People involved in commercial real estate and development in and around Glens Falls feel that the market is on the uptick.
The recent $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award the city received is just one factor–albeit a large and important one–in the continued momentum the city and surrounding areas are enjoying.
Peter Hoffman, whose company Glen Street Associates has been buying and rehabbing old historic buildings in the city since 2001, said that Glens Falls didn’t get “a whole lot of mileage” during its urban renewal phase. But it seems to be making up for it now.
“When we first started buying and re-gentrifying buildings, we looked all over the Capital District, and we decided upon Glens Falls because the people are supportive and there is great inventory,” he said, referring to the historic buildings located throughout the city. “Glens Falls has great value. You can buy property, renovate it, attract tenants and be profitable.”
R. Mark Levack, of Levack Real Estate in Glens Falls, said there is a healthy demand for commercial property in Glens Falls. He said that while the economy is still “soft,” he believes that Glens Falls is outpacing other parts of the region. He is currently working with a national developer on potential projects.
“I’m excited to see that Glens Falls is getting national attention,” said Levack.
Angela Cugini of Realty USA in Queensbury, said the infusion of money from the revitalization initiative is creating lots of opportunity and interest, and the city is beginning to attract higher-end restaurants, boutiques and other retail businesses to its growing downtown area.
“I am currently working with four outside investors from Florida to New York City, who are looking at Glens Falls strictly for investment purposes,” said Cugini.
She added that the general mindset is that Glens Falls is on an upward swing and she believes that, over the next 10 years, the city will be a “very desirable downtown that will bring in more people who want to spend money.”
Hoffman said that, increasingly, people who work in and around Saratoga Springs are coming into the downtown area to live.
“We currently have 155 apartment units that are completely full, and we are adding another 10. Our apartments are more affordable and they’re nicer than what people can get in Saratoga Springs for the same amount of money. The 80 units that Bonacio and Galesi are building [in downtown Glens Falls]will continue to attract more people here. Many people, especially millennials, don’t want to be in suburbia.”
When that project is complete, it will add 80 more families to a 3.5-square-mile city. “We see more and more retailers inching into the city because of that,” he said.
Glen Street Associates has 60 commercial tenants located throughout the city, and they are nearing completion of the Smith Flats building located on the corner of Bay and Washington Streets. The project will contain professional office space, which has already been leased by Edward Jones Financial, as well as apartments.
He said Glens Falls has approximately 250,000 square feet of office space, 95 percent of which is full. “There is significantly more demand than there is available product at this time.”
Cugini said she sees adjacent Queensbury as attracting more “big box” retailers and at this point there is still more supply than demand.
In the 22 years she has lived and worked in Glens Falls, she has seen it come a long way.
According to Levack, the challenge going forward is making sure to leverage the $10 million grant in a way that will work best for the city in the long term.
“It’s very easy to spend $10 million when you’re talking about commercial development,” he said. “We need to attract more businesses that will add to the city’s tax base. At this point, between 30 percent and 40 percent of our commercial properties are tax exempt.”
Hoffman agreed with that figure, adding, “You have to balance that out by considering the large number of people employed by those tax-exempt entities. They bring people into the city to live and to spend their money. Would the retailers be here without all of the tenants and the people being employed by these large organizations?”