A rich and unique history gives the Albany Lofts at One Broadway its character and charm. In 1902 the Albany Felt Company constructed the building to manufacture industrial felt for the Capital Region’s booming paper industry. Soon after the building was converted into the company’s corporate headquarters. The two ponds located on the property were originally created as water reservoirs for fire suppression. At the time, the closest firehouse was miles away. Over much of the early 20th century the building expanded regularly to the complex’s current size. In 2010, the Albany Felt Company, renamed Albany International, moved its headquarters to New Hampshire and sold the Albany buildings.
Long Island Lawyer Turned Real Estate Developer
Harmony Group Capital, LLC, owned by local developer Uri Kaufman, purchased the building from Albany International. The company strives to rejuvenate and revitalize historic buildings in order to turn them into thriving properties that benefit the community. However, the successful real estate developer did not begin his career in real estate. In fact, he started off as a collections lawyer in Long Island. Kaufman graduated from NYU School of Law in 1989 and spent several years trying to make it as a lawyer. After getting fired from three different law firms, he decided that law just wasn’t for him and turned his attention to real estate. His first venture into luxury Albany apartments consisted of renovating a former textile mill near Cohoes into a loft apartment complex named The Lofts at Harmony Mills.
In 2015 Kaufman’s Harmony Group team began to convert the historic Albany International building into Manhattan-style luxury loft apartments. Preserving the building’s history and architecture was paramount during the entire reconstruction. As such, each loft apartment features unique architecture and features reminiscent of the building’s roots. For example most of the hardwood flooring inside the apartment complex is original to the 114 year old building. Unlike modern tongue and groove hardwood floors, these floors were hammered in with nails creating a unique distressed look that many tenants love.
We hope our rich history has intrigued you to schedule a tour and see for yourself how we modernized parts of this historic building.
