City Hall relocation plan narrowly OK'd

Proctors Theatre building on Troy's 4th Street. / Google photo

UPDATE (8/11/25): City Council has approved by a narrow 4-3 vote a proposal to move city offices from the Hedley Building on River Street to the historic former Proctor’s Theater building on 4th Street. The vote went along party lines with the four Republican council members outnumbering the Democrat members.

After a series of public hearings is concluded, her proposal to approve the new location for City Hall will, as Mayor Carmela Mantello describes it, "establish a permanent and modernized home ... while also preserving a treasured piece of Troy’s architectural history."

“This is more than a move, it’s a milestone,” Mantello said of her plan to relocate city offices from the Hedley Building on River Street. “We are saving a historic gem, revitalizing a key part of our downtown, and creating a permanent home for City Hall that reflects the strength and spirit of our city."

Under Mantello's plan, the long-out-of-use Proctors Theatre building will be preserved and repurposed to house city offices along with a new assembly hall, lobby, and community spaces.

The City now will proceed with the next stages of planning and design as well as more council action on a Land Development Agreement (LDA) and Approval of Lease with the goal of officially relocating City Hall operations to Proctors on or before January 1, 2027. 

The final public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. this Wednesday at Proctors Theatre. City officials and developers will be on hand to give a tour of the building, share plans, answer questions, and showcase the vision for Troy’s next chapter.

Proctors, according to information posted on Wikipedia, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. It was built in 1914 for vaudeville performances by Capital Region entrepreneur Frederick Freeman Proctor who also built another theater with his name in Schenectady.

The building is credited to architect Arland W. Johnson. In the late 1970s it closed. Since then it has been through several owners, including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), which has had various plans including renovating it into office space or reusing it as a theater. 

In 2014, it was announced that Columbia Development would be renovating the building for the Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce. As of September 2018, the building was repurposed into office space behind the preserved façade. Current tenants include the Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce, RPI, and Christopher Brian Salon.

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