First Columbia LLC wants to buy the former Thelma Lally School of Education building on the former College of St. Rose campus in Albany for $4 million, its president and county officials said Tuesday morning.

The sale to a private company would put the property on the former college campus, which is now owned by the Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority, on the tax rolls. The deal requires a 90-day waiting period and approval from the authority’s board. 

Kevin Bette, president of First Columbia, said the company would try to update the 25-year-old building at 1009 Madison Ave., and lease it to tenants, possibly technology firms or health care businesses, but added there were no known tenants yet.

“Our belief is that we need to go fill this building back up with people and jobs and get it thriving again, and that’s going to spur the whole commerce around this campus,” Bette said at a press conference with Albany County Executive Dan McCoy. “Now, there’s a lot of problems in doing this. We’ve got to solve parking, we’ve got to solve power and a bunch of other issues.”

The Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority submitted a winning $35 million bid to acquire the College of Saint Rose campus, and gained ownership of it after approval from a bankruptcy court in December 2024.

The authority in December approved the sale of five former College of Saint Rose properties to Albany County for $6 million – the former Saint Rose Events and Athletic Center at 420 Western Ave., the former Neil Hellman Library at 394 Western Ave., the former Hearst Center for Communications and Interactive Media at 996 Madison Ave., the former Huether School of Business at 994 Madison Ave., and the former administration building at 1000 Madison Ave.

On Tuesday, McCoy said the pending deal with First Columbia was great news. He said the former Saint Rose campus contains 72 buildings and is going to be a mixed-use site, but its status as a former college made it challenging. He said they’ve run into problems with busted pipes and damaged furnaces while working to stabilize the site. 

“Redevelopment is a race against time as opportunities don’t wait and delays can wreak havoc with the aging infrastructures,” his office said in a follow-up statement. 

The county will work with First Columbia to lease space in the former Lally building if the purchase is approved, McCoy said. 

Bette said losing Saint Rose was a tough pill to swallow, but from change comes opportunity.

“This is really an important property for the city of Albany,” Bette said. “Our goal is to bring some jobs into this project, which we think we can do.”