid receiving any violations from the city.

“I could see it becoming a problem if everything halted, but as long as there is progress and it is actively being worked on we should not see a problem,” Egelston said.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved the site plan application for the demolition of the Riverfront Center’s parking garage and installation of surface-level parking on the condition improvements to the building facade comply with the form-based code under the review of the city’s housing inspectors. Tesiero indicated earlier this week that demolition could be performed sometime this year.

Reach Ashley Onyon at [email protected] or @AshleyOnyon on Twitter.