(Credit: Courtesy Binley's Facebook page, 2023)
Wally Hirsch has sold Binley Florist and its property to a Syracuse-based hospitality company. The store will remain, but the new owners did not outline a plan for the greenhouses.
Hospitality Syracuse, Inc., on Tuesday purchased the 7.18-acre Binley Florist at the busy Queensbury intersection of Quaker Road and Dix Avenue.
Binley’s owner Wally Hirsch told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com that he sold both the 7.18-acre Binley’s property at 773 Quaker Road, and the 130-year-old business itself, to the Liverpool, N.Y.-based real estate company.
The property sits next door to a Dunkin’ Donuts on Dix Ave. Hospitality Syracuse plans to build a Taco Bell restaurant near that Dunkin Donuts. The Binley Florist will stay on site.
The property was listed for $1.499-million by Tia Tucciarone at Tia Sells at Keller Williams of Saratoga.
Hospitality Syracuse’s Mike McCracken confirmed that the closing on the property was today, Tuesday morning, Feb. 7.
“Money is being wired as we speak,” he said. He declined to disclose the purchase price, saying it was a complicated transaction because it also included buying the business.
McCracken said that Hospitality Syracuse in turn sold the florist business to longtime Binley’s general manager Tami Field, and her husband David, who will lease the current space from Syracuse Hospitality.
“She was not interested in the growing operation. I think they will do something else with the greenhouse area,” Hirsch said.
Under Field, “Binley's will continue at the same location with the possibility of future relocation,” a press release said.
Syracuse Hospitality, Inc., go before the Queensbury Planning Board on Feb. 21 with their plans, which have been in the works for almost a year, according to McCracken.
They propose subdividing a 1.35-acre parcel for the 40-seat Taco Bell restaurant and drive-through.
Hospitality Syracuse, part of the Hospitality Restaurant Group, operates more than 100 Taco Bell restaurants in six states, including two existing Taco Bells off Exit 18, and on Upper Glen Street, in Queensbury.
Binley's has been in operation since 1893. Hirsch’s father, Alexander, started working at Binley’s in 1933 and bought the business in the 1940s, he said in the press release. It was originally on Grant Avenue in Glens Falls, with a retail market downtown, before moving to the current location in 1978.
“I want to thank all of our loyal customers who have supported us throughout these many years,” Hirsch wrote in the release. “I appreciate the trust placed in us to mark and highlight the events in your lives and for brightening your homes with the plants and flowers we grew.
“I am grateful for the opportunities you have afforded us to participate in the important moments of your lives. I am humbled by the number of life-long friendships I have developed through my business. It has been a privilege to be a member of the business community in both Glens Falls and Queensbury for over 60 years.”
Longtime designer Kathy Clark, who has worked at Binley’s for 24 years, is also staying on, assisted by Shaylene Stewart and Sydney O’Leary, Hirsch said.