Market Center: Mayor says you’ll be ‘so happy’ but some still balk

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

The City of Glens Falls held a public information meeting about its planned Market Center on Thursday evening, Sept. 29, at the Queensbury Hotel.

At the podium were Mayor Bill Collins, Economic Development Director Jeff Flagg, Tourism/Business Director Amy Collins and Community Development director Patrick Dowd.

The self-titled “growth and prosperity team” promised, “You are going to be so happy about this when it’s done.”

There remained doubters.

“This has got way too many what-ifs,” said Glens Falls Farmers’ Market Association president Tom Wells of Pleasant Valley Apiary. “To put money into a building that doesn’t really fit the needs of the Farmers’ Market and its customers doesn’t make sense.”

He said, “The parking you are showing is quite a long way for people to walk. If you have 20,000 people coming to events, like you say, with the parking you’re going to have an issue anyway.”

He said it’s not workable that 44 vendors who show up at the same time to unload their produce will then have to leave and find parking somewhere.

Market vendors said they received more than 300 signatures over two market days on a petition decrying the current plan. “We have very loyal customers.”

One speaker urged the Farmers Market supporters to see the benefits.

“Every small town Farmers’ Market is out in a field somewhere. I don’t know another market that is in its own building,” he said. “It has to be kept in some perspective, the trends of real estate in the heart of the City.”

The birch leaf-shaped, semi-open-air Market Center is to go up on the lot where the OTB and Juicin’ Jar buildings were.

It’s planned to accommodate community events and festivals as well as the Saturday Farmers Market.

Farmers ‘anchor tenant,’ but more…

Mayor Collins said, “The farmers’ market will be an anchor tenant, but also we want the building to be an anchor for events in the city. You have to be accommodating because the building has to be commercially viable. One big event can pay for a month of heating the building.”

That includes being willing to shift locations sometimes, he said.

The mayor suggested car shows, ex panding the LARAC June Arts Festival and Kiwanis Taste of the North Country, food and wine festivals with headliners like Rachael Ray, a larger Glens Falls Brew Fest, and a multi-day “Mighty Hudson Music Festival” to partner with the Cool Insuring Arena.

“It’s very exciting to think we can attract these events,” countered one Farmers’ Market supporter. “We have a very good event that happens every week, every year for more than 40 years.”

“These are proposals. We are a reality,” said another audience member.

The idea that the Farmers Market could be displaced for some special events raised some concerns.

“Our customers will not know where to shop or where their vendor is,” they said.

“Farmers rely on the market for their income,” one person said. “We need to value the people who toil day and night for us.”

‘Last corridor of blight’

The Market Center was the anchor of the bid by which the late Ed Bartholomew won a $10-million New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant.

“It’s the reason they were willing to give the money to us,” says Mayor Collins, “and the reason they are using us now as a model for DRI projects across the state, because we are utilizing the money to leverage development.”

The Mayor cited a visit last month by New York Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez, who toured DRI projects and sites.

City officials said the Market Center plan has evolved since 2016, driven by changing economics, the pandemic, supply chain issues, and continuing development in downtown Glens Falls.

“I think I’ve made some mistakes here. I’m not a politician. I talk too much,” said Mayor Collins.

“The Farmers’ Market is a priority. I haven’t worked out all the details but we need to both look at it together.”

The mayor termed South Street “the last final corridor of blight in the center of Glens Falls.” He said he aims “to bring South Street back, to take Glen and tie it into Elm and South Streets,” and to create a continuous “commercial corridor” on South, from the corner of Glen to Elm Street, opening onto the Market Center.

The Market Center will be built and owned by the City, on City-owned property.

A second public information meeting on Friday morning, Sept. 30, at Crandall Public Library, had a positive vibe, with members of the Friends of the Glens Falls Farmers Market apparently won over.

Not so Farmers Market Association president Mr. Wells. On Monday he told The Chronicle, “No,” when we asked if he had in any way softened his objections.

The project was to go before the City Planning Board Tuesday, Oct. 4.

Bonacio project likely to be OK’d

Separate and related: Developer Sonny Bonacio’s SpringCity Development Group hoped to receive approval at Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting to go forward with his South-Elm Street projects — the new five-story building and renovated former Hotshots, Sandy’s Clam Bar and Incubator buildings mixed-use commercial/residential projects.

Glens Falls Council views

The Chronicle reached out to members of the Common Council on Monday, for comment on the Glens Falls Market Center, centerpiece of how the city is spending the $10-million New York State grant for Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) grant. Here’s some of what they said.

•Diana Palmer of Ward Three: “I am an almost weekly farmer’s market shopper. The farmer’s market is a wonderful community event that brings people together and allows us to support our local farmers and find great healthy food options. I believe that everyone at the City shares those sentiments and the Mayor was trying to convey that the farmer’s market would be able to consistently operate with the new building in place.

“It is both exciting and responsible that the City is looking to utilize the space for bigger events and festivals. During those occasions, if the farmer’s market needs to move to the adjacent street, they will likely see an increase in foot traffic from the other events taking place.

“While the farmer’s market is important and valued, the City charges $1,000 a year for the entire farmer’s market. It is necessary for the City to bring other events to the space to cover the operating costs and I think some compromise is necessary to make this a positive change for all involved.”

•Ben Lapham of Ward Four noted, “This is a good moment to let people know that an American Disabilities Act plan for the City, on parking access, curb cuts is in the works, beyond the scope of just the DRI,” and that sidewalk easements and accessible pathways are part of it.

“We are also working on a complete streets policy for the City, improving bike, pedestrian and transit bus routes, to reduce the emphasis on vehicular traffic.”

On the Market Center, he said, “We have to have a way of paying for it. Like Ed Moore (of the Queensbury Hotel) said in the meeting, the City has committed to things and then struggle with how to pay for maintaining them.

“What seems like a burden to the Farmers Market, I think once it gets going they we see the benefit rather than the deficit.”

•Ward Two’s Bob Landry said, “I have worked my entire 49 year career in downtown Glens Falls. I was here when they tore half the central business district down under a program called Urban Renewal in the 1970s. They promised that a mall would replace the old buildings. It never happened, but we did move forward.”

He notes, “Progress in a downtown always comes with parking issues.”

Of the DRI grant he said, “Developers now looked at us as a community of opportunity not a community desperate to land any developer….Every piece of development is like a large puzzle. All the pieces must fit. That’s what we are doing today.

“I love the Farmers Market and what they bring to our downtown and community. Whatever the final outcome comes from this debate I am sure will work in everyone’s best interest. It always does.”

•Councilman at Large Jim Clark said, “This project was one of the key components to the DRI. I’m excited of the potential opportunities it will hold once completed, expanding, and growing successful existing events, as well as, attracting new ones that will benefit not just the City, but the entire region.”

Market Center will be heated, insulated

The City of Glens Falls now plans for its Market Center on South Street will be heated and insulated, Mayor Bill Collins told attendees at two public information meetings on Sept. 29 & 30.

They originally planned the building as an unheated three-season space.

The updated plan includes an insulated ceiling and heating year-round. “We are researching options, like radiant floor heating,” said city Economic Development Director Jeff Flagg.

The building is to be used by the Glens Falls Farmers Market and for a range of other events. Market representatives were concerned the 50 degree target temperature wouldn’t be warm enough in deep winter.

Dr. Flagg also touted dedicated restrooms in the adjacent incubator building being redeveloped by Sonny Bonacio. Its open-plan first floor and commercial kitchen will be available for Market vendors and other festivals.

Ed Moore’s concern: Upkeep

Ed Moore, owner of the Queensbury Hotel among other properties and a member of the Glens Falls Civic Center Coalition, apologized “for raining on your parade,” but questioned how the city will afford to run the building and maintain it once it is built.

The Market Center is expected to cost about $4 million, much more than the $2.5 million planned in 2016.

Mayor: 6 developers eye rundown bldgs., South St.’s south side

Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins said redevelopment of the north side of South Street hasn’t started yet but it’s already spurring interest in the south side.

Addressing a public information meeting on the Market Center project, Mayor Collins told the crowd:

“We’ve had no less than six people now looking to buy these buildings [across the street] that nobody really — dilapidated is the kindest word we could call them. Even though we haven’t broke ground on this yet, there is already interest in these other buildings because of it.

“And it is what the [State] government is hoping in all of their DRI [Downtown Revitalization Initiative] projects [to] establish and create.”

The mayor said, “They gave us a $10 million grant, and we’re looking to revitalize an entire corridor of South Street, the forgotten corridor, and it will lead almost completely to Broad, and they’re [the state is] very excited, and we’ve been able to share with them the calls we’ve gotten now from developers about the opposite side of the street.”

Mayor Collins says the $10-million DRI grant has already led to additional committed private investment of $36-million.

Copyright © 2022 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved