By R.J. DeLuke
A considerable undertaking by Glen Street Associates in downtown Glens Falls will add some new luxury apartments to the hub of the city while helping the city’s continuing efforts to revitalize.
Peter Hoffman , president, of Glen Street Associates said some $4 million has been invested in renovating the four-story structure at 21 Bay Street. Gutting the interior started recently and crews will be busy for some time, trying to get the first-floor commercial/office space section available by early June.
“It’s going to be a beehive” of activity, said Hoffman, overseeing operations with the assistance of wife Suzanne, company vice president. “We’re really excited about it. The 21 Bay Street project is a huge undertaking that will result in 37 luxury apartments in the stories above the ground-level commercial space. Many will have a view of Glen Falls City Park.
Hoffman also purchased the adjacent property at 14 Maple St. That will be renovated in the same fashion, commercial at street level and apartments above, and is considered part of the same project, Hoffman noted, even though it will look slightly different and separate.
He said his company has already been leasing sections of the 12,000 square feet of commercial space.
“The building is quite old,” he said, calling it a 1927 neo-classical structure. “There’s a lot of work involved.”
Hoffman started the purchase process last October and closed on the structure not long before Christmas.
21 Bay Street is the historic Rogers Building. The smaller Maple Avenue structure started out as a Montgomery Ward store decades ago, then was a Sears store and was later owned by National Grid.
The buildings were vacant and in poor condition. The Glens Falls Industrial Development Agency on Thursday authorized an extended 15-year tax abatement plan for the project. Hoffman lauded the cooperation with the Mayor’s Office and local economic development officials in helping the project, as well as contributing to the appeal of the downtown with improved infrastructure projects, an addition to the Crandall Public Library, installing traffic roundabouts and other amenities.
“We thrive off that,” he noted.
“What we found is that there’s a shortage of apartment space in downtown areas,” Hoffman said. “If someone wants to retire and live downtown, it’s not easy. There’s a woeful shortage.”
It’s not enough to build up businesses in the center of a city, he said. For downtowns to thrive and be active, “they need people living there. They need people calling it ‘home.'” He added there was a shortage of commercial space as well, and his company tries to address that situation as well. And that calls for renovation of structures that have been vacant and gone into disrepair.
“We don’t take C and D class properties and paint them and put them back on the market,” said Hoffman. “We go after it, we renovate it. We bring it back to strength.” That’s what leads to revitalization.
Those interested in commercial space or apartments can contact Glen Street associates at 743-8666. The company website is www.glenstreetassociates.com.