By Paul Post
Alan Schnurman epitomizes the American Dream. Raised by his single mom, a seamstress, in Brooklyn, he slept on the couch of an affordable housing unit with no room of his own.
Fast forward a few decades, he and business partner, Gary Seff, recently bought up more than $15 million worth of commercial properties in Saratoga County.
“I was passing through Saratoga Springs a while back and didn’t see any vacant stores,” said Schnurman, 77, a retired lawyer and Dutchess County resident. “I saw a very vibrant community. I did a little research and found out about GlobalFoundries and how jobs were coming into the county. I was looking for a place to diversify and decided this was it.”
His first local acquisition, on his own, was Red Roof Inn on Old Route 146 in Clifton Park. Next, he and Seff, owner of Fountainhead Construction Co. on Eastern Long Island, purchased the Bank of America property at the corner of Route 146 and Clifton Country Road in Clifton Park.
Recently, they paid $1.67 million cash for the historic 472 Broadway building in Saratoga Springs, which was the long-time home of Menges & Curtis Pharmacy and deJonghe Original Jewelry. On the same day, they bought a 17,800-square-foot retail plaza at 4 Kelch Drive, off Northway Exit 12 in Malta, whose tenants include Five Guys, Jersey Mike’s, Starbucks, ATT, a beauty parlor and pizza shop.
Plans call for renovating the currently vacant upper floors of the downtown Saratoga Springs building, at the corner of Lake Avenue, into upscale apartments.
The Malta site has two undeveloped pads for a two-story business, a 10,0000-square-foot building and a one-story, 5,000-square-foot building.
The nearly $5 million Malta purchase is financed by Saratoga National Bank & Trust Co.
The bank’s board chairman, Raymond F. O’Conor, said investment and expansion in Saratoga County have increased as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic wane.
“Although we may see an economic slowdown, principally due to higher interest rates, Saratoga County will remain more attractive than many other regions due to its quality of life and overall economic vitality,” he said. “The vibrancy of Saratoga Springs is critical to the success of Saratoga County. However, the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta, the commercial corridors at Exits 15 and 16 in Wilton, and other key locations around the county are fertile ground for future economic growth.”
Schnurman’s slow, steady path to successful real estate investment began more than 40 years ago. From Brooklyn College, he went to New York Law School, pursued studies during the day and drove a cab at night.
“I didn’t sleep much, but I passed the bar and became a litigator,” he said. “When my wife and I got married we got $1,000 in gifts to put into the stock market and lost $500. A thousand dollars doesn’t sound like much, but when you don’t have any money and you have debts from school … I started investing in real estate.”
From Brooklyn, he expanded to Manhattan and then the Hamptons where in 1998 he met Seff, a prominent Suffolk County builder.
Together, they found a prime piece of land in Sagaponack, which ranks among the country’s wealthiest communities, and made a handsome profit on the sale of an upscale home. They’ve been partners ever since and also own commercial property in New Jersey and residential locations in Colorado.
“The secret of stock market investing is diversification,” Schnurman said. “I have transposed that to real estate with a variety of products including land, office space, a hotel, residential and multi-family dwellings. I like small deals, lots of them. That’s why I’m looking upstate.”