By Maureen Werther
The former Native Textiles building in Glens Falls, which has stood vacant for the past 10 years, is under new ownership and has welcomed medical device maker AngioDynamics as the first tenant of the 116,000-square-foot facility.
Native Textiles was a significant employer in the Glens Falls region, supplying fabrics to active-wear and intimate apparel manufacturers. It employed approximately 85 people at the Native Drive location, and more employees at the nearby knitting mill on Warren Street, which also shut down.
The acquisition of the old textile mill was the result of a sustained effort on the part of EDC Warren County and commercial real estate broker Steven Borgos of Howard Hanna Realty to find a buyer for the property and position it to again contribute to the economic growth of the region.
The building is situated on a 33-acre parcel of land located off Carey Road, about a mile west of Northway Exit 18.
The property was purchased for $3.3 million by Native Development Associates LLC, of which Tim Barber, CEO of the JAG Group, is a partner. He and several other investors decided the property was a solid investment opportunity. They became interested in it once the facility was re-zoned. It had originally been classified as a single-use space.
The re-zoning change to allow a multi-use facility made the property more attractive. Barber said they have the flexibility to easily divide the space according to the individual needs of future tenants.
The building is approved for uses including construction, manufacturing, distribution and warehousing, and office space.
While there had been some vandalism to the property over the years, Barber said getting the facility back up to meet codes was limited to replacing the exterior LED lighting, re-doing the fire control system and upgrading garage doors and loading docks.
He and his partners think that the property is a “real gem” and they are optimistic about working with Borgos to lease the rest of the facility.
“He [Borgos] already has a couple of hot prospects,” said Barber, noting it is still too early to discuss any other potential new tenants.
He said the facility will be a catalyst for future employment opportunities in the area, although he said it is not possible at this point to give any estimates of new jobs.
AngioDynamics will use the 19,000 square feet of space it has leased in the building as a storage warehouse. According to Juan Semanate, AngioDynamics global supply chain director, “for us, this is part of our outward expansion.”