Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Developer Sonny Bonacio’s team has started work on renovating the former Sandy’s Clam Bar, Hot Shots and “incubator” buildings at South and Elm Streets, key components of Glens Falls’s $10-million Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
“What you’re seeing,” Bonacio spokesperson Larry Novik told The Chronicle, “is the beginning of Phase One, the Sandy’s building, which is 41 South Street, the former Hot Shots building at 45 South Street, and 36 Elm.
“All three of those buildings will be renovated more or less at the same time over the next 12 to 14 months.
Project manager Steve Liciardi added, “You know the condition of those buildings. There’s quite a bit of reconstruction that’s going to be required. Safe to say, they will, in the end, be historically renovated buildings with a new lease on a long life, with selective demo.”
Mr. Novik said, “We would never use the word ‘gut,’ because they don’t allow you to do that.”
Mr. Liciardi notes, “These are historic tax credit projects. We have to work very carefully under SHPA guidelines,” referring to the State Historic Preservation Act, pronounced like ship-ah.
He says, “That means, in many cases, we are actually saving and restoring historic components of the buildings.”
“They’re all in somewhat rough condition,” he said of the three buildings. “They all have their unique challenges, which we are making our way through.
“None of it is good right now but getting cleaned up very quickly. We’re just thrilled to get the plywood off the windows and get some air and light in there, and start to remove some of the wear and tear that’s been over the years.”
Mr. Novik said, “Bonacio Construction has a long history of historic restoration. We love the history of the buildings. We love the mass and scale of the buildings.
“The condition of these buildings is absolutely a handful. It’s a good challenge, but in terms of the overall scale of the project, we’ve done much bigger.”
He said, “There’s a lot of beautiful elements that we’re excited to save. Now that the light is shining in, the windows open. There’s a lot of original hardware and trim work that’s being exposed.”
Mr. Novik said of 36 Elm, the so-called Incubator building, “In a way, it will be the most exciting, because those windows have been boarded up for so long.
“The day the new windows go in, I think everybody’s gonna be like, Holy Moly, that’s a real building there!”
Mr. Liciardi added that because of SHPA, “we’re keeping the historic window sizes. Those pieces of plywood are the same size as what the windows will ultimately be, and they’ll be replaced with brand new windows.”
No commercial tenants signed yet
Mr. Novik reiterates the first floor of 36 Elm is promised to the City, in conjunction with its Market Center project. “That is the only tenant so far that we have.”
He said, “It would be much too early to talk to residential tenants. There are a total of 18 residential units in the three buildings.
“We will start marketing those probably six to eight months before we open.
“The two remaining commercial spaces are approximately 1,600 square feet in the first floor of what was Hot Shots…and about 2,300 square feet in the Sandy’s space.
“We are very interested in speaking to interested parties at this point, because, for commercial tenants, we would love the opportunity to custom build the required infrastructure for a commercial tenant. We imagine those being restaurants, but we’re open to any viable use.”
Mr. Novik said, “Once we’re fully under construction with our crews, I think probably the average daily number (of crew on site) will start around a dozen to 20. At the peak of the project, it’ll be even more than that.”
He noted, “I started working on this many, many years ago — with (the late) Ed Bartholomew, actually.
“I’m just excited when a project like this finally comes to fruition and the impact that it has on downtowns,” said Mr. Novik. “A lot of the work we’ve done in Saratoga [Mr. Bonacio’s home] was more about that overall impact on the dynamics of a downtown. So we’re excited to be part of that.”
Phase Two of the Bonacio project is the planned five-story, 70-unit building facing Elm Street, and the attached mixed-use residential and commercial building facing South Street — incorporating the present Farmers Market site and adjacent current parking lot.
Mr. Novik said, “We’re working diligently with the State on the fairly complex process of preparing for the closure of the Low Income Housing Tax Credits.”
The abbreviation is LIHTC, and the acronym is pronounced lye-tech.
Sandy’s Clam Bar sign saved; future unknown
The Chronicle asked Larry Novik, spokesperson for Sonny Bonacio, what will become of the Sandy’s Clam Bar sign that adorned the 41 South Street building that Mr. Bonacio now owns?
“We know it’s important to people,” Mr. Novik says, “and we are reserving it. We’re not sure what we’re doing with it yet, so no firm answer yet.” — Cathy DeDe
GF Mayor: South St. parking lot could close as soon as Jan.
Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy DeDe writes: Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins tells The Chronicle that Sonny Bonacio’s Spring City Development will likely begin using the parking lot under the Farmers Market pavilion on South Street “somewhere between January and, say, March.”
Bonacio purchased the parking lot from the City of Glens Falls in 2023 for $255,00, for Phase Two of the developer’s DRI-related projects.
The City has been leasing the lot back from Bonacio for $1 a year, to use for public parking and for the weekly Farmers Market, May to November.
That lease is up in January. Mayor Collins said he expects Bonacio will need to use the property soon after, as the South and Elm St. projects continue.
The lot has “about 100 spaces,” Mayor Collins estimates. Those behind the former Sandy’s Clam Bar have already been blocked off “for months,” since Bonacio began work on Phase One.
The Mayor says he’d hoped the City-built Market Center on South Street in the former OTB space would be completed by January 1, but it’s looking more like “some time in the spring” — “definitely in time for the Farmers Market” to return from its winter location at Aviation Mall, he said.
Bonacio now also owns the farmers market pavilion, Mayor Collins said. “They would be happy to have anybody who wants to come and get it. They don’t need it. I think it’s going to be knocked down, just because I don’t think anybody can handle it. Even to move it is 100s of 1,000s of dollars.”
The separate lot just west of the Farmers Market, away from South Street, is owned separately by Glens Falls National Bank, used for employee parking.
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