By R.J. DeLuke
Belmonte Builders of Clifton Park is
among many busy developers this year,
taking on a few significant housing projects
in the area.
Mickey Ricciardi, the company’s director
of marketing, said among them is a
project off Smith Bridge Road in Wilton,
being dubbed the Mill at Smith Bridge. It
will consist of 62 single-family homes on one-third-acre lots.
Ricciardi said the homes will be built
with “a new concept we’ve been experimenting
with” being called the “affordable
luxury series.” The homes will be in the
mid-$300,000 range, he said, with lush
design and amenities, but scaled down
from the high-end homes Belmonte often
builds.
The model home on the site is just being completed and the company has 10 already sold. He estimated about 18-24 a year would be built over a period of a few years or so until the project is complete. They are built under contract with a client, and plans are customized to suit the buyer.
The Mill at Smith Bridge will be a maintenance-free community.
Ricciardi said the project on Division Street in Saratoga Springs, on the land that once was the home of the former Ellsworth Ice Cream factory, will get under way by the end of the summer. The ice cream company founded in 1933 and closed in 2007.
The development is called City Square and is being built with another developer, Stephen Ethier.
It will consist of 23 townhouses, eight condominiums and four carriage houses, said Ricciardi. The townhouses will have basements and two-car garages, “something a little different” than similar projects on the city’s west side.
“We’re getting a huge response,” he said. “We’ll be sold out in a few months. We’ve had hundreds of calls . It’s a very unique project type for something 1,000 feet from Broadway.” The project will take about a year to 18 months to finish from the time work begins, he noted.
McKenzie’s Way, a community off Jefferson Street in Saratoga Springs, near Saratoga Casino and Raceway, is another “affordable luxury” project. There are 18 lots involved, with the homes being sold in the lower $300,000 range, said Ricciardi.
The model home was part an award winner at last year’s Showcase of Homes event. There will be homes on 18 lots. Thirteen are built or under construction, with five lots left, he said.
Meanwhile, the company’s older projects, Floral Estates and Meadowbrook, higher-end homes in Saratoga Springs, are being completed and “selling well,” Ricciardi said.
Michael Munter, vice president of Munter Enterprises, a general contractor in Middle Grove, said “we’re happy with what we’re seeing” in the construction field this year.
Among projects his company is involved in is the completion of the Davidson Brothers Brewing in Queensbury. The finishing touches are being put on the refurbishing of a former cinema and indoor sports center on Route 9 in Queensbury. The $4.5 million project includes a 50-barrel brew house with packaging and kegging lines, a visitor tour center, tasting room and company store. Munter said it could be open this month.
The company will also begin phase III of the Wilton YMCA expansion. That consist of new roofing and siding for the building, which experienced a small fire last fall.
New Locker rooms will be built, as well as an indoor field house that will have a field for soccer and lacrosse, as well as a second floor fitness area. Munter said the indoor field house will have a turf field for the sports.
Work will start soon on a 10,000-square foot addition for Unlimited Potential, a facility in Saratoga Springs that provides job opportunities of Saratoga County residents with disabilities.
In the Grande Industrial Park, Munter will be involved in facade improvements at Ball Container’s building.
Another project, he said, is an addition to the Greenfield Veterinary Hospital that will be used for post-surgery therapy for animals that will include aquatic equipment to enhance recovery and rehabilitation for animals.
Frank Alessandrini of F.H. Alexander Inc. in Ballston Lake said his company is about to construct a barn complex on a horse farm on property on the corner of Route 9P and Gilbert Road in Saratoga. The land is a horse farm, and F.H. Alexander crews will be constructing a 14-stall horse barn, as well as a smaller six-stall barn.
A service building will also be built, with storage on the first floor and an apartment on the second. “We’ve got a lot of proposals out,” Alessandrini said, but he noted that while there is decent construction activity going on, “it doesn’t seem to be like it was a few years ago.”
His company is also involved in doing some work at Greenwich Public Library and some renovation work at Ballston Center Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which was damaged last year when lightning struck its bell tower.
Alessandrini added that a major current project is renovating a strip mall in Wappingers Falls.