©2019 Saratoga Photographer.com
By Susan E. Campbell
Atrium Properties expects to break ground this summer on an as-yet unnamed apartment complex in Clifton Park, according to Jacqueline Phillips Murray, Esq., a principal of the firm.
The vacant four-acre lot at Clifton Park Center Road and Wall Street has been owned for more than a decade by Murray and her husband, Peter, and her father, Bob Phillips.
Phillips, with a 40-year history of construction projects, was one of the first real estate developers in Clifton Park, Murray said.
“Atrium is the parent company of several commercial buildings and restaurants in the community,” said Murray. “The complex at 451 Clifton Park Center Road will provide 39 one- and two-bedroom apartment units for residents who want to walk to shops and services.”
Original plans were to build three separate structures. But after meeting with the town Planning Board, the design was modified to only one mixed-use building, she said.
The project also includes a series of walking paths for easy access to the nearby YMCA and many other retail stores and services The paths will also give better access by foot from Hollandale Apartments across the street, according to Murray.
“Part of the Town Center plan the town has been working on over the past several years was to enhance walkability,” she said.
The final draft of that plan, dated April 2012 presented recommendations “to support the Town of Clifton Park’s efforts to develop a consensus vision about the look, feel and function of a future town center in the town’s existing Exit 9 commercial area.”
Part of that vision would be land and transportation projects desirable for transforming the area into “a more walkable, mixed-use center for the community.”
“The Town Center is a place where people can live, work, shop and play,” said Murray. “We are pleased with how the design for our apartment complex was refined in accordance with the town’s needs and consistent with Town Center goals.”
“I have lived in Clifton Park almost my entire life, and I have seen the town grow in an organized and beneficial fashion,” Murray said. “It has kept its roots while growing as needed as the lifestyle and culture have evolved.”
Murray expects the new complex to appeal to any market segment, from singles to seniors and couples with or without children. Like many similar mixed-use complexes, the Clifton Park Center Road building will also provide office space and storefront businesses that residents typically frequent, such as barbershops and salons, medical services, eateries, drug stores and the like.
Construction contracts have not been awarded as yet, but the site is cleared and the next step is to obtain building permits, Murray said.