Chelsea Heilmann is standing in the Clinton Street building, where she plans to build a place offering old-fashioned arcade games, vegetarian food and cocktails. This will be the latest business in a surge in the construction of apartment buildings in the city centre.

Schenectady-Coming to downtown Schenectady this spring:

Old-fashioned arcade game, offering a small amount of vegetarian food and cocktails. 

This is the next project of Chelsea Hellman, the founder and owner of Take Two Cafe, a downtown vegetarian startup. 

"Game aside, the food here will be very different from anything you can eat in the city center," said Hellman, who referred to the menu as "premium bar food."

Think of comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, French fries, mozzarella sticks and fried "chicken"-all of which are natural and contain no animal ingredients.

For her new venture, Hellman will take over the approximately 4,000 square feet of space at 148 Clinton Street that the Clinton Street Commercial Company vacated last summer. 

"For many years, this has been an idea of ​​mine," said Hellman, who drew inspiration from her travels around the world, including a table tennis hall in Colorado. "This is the collective idea of ​​all these things I have experienced."

The arcade is now waiting for players seeking nostalgia: 

Shooting games like Area 51 and Deadly Enforcer will join classic games such as Pac-Man, The Simpsons and Mortal Kombat. The N64 part is also planned, as well as pinball machines and table games such as table tennis, petanque, air hockey and corn holes.

Although Take Two was only launched in May, Hellmann is still optimistic about the prospects of this unnamed project. Take Two is just one block away.

Heilmann said that the city center is booming, and he believes that the venue is a family-friendly environment, serving non-alcoholic cocktails, and closing relatively early at 11pm.

Heilmann expects to start the work next spring after refurbishing the space internally to add a bar and kitchen.

The building is owned by Redburn Development Partners, which are the leading engines for downtown development.

Heilman, the principal of Redburn, Jeff Burr, said that he knows the pulse of the city center, and the upcoming space adds to the vibe of the community as a vibrant place.

"The reconstruction of the city center depends on creative and somewhat crazy people," Bull said. "Chelsea is creative and a bit crazy, so I love her."

The new project joins a wave of development to transform the Clinton Street downtown corridor from Broadway to City Hall, including Redburn's transformation of the Bank of America complex into a medical space, and the transformation of a nearby former OTB building into an apartment, as well as 67 units The apartment building and the mixed-use space across the street from 501 State St. are expected to be completed in June.

Buell said that Redburn is about to lease the entire ground floor to commercial tenants, and an announcement will be made soon.

Buell said that even though Proctors did not perform, the businesses in the city center have weathered the pandemic in general and are thriving.

"Schenectady is bound to take off," Bull said. 

Pete DeMola reports on the city of Schenectady and the spa towns of Glenville, Rotterdam and Ballston. He previously reported for Adirondack’s Daily Bulletin and Sun Community News, where he won the New York Press Association’s 2015 Writer of the Year Award for his investigative reporting. He previously lived in Beijing, where he reported popular culture for a number of domestic publications and social media companies, and worked for record companies. He is a graduate of Syracuse University in 2005. You can contact him at pete.demola@timesunion.com.