BY JILL NAGY
“Maybe I have a charmed life,” mused
Suzanne Hoffman, co-owner with her husband
of Glen Street Associates, a real estate
development and management firm, but she
has found no particular challenges deriving
from the fact that she is a woman in a largely
male business.
“If the challenges are there, maybe I don’t
acknowledge them. I just blow through it. If
you don’t make it a problem, it isn’t one.” she
said. Of course, before she and her husband
formed Glen Street Associates, she was a
New York State Trooper for eight years–and
raised four children, the youngest of whom
is now a junior in college.
Like many women at her stage in life,
Hoffman revels in having the freedom to devote
more of her energies to her career now
that her children are grown. “Other women
out there are balancing a lot of balls,” she
reflected.
Glens Falls is also at a good stage of its
life, she noted. “It’s good to see people living
in downtown Glens Falls. It brings a new
vibrancy to the community.” Along with more people living downtown, have come restaurants
and other businesses to cater to them.
Glen Street Associates is a major player in that renaissance, rehabbing old buildings
for new living and commercial spaces. Their
first project was the Water Tower Village
apartments in South Glens Falls, which they
brought onto the market in 2001. Today, they
own and/or manage 11 buildings in Glens
Falls, South Glens Falls and Hudson Falls.
Most combine apartments with retail and
office space.
The old post office building on Warren
Street in Glens Falls is a major current project.
The building was built in 1915 and was
vacant for several years before Glen Street
Associates took it in hand to rehabilitate for
commercial and office space.
Hoffman, who is vice president of the
company, and her husband divide the work.
She looks after the day to day operations and
“Peter enjoys development,” she said. They
also rely upon a good office staff to assist.
Working with a spouse can have its problems,
she admitted, “but, when it works, it’s
the most wonderful thing in the world.”
Before forming their company, in 2004, the
Hoffmans had a restaurant and a car wash,
both in Clifton Park. Her husband sold the
restaurant in 2001 and the car wash, soon
after that. They still live in Clifton Park,
but the focus of their work has been further
north.
The company’s website is http://www.glenstreetassociates.com.
Photo by Todd Bissonette Photography