Socha Management plans to expand its presence with a new three-story facility following success with its existing properties.
The 45,000-square-foot building is planned to hold a variety of uses and will be designed to hold retail, offices and corporate apartments. William Socha, president of Socha Management, also said the company is looking into offering an established local restaurateur space at the building. The company plans to invest up to $9 million on the structure, which would be located in open space between Socha Plaza and its professional building Socha Plaza South.
The company owns and manages Shady Lane Apartments with 444 garden apartments, a 40,000-square-foot retail plaza and two office buildings totaling 30,000 square feet, all located on Route 50 in Glenville.
“We feel that the time is right to move forward with a new mixed-use building in Glenville as our other properties in the town continue to perform very well,” William Socha, president of Socha Management, said in a prepared statement. “We have considerable interest by new tenants in this site and we look forward to working with the town and county to move this project forward.”
Socha said the company’s commercial space, both retail and office, is fully rented out now and the timing was right for expansion. Mortgage rates also “won’t really be any lower than they are now,” he said. Economic development throughout the county and within the Route 50 corridor also influenced the decision to move forward, he said.
“For all those reasons, it is really a good time for us to move forward,” Socha said.
He said corporate hosing has also been in high demand. The company has a 1,300-square-foot building for traveling executives, which can be rented short-term as an alternative to staying at a hotel. The apartments are fully booked with employees from GlobalFoundries, General Electric and Target, he said.
The idea to house a restaurant came from feedback Socha’s heard from the community.
“We hear over and over again it would be great if there was restaurant,” he said. “If we can help facilitate that and it will work out then it will be great for everybody, but at this point it is not a done deal, but we are in discussions with some restaurateurs.”
He said he was “thrilled” with the response he’s received from town officials supporting the project.
“This is a great project,” Town Supervisor Christopher Koetzle said. “This is a huge investment in Glenville and I think it is going to benefit the town in a variety of ways.”
Socha’s project falls along recent economic developments along the Route 50 corridor including Target at the former Kmart site, a new $20 million Naval Reserve Center and Fortitech facility at the Airport Business Park and further down Route 50, Mohawk Honda’s move into a vacant car dealership.
“Our plan with this project … is to really raise the bar in this area,” Socha said. “I hope it will be an integral part to a lot of the other growth that is happening in the area.”
Schenectady County Legislator and County IDA member Martin Finn thanked the Socha family for their continued investment.
“This new office building will add to the momentum we are seeing on the Route 50 corridor and is further proof that the county-led unified economic development plan is working,” Finn, D-Niskayuna, said in a statement.
The County IDA, administered by Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, will provide a waiver on sales tax for building materials used to construct the new building and a payment in lieu of tax (PILOT) agreement.
The PILOT would set taxes on the new building at 50 percent of full value the first year, which would increase by 5 percent each year until the building reaches its full taxable value. The company would continue paying 100 percent of its taxes on the land where the project would be built.
“You are not giving up on anything,” Metroplex Chair Ray Gillen said about the PILOT. “You are getting nothing now.”
Gillen said the building would provide an increase in taxes for the county, town and school district.
The company received site plan approval for commercial development at the site in 1995, Socha said, but it was before sewer connections existed at the site. The company would need to come back before the town Planning and Zoning Commission for a revised site plan review before moving forward on construction.
Also, he noted some requirements have changed over the years, which will need to be reflected in the revised plan.
“We have to do some updating to today’s regulations with some things that have changed,” he said.