Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
The Chronicle’s Ben Westcott reports: The Glens Falls Planning Board at its April 2 meeting tabled Morris Friedman’s plan to convert the former Post-Star building on Lawrence Street into a 33 unit two-story apartment building.
Eric Unkauf, owner of the Shirt Factory building across the street, argued that the proposed upper story facade would clash with the neighborhood aesthetic.
“Basically on top of this brick building we’re going to add this tin,” he said in the public comment portion of the meeting.
“I understand things cost money. I understand it’s the cheapest way to go probably. But it doesn’t necessarily mean from an architectural point of view that it’s the best way to go.
“That view from Cooper Street is going to look super disjointed.”
“I don’t have any problem with them putting in apartments, or adding an extra floor,” Mr. Unkauf said. “The problem I have is that they spent a lot of time and effort back when they built that original brick building for it to blend into the other buildings in the neighborhood.”
He suggested the developers use stucco that can be made to look like brick to blend in “in a much better way.”
“You’re not going to be able to tell from the ground, but at least it will look like it was supposed to be there,” he said.
Project architect Dan Sanders seemed amenable to Mr. Unkauf’s suggestions. “I appreciate your response,” he said. “We have looked at a couple of things. We’re not married to this. We’ll look at some other options…In terms of another material, we can review that.”
Speaking to The Chronicle after the meeting, Mr. Sanders said the $500,000 projected cost in the application materials was wrong. He guessed it would actually cost somewhere around $3 million, but no precise figure had been arrived at yet.
The plan goes before the Planning Board again on May 7.
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