Steve Thurston (2021)
Ruth Horton, left, asks a question about a planned building at 269 S. Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Horton is a member of the Saratoga Springs Planning Board.
The newest Saratoga Springs Planning Board members appeared split on the overall design of the mixed use (office and dining/retail) building at 269 S. Broadway, with one saying it lacked a historic nature and the other saying the design changes the architects have made improve the overall plan. One nonboard member spoke during a brief public hearing; she was against the project.
Michael Toohey, a lawyer representing the owner and developer Prime Group Holdings of Saratoga Springs, spent about 30 minutes explaining to the board that the building’s mass and scale was not that odd with the surrounding area and pointing out the many buildings within a quarter mile that were of similar size and of contemporary design. Six buildings were highlighted.
He argued, as well, that the building covered just 69% of the lot, much less than many large buildings in the area.
The mass and scale had been a concern during previous meetings. The property sits on S. Broadway, near Congress Park, and just south of the Saratoga Springs Visitor’s Center. It is north of the St. Peter’s Catholic High School. The building’s front is on Broadway, and it extends to Hamilton Street at the rear.
[Read more about this property here.]
Michael Roman of C2 Design Group of Schenectady said the architects had added more balconies, even though the building is primarily an office building, had pulled back the upper floors on the Hamilton Street side. They cut holes in the roof over top-floor balconies. On the Broadway side, they pushed back the middle section of the upper floors. The changes took away some of the boxiness of the original plan.
“That started to break-up the mass,” Roman said.
The architects also replaced what had been light colored supports along the outside of the building with darker material, and the open, 2,500 square foot civic space that the developer is giving as an easement to the city, includes sitting spaces. The walkway that is part of the easement and runs from Broadway to Hamilton Street is kept away from the parking lot on the site and offers wheelchair access to the building through a side door. These changes were responses to earlier discussions.
New Planning Board member Shawna Jenks said, “It’s congruent with the other buildings going up in town.”
Ruth Horton agreed. “I do appreciate the evolution of this building,” she said.
Mark Torpey, the chair of the group, reminded everyone that the State Historic Preservation Office said the building will have “No Adverse Impact” to historical and cultural resources in the area.
“I think we need to be open to that, personally,” Torpey said.
Al Dal Pos, another new board member, however, said the mass of the building was less concerning to him than the contemporary design, being as close as it is to Saratoga Springs’ Victorian downtown. With all the metal and glass, it does not look like many other nearby buildings, he said.
All of the building operations--such as garbage pick up and restaurant deliveries--would occur on the Hamilton side of the building, and this gave some on the board pause as they questioned how much traffic with large trucks would be concentrated there.
Kathleen Sonnabend spoke against the project during public comment. She lives across the street in a building that Toohey used as an example of a large building that already exists in the area.
She reminded the board that the Saratoga Spring Preservation Committee had many misgivings about the size and design of the building.
Sonnabend wondered about the construction of the parking garage below the building and if it would have enough spaces ane would be redirecting water to the basements of nearby buildings. She wondered if the walkway being built would be used as there are other ways to walk from Broadway to Hamilton.
She and another person in the audience worried about school buses, cars and pedestrian traffic mixing during the school’s drop-off and pick-up times on Hamilton Street.
Mostly, she brought up what others have been concerned about: the front of the building on Broadway is sunken below the sidewalk by a few steps. To break up that area, the building has low walls and planters. Not only is this less friendly to pedestrians on Broadway, it will create spaces that homeless people may use as sleeping areas, she said.
Prime Group is the primary developer as the property will be the headquarters to the publicly-traded self-storage company.
The planning board is waiting on paperwork from a couple offices before moving into the environmental impact discussion of the building.