ALBANY, N.Y. -- Boat traffic on the Mohawk River is expected to increase dramatically when Rivers Casino opens next year. As development of the site nears completion, the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office is looking to expand their marine patrol unit. More than 20 miles of the Mohawk River is monitored by just two marine patrol officers with one boat. “We go from just outside Niskayuna, that’s just east of lock 7, all the way to the Montgomery County line,” said Lt. Jason Temple, Marine Patrol for the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office. The patrol program was reinstated last summer after a four year hiatus. The Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office expects Rivers Casino and the adjacent Moh

SCHENECTADY — The Rivers Casino & Resort at Mohawk Harbor will be the first full-scale casino to open in upstate New York, according to members of the state Gaming Commission. Three members of the Gaming Commission visited the Mohawk Harbor site in Schenectady on Monday to take a look at the progress of construction on the casino, which Rush Street Gaming CEO Greg Carlin says is ahead of schedule. The $330 million casino is going up fast, with the adjacent parking garage also taking shape. Gaming Commission member John Poklemba said the commission, which awarded licenses to three upstate casinos in December, is pleased with the project. “They’re very far along,” Poklemba told the media along

SCHENECTADY — The city Planning Commission approved a retail building at the Mohawk Harbor site and single-family homes along Barrett Street during a meeting Wednesday evening. The commission unanimously OK’d the Galesi Group’s proposal for a coffee shop and bank by the future Rivers Casino and Resort at Mohawk Harbor and a total of 25 single-family homes proposed by a group of local investors on Barrett Street and Seminary Place. The coffee shop and bank would take up about 2,000 square feet each in the building and both have a drive-through. The building would have 35 total parking spaces including two handicapped spaces. Paul Fallati, vice president of the Galesi Group, said the building

The Rivers Casino & Resort at Schenectady's Mohawk Harbor is starting to take shape. Overlooking the manmade harbor, steel has risen for the $330 million casino project, which includes a parking garage and boutique hotel. Also in the works at the site: A 206-apartment building with retail on the first floor and a new 68,000-square-foot office building. All three projects are being managed by LeChase Construction, on land owned and developed by The Galesi Group. Those projects are also included on this week's List of the largest construction projects list in the region, with the casino project grabbing the top spot on The List this year. That marks the first time in several years that work at

SCHENECTADY — The Galesi Group is proposing a retail building by the future casino to house a coffee shop and a bank, both with a drive-thru. The Rotterdam developer is seeking site plan approval from the city Planning Commission next week for a 4,000-square-foot building that will house a coffee shop and a bank to serve people coming in and out of the Mohawk Harbor site. The proposed building would be situated at the corner of Erie Boulevard and Rush Street near the entrance to the Rivers Casino and Resort at Mohawk Harbor, which is under construction and expected to open in March. “We’re talking to a variety of people,” said David Buicko, CEO of Galesi, when asked about specific tenants. “

Photo Credit: P.E.Pasternak, Schenectadian SCHENECTADY — The Galesi Group is seeking state funding to build a dock that will accommodate tour boats at the Mohawk Harbor site. The city applied on Galesi’s behalf for $1.5 million in state funding as part of the state’s Regional Economic Development Council awards, which are typically held at the end of the year. David Buicko, CEO of Galesi, said the harbor on site cannot fit boats more than 40 or 50 feet and that adding a 1,000-foot dock on the side of the harbor would attract larger boats and in turn more people. “There are a lot of tour boats that go up and down the river, which I was surprised at,” he said. We thought about it a while ago,

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — On the western shore of the Delaware River in Philadelphia, north of Interstate 676, lies the historic Fishtown neighborhood. It is one of the city’s oldest industrial neighborhoods, dating back to the fishing industry in the 1700’s. By the turn of the 21st century, Fishtown was a failing neighborhood, and many of Philadelphia’s legacy industries had pulled out, leaving a landscape of shuttered factories and empty warehouses. But over the past decade the trend of vacancy has reversed, with a number of restaurants and residential spaces occupying the old buildings. Since 2010, SugarHouse Casino has been central to the transformation. Built on the site of an old sugar refin