By Ali Munday
Richbell Capital seems to have a good eye
for development opportunities and a discerning
clientele appears to welcome its vision.
Saratoga resident and Richbell president
Toby Mildé’s latest project is The Kensington
at Halfmoon, 200 luxury apartments set on 30
acres at the corner of Stone Quarry Road and
Route 9.
The Kensington at Halfmoon will comprise
20 buildings, each with 10 apartments, ranging
in size from 900 to 1,450 square feet. Residents
of the pet-friendly community will have a
state-of-the-art fitness center, a yoga studio
(offering complementary classes), club house
with coffee bar and billiards room, a wireless
internet network, and movie theater.
The construction phase of the project employs more than 150 people, and once complete will maintain a staff of about 15. Richbell Capital has already received the Certificate of Occupancy for the first 40 units, and every two weeks sees the completion of an additional building.
RBC Construction, part of Richbell Capital, is the general contractor. The engineer for The Kensington at Halfmoon is Environmental Design Partnership LLC (EDP), and the architect is Fugleberg Koch, based in Winter Park, Fla. Jessica Clairmont is property manager.
The project is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2014. Mildé said leasing has been very strong and almost all of the currently available units are occupied.
Mildé is confident about The Kensington’s setting. “The location is spectacular, it sits equal distance from Saratoga and Albany. It’s in the bull’s eye of the capital district,” he said. Stone Quarry Road though, lived up to its name, presenting a tough logistical problem.
“The site’s challenge was the amount of rock, it was expensive to blast but we were able to crush it on the site and recycle it for sub-base throughout the site,” said Mildé.
Mildé and his team works directly with the architects and engineers on every aspect of the building and site design. Available with one or two bedrooms, or a two-bedroom-with-den option, the apartments have private entrances and garages. Inside, floor plans are spacious, and feature hardwood floors, walk-in closets, private patios and balconies, and high efficiency heating a cooling systems.
Each apartment is equipped with its own laundry room with washer and dryer, granite counter tops in the kitchen and bathroom, and oversized windows for abundant natural light.
The kitchen offers stainless steel appliance packages, high-end cabinetry, and tile backsplashes, plus ample room for friends to linger at the breakfast bar. To retreat, the spacious master bathroom has European-style granite vanities, full tub and shower, and ceramic flooring.
RBC Construction was formed, and is owned by Mildé and his partners–utilizing mostly subcontractors, but affording Richbell greater control over development projects, and a better grip on expenses, he said.
Richbell’s other divisions include RBC Development, focusing on development strategy and projects; Capital District Properties, their property management arm; and RBC Hotels – currently responsible for renovating the historic Adelphi Hotel in Saratoga Springs.
For more information, visit www.RichbellCapital.com.
Photo Courtesy of Richbell Capital