Jay Street Body Works Building In Colonie Collapses

A building at 33 Newton Street in Colonie collapsed.

It used to be Jay Street Body Works, an automotive repair shop. It happened last January, when the roof collapsed because to heavy snow. The building is in a neighborhood is not far from the Colonie – Albany border. It is a residential area, but there have always been a few businesses there, too.

Many of the people that live around the building are complaining that this is an eyesore and a health hazard. Some of the neighbors have seen some kids crawling around in the debris. This is a dangerous place to play around and someone may get hurt or even killed. This is right down the street from the West Albany Pocket Park, so it seems to draw the children’s attention to it, since many of them go past the site. Some of the neighbors have also seen people rummaging through and looking for scrap metal.

According to a story in the Times Union, the owner of the property has dementia, and the daughter, who now controls the property, doesn't have the money to take care of it. There has been a contractor interested in buying the property and even take care of the clean up. The town of Colonie would like to do that, but it seems like there’s a ton of red tape, which creates a very long and drawn out situation.

This story caught my attention because I grew up near the area, but spent a lot of time in that neighborhood, because I had many friends that lived around there. I went past that building thousands of times. Have you ever had something happen in an area that you grew up in, that may have hit home?