Courtesy: Susan Sikule (2020)
Dr. Susan Sikule, owner of the Just Cats veterinarian clinic, stands with a cat statue in Catskill, N.Y.
Just Cats owner Dr. Susan Sikule admits that she is a risk taker.
In 1994, the veterinarian not only opened her practice, Just Cats, in Guilderland, but in an interview she recalled her mother's concerns: “Susan, you’re starting your practice and eliminating half of your patients.” That is, the practice doesn’t take dogs. It’s a niche.
That is how she is thinking of her decision to develop a mixed-use building at the corner of Route 9 and Driscoll Road in Saratoga Springs, just south of the Saratoga Spa State Park. As a mixed use building, it’s a bit of niche itself, she said. And the endeavor is a bit of a risk.
This is the first time that she has developed property. The decision to do so came after her second office, the one on Route 9 in Saratoga Springs, became too small for her growing practice, she said. She had opened that office seven years ago.
“I guess I am a risk taker,” she said.
She said she loved the Saratoga area and its energy and, as she looked to expand, she finally settled on an undeveloped parcel of land just south of the current office.
The building is in the planning phase. According to plans with the Saratoga Springs Planning Board the building will have seven apartments on the second floor and three retail spaces on the first floor, the largest reserved for the veterinarian’s office.
The parcel of land is wooded but also has some wetlands that planners were trying to protect at the Dec. 10 Planning Board meeting.
Luigi Palleschi, with ABD Engineers, said the plans call for catch basins around the parking lots that will move the water to a stormwater management area. Walls around the garbage dumpsters and special curbs around the parking lots are designed to help manage water and runoff.
The building overall is about 22,000 square feet with about 37,000 square feet of surface parking on 5.95 acres.
Sikule said it has been a bit stressful, but she’s feeling positive.
She’s working with a team that includes 3T Architects and ABD engineers. “It’s been, as always, a learning curve and then a process,” she said, adding, “We meet weekly.”
The board was happy with the changes to the parking lot and position of the building that have come in various drafts.
“I think we’re collectively, as a board, feeling pretty good” about this plan, said Mark Torpey, the board’s chair during the meeting.
The plans will move on to environmental issues, Design Review Committee and zoning even as the board continues to see site plans.
Having the building house both retail on the first floor and seven apartments on the second floor allows for a couple revenue streams to make the venture financially viable, Sikule said.
Plus, she gets to move in upstairs, so she’ll be a tenant twice in her own building, which is an advantage on snowy days like today. There is no set date for the building to open, and Sikule is now looking toward possible tenants.
Just Cats offers services ranging from preventative care and x-rays to prescriptions and telemedicine.