The Historic Albany Foundation wants to save the decrepit Wellington Hotel, earmarked under a $60 million office tower proposal to be demolished except for its facade, but the developer believes advanced decay makes that unrealistic.

On Wednesday, the foundation suggested it was possible to save most the so-called Wellington Row along State Street, which also includes the long-vacant and crumbling Elks Lodge and Berkshire Hotel.

Foundation Executive Director Susan Holland could offer no price tag for the group's ideas, which call for building the office tower partially around the rebuilt Wellington, and rebuilding the Elks and Berkshire properties.

Joe Nicolla, president of Columbia Development Cos., which intends to buy the properties from a London-based owner, said the expense of the repairing the buildings is too great.

"These are well-intentioned people who are thinking with their hearts. The buildings are structurally unsound," he said. "Even if you spend the money, who is the ultimate tenant going to be who can pay that kind of rent?"

Holland said the suggestions were "not financially unrealistic." A developer could take some of the sting out of the cost by using federal and state historic preservation tax credits, as well as a federal tax deduction, said Holland, although she could not estimate how much those incentives might be worth.

City Development and Planning Commissioner Joe Rabito was blunt in his criticism of the foundation. "They put together a proposal in a vacuum with no considerations of the economics of a deal," he said.

This month, the Times Union reported that Columbia intends to buy the hotel, former Elks Lodge, Berkshire Hotel and two other buildings at 132-140 State St., as well as the hotel annex and another building at 64-67 Howard St, from Sebba Rockaway Ltd, which is owned by a prominent London real estate family.

Columbia plans an office tower of between 12 and 15 stories, with 250,000 square feet of office and street-level retail space, and includes a 400-space parking garage.

That news was welcomed by the administration of Mayor Jerry Jennings, which last year sued Sebba for $25 million for allowing the century-old hotel -- which is within sight of the Capitol and Albany City Hall -- to gradually fall apart.

For the last several years, the Wellington site was one of four being considered for a convention center and hotel complex by a newly created state authority. But in August, the authority selected a site near the Greyhound bus station off Broadway.

The city has been fighting with Sebba since August 2004, when State Street was closed because a piece of the building's roof facade looked ready to tumble onto the sidewalk.

Since then, Sebba has refused to pay the city $513,000 stemming from emergency repairs, which included wrapping parts of the 11-story building in high-strength sheathing to prevent loose bricks and glass from falling.

Also, Sebba is appealing a $489,000 fine imposed in City Court in December 2004 for a slew of building code violations, including broken windows, a rotted roof and falling bricks.

The city has asked the Empire State Development Corp., a funding arm of the governor's office, for a $2.5 million grant toward cleaning up lead paint, asbestos and other hazardous materials on the site, according to an application filed earlier this month.