(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2021)
The Sandy's Clam Bar building at the corner of South and Elm streets is now slated for renovation as part of the Downtown Revitalization plan. (File photo.)
South Street is one step closer to being revitalized as the City of Glens Falls works out the final details with Saratoga developer Sonny Bonacio.
Mayor Bill Collins told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com that the Market Square Center proposal is “moving forward,” with Bonacio agreeing to buy the incubator building and the Hot Shots building for their combined assessed value of $395,000, and also telling city leaders he will renovate the Sandy’s building as part of Phase One of the “Street of Dreams” redevelopment.
Phase Two is still in negotiations with Bonacio, but Collins said it would likely include a three-story mixed-use building on South Street between Sandy’s and New Way Lunch, and a larger apartment building with 50-80 apartments behind that in what is now the pavilion space.
The apartment building’s details had not previously been disclosed.
“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Collins told FoothillsBusinessDaily.com Monday. “The whole project is $28-million in private and public investment in six buildings, seven if you count the parking garage on Elm Street we plan to build.”
The City was awarded a $10-million state grant to reimagine South Street, but work has been delayed by the death of Ed Bartholomew and supply-chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The parking garage was originally envisioned for what is now the apartment building space, but the City has since pivoted, with state approval, and is now looking to build a multi-level parking garage on the current Elm Street surface parking lot behind The Bullpen bar and Glens Falls National buildings.
[Read our coverage of South Street and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative here. We have quite a bit; it is worth a look.]
“Just five years ago when we built a parking garage over by the Civic Center, it was $8-million,” Collins said. “That same parking garage right now is $12-million. We are hoping that while we are working on Phase One the prices might come down.”
The final design for the Market Square Center building isn’t done yet, but Collins described it as “part building, part pavilion. It’s a multi-use venue that can be used for entertainment. There’s a stage area, there’s plenty of open space for vendors. Ideas for it started large, but pandemic-related price increases forced the city to reevaluate and pare back the design.
“In the summer, the vendors will be half inside and half outside. In the winter, we’re either going to draw curtains or the architect is looking for walls that are moveable so it can meet our needs. It needs to be a multi-use venue space as much as it needs to be anything.
“One of the major events will be the Glens Falls farmers’ market but that’s only eight hours a weekend. It also needs to be openable so we can use it for music events, food events. The venue is tied conceptually to the incubator building now. That building is 5,000 square feet of space that will have a community kitchen and open space where vendors can be in there.”
Collins said he envisions a revitalized South Street, with the Market Square Center being the hub.
“The building will meet the needs of the farmers’ market but also be used year-round by the City. I can envision five week of a Christmas Market instead of us putting tents up in City Park. In the summer, I can see turning Taste of the North County into a bigger event. Maybe we bring in Rachael Ray and have a food festival that runs up and down South Street.
“I’m hoping to build on the events Glens Falls currently has, to make them bigger and more attractive to larger groups of people from out of the region. I want the farmers’ market folks to be welcome in the space.”
Collins said he hopes to have a press conference in the coming weeks to reveal design details.