Category Archives: Summer Construction

By Rod Bacon

The crews at Munter Enterprises are looking at a very busy year. The Middle Grove-based construction firm has numerous projects underway or nearing completion.

In Glens Falls, Munter is doing an $8 million renovation of the Glens Falls YMCA using a multiphase approach to help keep programming and use of the facility as seamless as possible for staff and members.

Phase one, which is underway with an anticipated completion date this fall, is the redesign of a family locker room, a women’s locker room and a men’s locker room.

Phase two will be a dedicated group fitness studio.

Phase three creates a multiuse indoor sports complex.

Phase four is a complete redesign of the wellness floor.

Phase five redesigns the front lobby, creates a youth STEAM area and includes a new cycle studio.

And somewhere in the mix of the other phases, the pool deck on the Fire Road side of the building will be expanded to include an on-deck restroom, sauna and hot tub.

By Paul Post

Tom Albrecht Sr. launched Hilltop Construction with a dollar and a dream.

Now marking its 50th anniversary, the firm is one of the area’s best-known residential and commercial builders, with projects from Saratoga to the southern Adirondacks and from Great Sacandaga Lake to Lake St. Catherine in Vermont.

But Albrecht says he never worked a day in his life.

“That’s because I loved the business, every aspect of it,” he said. “But more importantly, I loved building people’s dreams.”

A celebration for clients, current and former employees and business friends is planned for August at Hilltop’s new headquarters at 21 Casey Road in Queensbury’s Airport Industrial Park.

Albrecht and his wife, Cindy, recently celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. Now retired, they enjoy spending time with grandchildren and traveling, especially to major league ballparks across the country.

By Carol Ann Conover

Ballston Spa-based Hinman Construction, a family-run design-build firm, has built a growing share of its business around a demographic shift familiar to communities across the region: homeowners age 50 and older who want to remodel rather than move.

Nationally, 75% of adults age 50 and older say they want to remain in their current home as they age, according to AARP’s Home and Community Preferences Survey, and 73% of remodelers report increased client demand for aging-in-place features over the past five years, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Owner Kim Hinman said she sees that demand play out in a few distinct ways among her clients.

“I would say almost like three groups,” Kim Hinman said. One group built a large home within the past decade or so and later realized they wished they had a first-floor bedroom and bathroom, whether for an aging parent or for themselves as mobility needs change. A second group modifies existing space to make it work, converting a closet into a shower area or turning a dining room into a bedroom. A third group sells a larger house and hires Hinman Construction to fully renovate a smaller, existing home to suit their needs going forward.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Cerrone Builders Inc. is addressing continued demand for varied housing choices in Saratoga County and the North Country with smaller homes and maintenance-conscious options for buyers who may not be seeking a traditional subdivision with larger lots.

Following its success with The Village at Sweet Road off Northway Exit 19, Cerrone launched a similar maintenance-free community two years ago: The Village at Upper Sherman in Queensbury, said Steven Cerrone, one of the managing partners of the family-owned residential construction business.

“‘Upper Sherman’ has been very well received, with more than half of the 45 lots sold,” said Cerrone. “The first six builds are waiting on permits right now.”

“Two model homes have been sold, and we got a building permit last week to build another one,” he said.

While the newer development was intended to mimic the Sweet Road project, Cerrone said The Village at Upper Sherman has larger lots and appeals to a broader demographic than the anticipated market of people 55 and older and empty nesters.

By Paul Post

Hilltop Construction thrives in a challenging, competitive industry with a mix of commercial and custom home residential projects.

It’s a strategy the Queensbury-based firm has followed since its founding in 1976.

“We try to be diversified in what we do, which helps in different economic environments,” co-owner Dan Washburn said. “If the residential market is healthy and commercial isn’t, we’ve got the residential side to work with and vice versa. It makes it easier to adapt to ever-changing conditions that affect different industries.”

“Business is really good now on both sides,” he said. “We’ve got a solid workload into spring of 2025.”

This summer, Hilltop is doing everything from a ZZ Mobil Mart convenience store in Malta to a passive solar home in Brant Lake and a new Stewart’s Shop in Hoosick.

Washburn handles commercial projects while his brother-in-law, Tom Albrecht Jr., oversees residential development. Washburn, his wife, April (Treasurer/Office Manager), and Tom Jr.purchased Hilltop several years ago from its founders, Tom Albrecht Sr. and his wife Cindy.

Staff Writer

Munter Enterprises, based in Middle Grove, is a leading family-owned general contractor offering commercial, industrial, design-build, and project delivery services throughout the Capital Region.

Several large commercial and industrial projects are underway and progressing toward completion this year. One notable project is for Equal Vision Records, an independent record label based in Albany, New York, and MerchNow, their sister company, which produces wearables and promotional branded merchandise for bands and artists.

The recently purchased building is in Albany’s South End at 400 South Pearl St., where Munter Enterprises is implementing improvements to bring the building into code compliance for storage and racking requirements. The project includes interior modifications to the production and warehouse areas, as well as minor renovations of the office space. A unique aspect of the project is the addition of a 20×40 boiler room designed to house modern steam boilers essential for the production of vinyl records, which have seen a resurgence in popularity over the last decade.  

“I may be dating myself but I didn’t realize how the ‘record’ industry has rebounded and its actually very cool to understand what goes into to physically making a vinyl album,” said Michael Munter, vice president of Munter Enterprises.

“On a larger scale, we’re nearing the finish line on the Soleno project. They’ll be in full production by late August,” said Munter. 

by jill nagy

On a recent afternoon, Whitney Russell and his crew were rushing to get a roof on a new patio addition to the Sunnyside Par 3 golf course and restaurant in Queensbury, part of  a major upgrade to  the facility. 

When completed, the 16×66-foot patio, overlooking the golf course, will provide space for food, drinks, and occasional music.

A new post and beam building will also be added to the existing building. It will house five golf simulators and a new gift shop. Russell expects the simulators to encourage golfers to work on their game year-round. 

“Golf is a seasonal sport, that’s why they invented simulators,” he said. 

The plan is to have them up and running, in the new building, by Sept. 1. Russell purchased them from the Glens Falls office of About Golf, a national company. The manufacturers will also do the installation.

Russell and his son Garrett, who is the general manager, bought the business in 2019 and undertook major internal renovations before opening.  The Par 3 (nine holes) golf course has been in business since the 1940s, open mainly during the warm weather months. The Russells plan a year-round facility. 

They are also installing lights so that the course can be used from sun-up until 10:30 p.m.  Late players will still be able to get a drink on the new patio afterward but food service is scheduled to end at 8:30 p.m.

By Paul Post

A Key West luxury resort developer has found his own slice of paradise at a remote Adirondack lake beneath the shadow of Buck Mountain in West Fort Ann.

Pritam Singh recently purchased the 945-acre former Crossett Lake Scout Reservation from prominent Glens Falls businesswoman Elizabeth Miller for a reported $9.5 million cash.

“I’ve been looking for a lake like this for 30 to 40 years,” said Singh. “I was absolutely floored that it’s less than a two-hour drive from my house in South Woodstock (Vt.), and about three hours from New York and Boston. The clear, spring-fed lake has three islands, is 130 feet deep and its physical location and geography is quite unique because it’s so high up, a thousand feet above Lake George.” 

“And it’s surrounded by 13,000 acres of wild forest so it doesn’t have problems with salt and agricultural runoff or septic. It’s really like a hidden alpine valley,” he said. “Just amazing, idyllic. If a kid was going to draw a picture of paradise this is what he’d draw.”

The site, on the eastern edge of the Adirondack Park, will be strictly for family use as a seasonal getaway, Singh said.

 The sale, which closed on April 21, was brokered by Dan Davies of Queensbury-based Davies Davies & Associates.

“There was a lot of interest, but the biggest difference between Mr. Singh and other parties is that they wanted to do substantial development and he didn’t,” Davies said. “To run a project through the Adirondack Park Agency would be heavily scrutinized and take years. Mr. Singh is going to build houses for he and his kids and that’s basically it. I’ve sold in the Adirondacks for 35 years. This is literally a sanctuary from the world, but 15 minutes from the world (Glens Falls). That’s very, very rare.”

By Paul Post

 Gregg Singer and Larissa Ovitt have a vision for what some call the “street of dreams” in the city of Glens Falls.

South Street is called that because it’s a place where people with hope, hard work and some money could earn a slice of American pie.

 For many years, those aspirations gave way to a state of dismal decline evidenced by closed, boarded-up storefronts in several buildings. But now there are strong efforts to bring it back to life. Singer and Ovitt are contributing to the rebirth with an ambitious, multi-faceted business plan.

 In February, they purchased the building at 58-66 South St. for $325,000. A half-million dollars worth of upgrades later, three new first-floor enterprises are expected to open this summer, with four high-end apartments overhead for short-term rentals.

 “We’re sort of a South Street trailblazer by taking on this building and starting it up,” said Singer, a 56-year-old Brooklyn native. “What really attracted us was the upstairs. Glens Falls doesn’t have enough short-term accommodations for people and yet they’re trying to get people to come here. The city is excited that we’re bringing people into town where they’ll go to shops and restaurants, spend money here, maybe visit Lake George and Saratoga, but stay here and really enjoy the Glens Falls for what it is.”

By Jill nagy

RASP Inc., a company that designs and builds control panels, plans to add more warehouse and office space adjacent to its current buildings on a 30-acre campus in Moreau.

CEO Ron Richards said he sees the new construction as a plan for the future that will allow the company to hire additional people and seek more business.

 RASP currently has 34 employees, including engineers and panel builders. Most of them are panel builders, who are often hard to find. Richards said they prefer to hire people with some experience in electronics but, when necessary, they will train new people. Engineers, on the other hand, seem readily available.

“We have been hiring throughout this year,” Richards said, but they are running out of space to put the new employees.

The company builds control systems for other companies. Richards said the names of their customers are confidential, but include chemical companies, packaging companies, and a stone quarry.