Byline: PAUL GRONDAHL Staff writer
Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller's urban planning visionaries in New York City dreamed up a grandiose plan in 1963 for how they'd transform what they considered a woefully parochial and dowdy capital city on the Hudson.
Dubbed ``The Capital Harbor,'' the scheme envisioned a stretch of the Hudson River near the Corning Preserve developed with parks, an art institute, yacht club, marina, ``boatel,'' heliport, high-rise apartment towers, department stores, pedestrian promenades and restaurants.
The Rensselaer side of the river would be built up as a mirror image on a slightly less ambitious scale.
``Residents, visitors, employees, businessmen and shoppers can stroll and enjoy the river view,'' the planners wrote in a glossy, full-color brochure touting The Capital Harbour concept.
``The Center for Creative Arts will include a school, theater and exhibition space for the entire area. A waterfront plaza, surrounding the marina, will be filled with boardwalk and commercial facilities -- restaurants, theaters, novelty shops, amusements. The boatel and yacht club will bring yachtsmen to the door of the community.''
Alas, The Capital Harbour didn't get any closer to becoming reality than Rockefeller's presidential ambitions.
One could write a book about Albany unbuilt. The dream projects that never made it into brick and mortar are legion. A sampling:
The magnificent dome that never got built over the Capitol building.
The soaring St. Louis-type arch that never made it into the Empire State Plaza's final design.
Albany Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd's idea …
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