Downtown Revitalization Initiative South Pearl

In 2022 the City of Albany submitted an application for South Pearl Street competing in round six of the New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI). 

The application was highly competitive as part of the sixth-round DRI. As a resource to support future potential opportunities for South Pearl this web page outlines the DRI application process and features the City’s round-six application above/below, as well as public meeting materials. 

About the New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative

The New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative was launched in 2016 to transform downtown neighborhoods into vibrant centers that offer a high quality of life and become magnets for redevelopment, business growth, job creation and economic and housing diversity. The DRI is led by the Department of State, in close partnership with Empire State Development, NYS Homes and Community Renewal and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

As part of Rounds 1-5 of the DRI, 59 NYS communities received a total of $600 million in awards. In 2022, round six of the DRI again invested $10 million each to 10 downtown zones across New York State. More information about the program can be found at https://www.ny.gov/programs/downtown-revitalization-initiative

South Pearl DRI Zone

The South Pearl DRI Application Boundary is shown and described within the image below.

Round Six Community Engagement

To create the strongest application possible for our community’s needs a public workshop series was held in September 2022 at meeting space provided by the Albany Housing Authority. A survey also provided an opportunity to gather additional feedback which focused on identifying the community's priorities, assets to build on, and challenges to overcome.