'Downtown was 90 percent vacant,' Morris recalled. The work had only just begun when new Proctors Theater CEO Philip Morris arrived in 2002. Later that decade, the Metroplex Development Authority was approved by state lawmakers. Golub's vision with several partners in 1992 was to turn Schenectady around by creating an industrial development agency, which would only focus on revitalizing the city - unheard of at the time. Even my dad said, 'This is an awful place.' ' 'Our downtown really had gone deeply into the hole.
'It was ugly,' said Neil Golub, the longtime CEO of Price Chopper, which was headquartered in Schenectady. By the early 1990s, the city had hit rock bottom, according to leaders who remember its worst days. Perhaps the difference about Schenectady, though, is that few ever believed it would ever shake off its long slump.Īfter a long, proud industrial history fostered by General Electric and the ALCO Locomotive Factory, Schenectady shed employees and wealth during the latter half of the 20th century. Like most upstate New York cities, this one has seen its glory days and hard times.
