Abandoned Schenectady Building May Become Music Venue

The empty building at 145 Barrett Street in Schenectady may be getting a new lease on life.

The structure was built as a townhouse in 1900, but over the years morphed into a building of many uses. It became a meeting place for a local carpenters union in 1928. Eventually the carpenters union moved upstairs and the lower level was used for retail space until the 1980s.

From the early 1990's to about 2013, the downstairs was a music venue known as 'Yours' Jazz Nightclub.

The current owner, Christopher Marney, bought the building back in 2017 with plans to renovate and eventually turn into a restaurant. Plans were underway but faced some delays and eventually Covid came along in 2020 putting a halt to everything.

Although the building hasn't been used for anything much more than storage over the past decade, it's structurally sound. Photos provided to the Schenectady City Council show the inside pre and post 2013

Pre 2013:

Demolition was done in part of the building after 2013:

So what's the plan? Marney is working on getting the building designated as a historic structure by the city. In the meantime, he says he is in discussions with a potential tenant that would again like to use the building as a music venue, although he didn't elaborate on what type of music the venue would host.

A reopening date isn't know yet, but they hope to have planning board approval to begin renovations this summer.

[Daily Gazette]