Glens Falls is nearing the finish line with its downtown revitalization projects
In the fall of 2016, Glens Falls got exciting news: it was one of the first five communities in New York State to receive a new, $10 million dollar grant, called the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, or DRI.
Eight other North Country communities have received DRI grants, in this order: Plattsburgh, Saranac Lake, Watertown, Potsdam, Tupper Lake, Massena, Ticonderoga, and Lowville.
Fast forward eight years and Glens Falls is finally getting close to completing its DRI projects, which would make it the first community in the region to do so.
Sprucing up Glen Street over the last decade
Glen Street, in downtown Glens Falls, has gotten a real facelift over the last decade.
"Just the volume of cars that are here, parked along the side of the road, who are participating [in downtown life] by visiting the library, or they're doing some sort of business downtown, it's amazing the difference in ten years," said Patrick Dowd, Glens Falls' Community Development Director. "This would have been pretty empty just fifteen years ago."
Dowd says a lot of that is due to private investment, but some of it is from the city’s DRI grant, which had a small program that helped pay for upgrades to downtown exteriors and interiors.
Jeff Flagg, the Glens Falls Economic Development Director, says those small aesthetic improvements make a big difference to the eye. "And it also helps everyone else, right? It's not just that building that benefits. All the adjoining buildings and neighboring buildings that benefit from the sprucing up one," said Flagg.
237 Glen Street is the home of an old bank building which sits right next to the public library. It's the home of Worksmart, a shared work and meeting space.
"It's a beautiful white, marble stone building that's four stories high," said Dowd, as we stood in front of the building with a large, dramatic, arched window. "It's a landmark on Glen Street and in Glens Falls."
Worksmart received a small grant from the city’s DRI for furniture, fixtures and equipment for their location. Flagg says the business fills a niche in the downtown area, and is a great resource for remote workers.
"People who occasionally need a place to work off-site, you know, or need a place to meet clients and things like that," use Worksmart, said Flagg. "It sort of provides that big city touch with a small city feel."
Public funds spur private investment
Flagg said that it's important to note that Worksmart put a lot of its own money into sprucing up the historic building
"Much of the investment was from them," said Flagg. "The city gave them a small grant for some furniture, fixtures and equipment and things like that."
Flagg said this is a good illustration of how a Downtown Revitalization Grant works, by using state money to spur and inspire improvements to a downtown area, but not totally bankroll them.
"This is a perfect example of how the city's investment was a tiny piece," said Flagg.
It also helps explain why, eight years after Glens Falls received their DRI grant in 2016, the city is still working to complete its DRI projects.
The $10 million dollars doesn't come in the form of upfront check, and is mostly provided on a reimbursement basis. That means communities have to do projects before they get money for them, and many of the projects cost a lot more than what they'll get reimbursed for.
Read about the DRI's role in Glens Falls' mural renaissance here.
Revitalizing South Street
Lots of the Glens Falls DRI grant's smaller projects have already happened; the façade program, the painting of big murals in the arts district, and relocating SUNY Adirondack’s culinary program downtown.
But the biggest DRI goal was to revitalize a rundown section of South Street.
It's just off of Glen Street, between Broad and Elm Streets; basically "one block off of the downtown of Glens Falls," said Patrick Dowd. This is an area he knows well; he visited restaurants and bars here when he was younger, is a loyal patron of a local diner.
Recently, the city finally started construction and rehabilitation of a large lot and three existing buildings; this will be the revitalized 'South Street Corridor.'
The day I visited, a crane was working on the foundation of the future, year-round building that will be the home of the Glens Falls Farmers Market.
"You can see the footprint here," said Jeff Flagg, "that we'll use for not only for the farmers market year round, but also [as a] sort of a larger market center for all sorts of festivals and events."
The three empty buildings are slated to be transformed into mixed-use spaces of shops, offices, and housing.
A long and rocky road to get here since 2016
The current activity on South Street makes Flagg and Patrick Dowd really happy.
"I'm thoroughly excited, right?" said Dowd, beaming. "'I'm 25 years in the city, so I spent lots of time down here. I'm thrilled to see this because to me this is the culmination of a long time dream."
There have been a lot of delays since Glens Falls got the DRI grant in late 2016.
First, the city had to acquire and demolish buildings in the South Street area, which they did in 2018 and 2019.
In 2019, it unveiled plans for the 10,000 square foot market space.
Then, the pandemic hit. Material prices shot up. The city had to change its heating plans after new climate change legislation was passed.
And in July of 2020, Ed Bartholomew, the city’s longtime economic development director and a former two-term mayor of the city, who was responsible for securing the DRI grant in the first place, died unexpectedly.
That was a huge blow for the community and local government, said Flagg. And Bartholomew left a lot of open projects behind him.
"He had been a prolific grant writer, and so seven months later when I was hired, there were at least two dozen open grants," said Flagg. Those grants were a gift, he said, "and we're benefiting from a lot of them today," but it also took a lot of time to figure them out. Flagg was hired in early 2021 as Economic Development Director.
"We spent about six to eight months really trying to sort of unravel the various grants that went to the city and the county," said Flagg. "And then to sort of make sure they were moving forward."
At that point, Flagg says they had to figure out financing for the DRI South Street project all over again, because the grants they had recieved in 2016 were no longer "going to cover the cost that are anticipated in 2022," said Flagg.
"We had this incredibly quick rise in interest rates, in the cost of materials...you know, it was touch and go there because the city can't just magically create a bunch more money [to spend on DRI projects like the marker center]."
"You have to work with the developers. You have to work with the contractors," said Flagg.
Bunkoff General Contractors is building the Market Center, and Bonacio Construction is working on the Market Square, which includes the three buildings on South and Elm.
"You have to sort of find money where you can reallocate, take some chances and take some risks," said Flagg.
Flagg said he believes the DRI will pay off in the long run and is relieved to see construction underway on South Street.
The city expects to have finished all the DRI projects by Spring of 2025, including the South Street Corridor Area.
