Praise for Village of Ballston Spa revitalization efforts rang through the halls of a newly refurbished village landmark Tuesday morning, Nov. 13, as members of the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) came to town to congratulate everyone who had a stake in the effort.
I came through the village recently, and quite frankly I was very impressed with what I saw, said Jack Kelley, SEDC senior vice president. `There have been grants, but the private sector is now investing capital in this community, and all of you need to be applauded. Economic development percolates its way up, and this is a period of rebirth for our smaller, quaint communities like Ballston Spa.`
Kelley admitted questions about the AMD micro-chip factory possibly locating in the Luther Forest Tech Park have been coming up in all Saratoga County communities, large and small.
`I’ve heard the initials AMD around the room this morning, and I’m very confident that very shortly they’ll be making their announcements, but even without that, this community is thriving,` said Kelley.
Village Mayor John Romano credited business and home owners, members of the Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association, and teamwork with other municipalities for putting Ballston Spa on the map.
`You’d need to see how the village was 12 years ago to fully appreciate the dramatic change,` said Romano. `The first thing we needed to do to revitalize downtown was to generate interest and give people a reason to come to Ballston Spa. We decided we wanted to rekindle the family spirit and a sense of community pride.`
Village officials launched a wide array of family activities including winter festivals, villagewide cleanup days and open swimming at the village pool. They brought the flavor of the historic village back with subtle changes, including adding Victorian street lamps and trash receptacles, and helped encourage downtown shopping with more off-street parking lots. Attractive signs were placed at all gateways to the village, crosswalks were given an old-fashioned red brick pattern, and trees were planted along Milton Avenue.
With the business district spruced up, new businesses came to town, and many of the formerly vacant large industrial sites became thriving businesses. The former Tufflite factory is now an art gallery and antiques co-op, a former school building is now Reserve America, and the former Bischoff’s Chocolate factory houses offices and a popular restaurant.
`If you look at the village today, all our large commercial sites have been transformed into viable businesses employing large numbers of people,` said Romano. `Our storefront vacancy rate is the lowest it has been in 40 years. We’ve worked with neighboring towns to rebuild those bridges of trust, and a spirit of cooperation, not confrontation. We’re grateful to everyone for helping the village turn this corner.`
BSBPA president Cliff Baum is himself an investor who took a chance on the village when he took over the Coffee Planet five years ago. The eclectic, artsy shop is now one of the most popular spots in the village for tea, bagels, music and meeting up with friends.
`This community works together, and everything is a joint effort,` said Baum. `People come with compassion and vision and the ability to work hard, and it’s been a rebirth for all of us. We’ve gone from a drive through village to a drive-to village.`
The breakfast meeting was held at the professional building at 199 Milton Ave., recently renovated by Rory O’Connor, president of Saratoga Real Property. The building is the former Masonic Lodge in the village in the 1950s, and is itself an example of an old building being given new life.
O’Connor said when he purchased the 100-year-old building, his goal was to have it restored by the village’s bicentennial celebration this year. The classic Queen Anne Victorian survived several fires in the 1980s, but was nearly removed from the downtown village landscape.
`It very nearly came under the wrecking ball, but the Masons saved it,` said O’Connor. `They wrapped it in aluminum siding, and it became the ugliest white box in Ballston Spa. You had to have a vision or be completely insane to take on a project like renovating this site. I’d driven by it hundreds of times but ignored it because it was hideous.`
O’Connor said the process of removing the siding and finding all the original windows was enough of an inspiration to finish the work, using 1890s photographs to make the restorations historically accurate.
There are now 11 suites in the building, some of which are still available to rent.
O’Connor credited village leaders and fellow business owners for supporting his investment in the building.
`The ability to do business here and get things done is so refreshing and enlightened,` said O’Connor. `I just can’t say enough. This project wouldn’t have happened without the help I received; no other municipalities make it this easy to invest in a community.“