It was something of a bad omen.

In the weeks before the Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan consolidated its offices in a new headquarters off Washington Avenue, Wayne Alger constantly found himself driving to the sprawling state office campus across the street. He was tracking down lost delivery trucks.

Sure enough, when the day came in July 2001 to relocate hundreds of CDPHP workers to the 180,000-square-foot building surrounded by brush and a state parking lot, “It was chaos,” said Alger, the Albany health insurer’s building services director.

Commuters could see their new workplace from Washington Avenue, but many of them missed the off ramps for the service roads leading to it. Pictures, maps, dry runs. Nothing but time seemed to help.

CDPHP was the first tenant of the parcel that Columbia Development Co. started developing about eight years ago. Almost 700 people work in CDPHP’s headquarters.

“We really did the growing pains for the development of this parcel,” said Alger.

But the pain is mostly over now, as is the buildout of what has become the Patroon Creek Corporate Park. Getting the park’s service road named Patroon Creek Boulevard about two years ago helped resolve some of the directional confusion. So did getting neighbors.

SEFCU, the region’s largest credit union, followed CDPHP to the park across from the Averill Harriman State Office Campus. In 2004, SEFCU moved into a 90,000-square-foot headquarters and opened a 7,000-square-foot retail branch northwest of CDPHP’s headquarters. SEFCU acquired from the state the 7.5-acre site for its a headquarters, which houses 230 workers.

“It’s just so close to [Interstate 90] and the Harriman campus. It’s just a great place to do business,” said SEFCU spokesman John DeCelle.

Last year, a host of medical practices moved in to a 161,000-square-foot office complex that Columbia Development built southeast of CDPHP’s headquarters. Two of its main tenants are Prime Care Physicians and New York Hematology and Oncology. Fifty-six CDPHP employees also work in the new building, along with 32 workers forthe insurer’s affiliate, APA Partners.

“Nobody wants to be the first one in,” Alger said.

Patroon Creek’s other tenants moved in after former Gov. George Pataki in 2002 announced plans to relocate the Harriman campus’ state workers and redevelop it into an “innovation community.”

Pending recommendations

Over the last seven years, the state has made little progress in transforming the campus into a lively 24-hour community with residential and commercial structures. But that could change on April 7, when the Harriman Research and Technology Development Corporation issues to its board of directors recommendations on developers who have expressed interest in the project.

At Patroon Creek last week, a Stockton, Calif., developer started building a 300-unit apartment complex on the unused asphalt lot between Washington Avenue and CDPHP’s headquarters. The Alexander at Patroon Creek will be the first New York property developed by A.G. Spanos, which was founded by the owner of the San Diego Chargers professional football team.

Next to the apartment complex, BBL Construction will soon start developing a 35,000-square-foot building. It will serve as a regional headquarters for First Niagara Bank. The Spanos and BBL projects are being built on a 12-acre parcel Columbia bought from the state two years ago for $4 million.

Columbia sold six of those acres to Spanos, leaving the other six for the First Niagara headquarters and one last 60,000-square-foot office complex. Columbia will soon announce a tenant for that final building at Patroon Creek, said Joe Nicolla, president of the Albany developer.

“Once that’s done, [Patroon Creek] is pretty much built out. Once again, we have to start to look at the potential for the Harriman campus,” said Michael Yevoli, the commissioner of the Albany Department of Development and Planning.

After an initial call for developers for the Harriman project received sparse interest, then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer in December unveiled a new vision for the campus. The HRTDC’s 2006 request for qualified developers yielded only three full responses, which the agency’s board rejected in May.

Unlike Pataki’s plan, many of the 7,400 state workers would remain on the campus and fewer of its buildings would be demolished. Under Spitzer’s plan, the campus could be redeveloped more quickly and for less money.

The HRTDC also in December issued a new solicitation for qualified developers. That request for qualifications netted 17 inquiries, but only five were full responses. Three of those responses came from development teams totaling 20 organizations.

Developers selected by HRTDC directors will have 90 days to submit full development plans for the campus, according to Michael Phillips, who took over the HRTDC last March.

Still a priority

Although both Spitzer and Empire State Development Corp. Downstate Chairman Patrick Foye recently handed in their resignations, local officials remain hopeful the Harriman campus project will not be derailed.

“It’s a priority for the mayor. We’re going to continue to keep it on our front burners and everybody else’s,” said Yevoli.

Columbia is also keeping the Harriman campus on its front burner. It is one of the developers vying for a campus redevelopment contract.

Since 1998, Columbia has focused on the Washington Avenue corridor near the campus. The developer in 2003 completed a three-building medical office mall featuring 250,00 square feet of office space. The medical mall, which includes the Bone and Joint Center, is northwest of Patroon Creek.

Over the past decade, 7,000 square feet of office space have been developed between the medical mall and Patroon Creek. During that period, developers have invested more than $100,000 million in those parks, Nicolla said. The area has also attracted other developments, such as a Cresthill Suites and a Hilton Garden.

“They usually don’t build hotels unless something is coming,” said Yevoli.