Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
The Argyle Town Board hopes to purchase the Saunders Transmission building on Route 197 for new town offices.
The property is listed for $800,000 with Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate.
“We’re actively involved in negotiations,” Town Supervisor Robert Henke tells The Chronicle. “I would like to get this done within the coming fiscal year, for sure.”
Owner Rodney Saunders “hasn’t done well trying to find a business to come in there,” Mr. Henke said. “And, you know, our town hall is really in pretty sad shape.
“We were looking for something with some parking, on one floor, where we could put in some actual ADA-compliant bathrooms and things.”
He said, “We aren’t too far down the road. The Board is in favor, but there’s a whole bunch of hoops you’ve got to jump through,” including a permissive referendum, likely issuing a Bond Anticipation Note, environmental impact studies, “and all kinds of things.”
“I think it’s a viable project. I think it’ll go forward. It’s just in its infancy right now.”
Mr. Henke describes the current town hall on Main Street as “a 100-and-some-year-old brick building.”
He says, “With all the interior brick walls, it’s hard to get anything in compliance with new regulations.
“We’re also running out of space.
“The court’s getting more and more busy, and trying to shoehorn the bookkeeper, the assessor and everybody else into those couple little office spaces is not really working.
“The (Saunders) building is perfect. In addition to having plenty of room for the town hall, court and all that, it’s also got garage space.
“That will get a lot of our highway equipment, small stuff that now sits out over the winter — tractors and loaders and things — they can be stored indoors, so we aren’t having issues with them deteriorating. So, it’s kind of a win, win.”
“It certainly could go south at any time,” Mr. Henke says of the deal, “but it looks like a very good fit for both of us.”
It was during a meeting he missed, Mr. Henke says, that Board members suggested the property for the town.
“Everybody seemed to think it was a pretty good idea on both ends,” he says.
“I make a lot of jokes about the one time I missed the board meeting, for the first time in my history, and they decide to buy a building.”
About the Saunders building
Saunders Transmission was founded in 1963. Its current building was constructed in 1989 and renovated in 2003, said the Coldwell Banker Commercial listing.
It’s a one-story, 6,156 square-foot metal Morton clear span building with six bays, “large office space, storage space and parts room,” says the listing.
The 2.48-acre property includes a “large paved parking lot” with 25 spaces.
Mr. Henke said the property was originally listed for $1 million.
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