Affordable Spaces Available In A People-Led Downtown Gloversville
Gloversville is an affordable, strategically located city–just a few hours or less from major metropolitan areas including Albany, New York City, Montreal, Boston, and Buffalo.
Like other upstate New York communities, Gloversville has launched itself down the path of radical, innovative transformation, making it a premier place to start a business, invest, and work while enjoying a high quality of life.
When Nuno Castainca and Vincent Chang, partners in NVP Development LLC of New Jersey, were looking for a data center, they started researching cities in New York and Pennsylvania that had low electricity costs and good power infrastructure. “We did a power grid for New York,” Castainca said. That was when the pair stumbled on Gloversville.
After seeing some of the available buildings during a trip to the city, they were encouraged to visit with the city’s mayor, Vincent DeSantis. While the investors originally had been looking only for a space to set up a data center, DeSantis inspired them with his vision for the city, prompting them to take on the development of four historic buildings downtown. These structures will not only house NVP Development’s data center, but also 14 one- to two-bedroom apartments, a retail space, and office space for Chang’s multinational company, Arrosoft Solutions. Chang’s company has offices in New Jersey, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Other affordable spaces are available for development downtown. These are a few highlights:
- Listed for $105,000 ($8.08 per square foot), the 12,996-square-foot commercial space at 48 S. Main St. consists of three stories with spaces suiting a variety of commercial applications such as offices, retail, warehouse, apartments, a brewery or distillery, and more. Annual taxes with no exemptions are $2,799.
- The historic 18,000-square-foot building at 39 N. Main St. has three stories and list price of $90,000 ($5 per square foot). The second floor was the former owner’s apartment and features a new kitchen and a large bathtub with a hot tub. This building is available for a variety of business ventures with the possibility of living on site. Annual taxes are $3,500.
- The three-story brick building at 21-23 Fulton St. has two ground-level storefronts with accessible entry and an open concept style with bathrooms and offices. Apartment space is available on the upper floors. This 8,946-square-foot building has a list price of $89,000 ($9.95 per square foot) and annual taxes of $3,168.
“The mayor has a real mission, and we’re innovators in our field, and we’d like to be a part of reinventing a town,” Castainca said. “We want to be a part of the movement of change.”
Other extremely attractive aspects of the city from a business perspective are its low property taxes and underground fiberoptic channels; a rare find, according to Castainca.
In a $2 million project, partly funded by a Main Street Grant of $500,000, NVP Development has been renovating three of the four buildings it purchased. What the fourth building will be depends on what the market calls for when they are ready to work on it. They have a preliminary idea of turning that building into a penthouse apartment with a “We Work” type of open office space for businesspeople on the lower levels. NVP Development hopes to attract a bar with a “speakeasy” look to the retail space it will lease, a nod to the building’s historic character. This would provide a gathering place for people to relax after work and on the weekends.
The transformation of downtown Gloversville is focused largely on placemaking, a process that considers residents’ and business owners’ input about what they want to have in the areas where they live, work, and play. The city introduced community members, business leaders, elected officials, economic development professionals, and other stakeholders to the concept at Placemaking Conferences in 2018 and 2019. Michael Medina, owner of the Fulton County Barber Shop, won the city’s Placemaking Award in 2019 for embracing this concept with his shop and its community outreach programs.
One major placemaking project was 100in1Day in May 2019. Gloversville was the first city in the United States and 32nd worldwide to participate in this movement, which began in Bogotá, Colombia in 2012. During this day of rich community pride and unity, residents collectively performed 100 acts of positivity in one day. Activities included a spring cleanup, tree plantings, free car washes, free breakfasts for seniors, food drives, clothing giveaways, bench installations, children’s car seat inspections, a bike safety clinic, a book exchange, free drawing lessons and a musical performance, to name a few.
“The mayor has a real mission, and we’re innovators in our field, and we’d like to be a part of reinventing a town,” Castainca said. “We want to be a part of the movement of change.”
One current placemaking project is the renovation of Elk Street Park. In this citizen-driven project, the Fulton County Center for Regional Growth, local residents, and the national non-profit Project Backboard partnered to transform the park. Project Backboard resurfaces public courts and turns them into large-scale pieces of art. Elk Street Park’s basketball court will feature a mural designed by a Gloversville high school student, and the court will have new bleachers. Colorful Adirondack chairs on a new concrete terrace will replace metal chairs on asphalt and pavers. The roughly $50,000 required for this redevelopment project is coming from community contributions as well as city funds. A second phase of the revitalization of the park will involve the use of two buildings that the city purchased from the county at auction.
Another placemaking project is the multidimensional plans to turn the city’s Trail Station Park into a destination. One addition will be a grant-funded spray park on the site of a current parking lot. Another part of the project is converting an asphalt lot into a greenspace for families, residents from the senior apartment building across the street, and those using the FJ & G Rail Trail, an asphalt foot and bike path built on the 19th century rail bed of the Fonda, Johnstown, & Gloversville Railroad. The park would also have a children’s adventure area and an open lawn area with picnic tables. The popular park is host to festivals, concerts, and other community events.
Helping to fuel the renaissance of downtown Gloversville is the exodus of people from larger metropolitan areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are seeking to live in less crowded, smaller cities with a lower cost of living and an elevated quality of life. Gloversville fits the bill for those who want to switch from a high-stress, high-cost environment to a relaxing lifestyle with a reasonable cost of living and a highly engaged and friendly community.
While Gloversville offers prime opportunities for business, it is also a perfect place for play. The city is located at the foothills of the Adirondack State Park, with its myriad recreational opportunities. Those with jobs downtown can be at the Great Sacandaga Lake within 20 minutes of leaving work. The city has a plethora of cultural and arts offerings as well as engaging shops, restaurants, farmer’s markets, parks, and other amenities that contribute to making the city an attractive place to live.
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