Joe Gross plans 400 ‘affordable’ apartments geared to families, off Exit 21 in LG

CHRONICLE SCOOP • Zander Frost writes: Joe Gross, owner of Gross Electric, seeks to build 400 apartment units geared to families at the site of the former Ramada Inn on Route 9N, just off of Exit 21 in Lake George. He owns the property.

He told The Chronicle his plan is to make a “beautiful complex” of 1- 2- and 3-bedroom apartments and townhouses.

He said they considered a variety of options for the roughly 31-acre property, including a hotel. “I don’t think it’s necessary, there’s enough hotels in Lake George,” he said.

“So I did some research, and what they are short on is housing, affordable for families and children.”

Mr. Gross said, “Apartments render affordable living to families trying to raise their  family. They’re not quite there, ready to buy a house all the time.”

He noted, “My parents never owned a home. My father moved us 19 times. We never thought we were poor, because we were all poor, and we all had nothing, right? Now, you look back, I guess we were pretty poor. We ate macaroni every night, but we always ate, so we had no problem.”

Mr. Gross says, “This should be a profitable project, but…that’s not our driving force. Our driving force is to do something that’s really good for the community….

“I’ve been very successful managing Gross Electric. We’re the largest industrial electrical contractor in the Capital District. It’s been very good to me and my family…I sometimes have to pinch myself because I’m getting to live on the lake — a kid from Hudson Falls. I grew up on John Street.”

Mr. Gross said, “Here I am in Lake George, and I could just sit back and do nothing, but I’d like to leave a legacy in Lake George, to be somebody that helps.”

“You’re not judged on what you have, but you’re judged on what you do in life,” Mr. Gross said. “It sounds all corny and sappy, like who is this guy? But it’s true.”

The plan goes before the Lake George Planning Board on March 11.

Mr. Gross said he’s concerned about declining school class sizes locally. He thinks these apartments can help.

Not only is Lake George “gorgeous,” he said, but “the school district is very well known for their elementary school academics….People would come from afar…just so their kids could go to Lake George school.

“But unfortunately, the housing market has become so expensive, it’s very difficult for the average working person to buy a home in Lake George.”

The property will “come up the existing driveway” that “loops up and around.”

“I think it’s going to be gorgeous. A lot of the apartments would have lake views.”

He anticipates “parents that work north of there could live there, and parents that work south of there —  it’s very commutable being right off exit 21.”

He said he hopes to connect the apartments to the sidewalks on Route 9 so “that anybody living there could walk downtown.”

Mr. Gross said he’s already taken many steps to get to this point.

He said he did engineering reports and an archaeological survey that he says found no artifacts He razed the hotel, which was  in disrepair, in part due to vandalism.

Ultimately, he says, “it was about liability. I had to get the thing torn down.”

“There is town sewer right to the property. It does require the extension of the Lake George Water District to accommodate fire suppression of the buildings.”