GF will reveal farmers’ market design, Aug. 13

By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor

The City of Glens Falls will unveil the design of its South Street $6.5-million year-round farmers’ market at a public presentation on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 5:30 p.m., at Crandall Library.

“It’s exciting,” said economic development director Ed Bartholomew. “I think you’ll like the design of the building. It’s a good look, and it will fit into the new South Street look.”

He said there will be a PowerPoint presentation and Mayor Dan Hall’s unveiling of the long-awaited plan.

The Saratoga-based LA Group Landscape Architecture & Engineering P.C. has the contract for the building. Mr. Bartholomew said JMZ Architects of Glens Falls “were retained by the City and the LA Group” to work on a conceptual design of the farmer’s market. JMZ principal Tenée Casaccio said the contract stipulates that all comments come from City officials.

Mr. Bartholomew said, “The work for JMZ will be approximately $52,000 for schematic concepts for the Market, along with working on the 45 South Street and 36 Elm Street buildings for adaptive re-use criteria and submittal to the State Office of Historic Preservation for review, comments and amendments to the re-use.”

‘14 Hudson’ look at current market

“The Market on South Street” will be situated where the former OTB parlor building is now. The City of Glens Falls will own and operate the Market building.

The current farmer’s market on the city-owned parking lot between the former Sandy’s Clam Bar building and New Way Lunch will give way to a proposed 400-car parking garage behind a four-story mixed-use building that will have offices and apartments on the upper floors and retail on the first floor.

Mr. Bartholomew calls it a “smaller version of 14 Hudson,” developer Sonny Bonacio’s mixed-use project next to Glens Falls Hospital. (Mr. Bonacio owns the former Sandy’s building, and says he’s still mulling what to do with it.)

Meanwhile, at the new farmers’ market, two buildings will be redeveloped and connected to it. They are the former Hotshots building at the corner of South and Elm, and the long-vacant white building on Elm once envisioned as a business incubator.

Mr. Bartholomew says those two City-owned buildings are both historically significant and useful. He envisions the incubator building redeveloped with a commercial kitchen and rest rooms on the first floor, and possibly offices and apartments on the upper floors.

“Five to 10 developers” have expressed interested in redeveloping the Hotshots and incubator buildings and the new mixed-use market,” Mr. Bartholomew said. They can propose to use a portion of the properties or all of them.

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