By Christine Graf
Construction is underway on the White Pines Business Suites in the Luther Forest Business Park in Stillwater.
The suites are located in a 62-acre business park located on Shenandoah Drive, less than one mile from Global Foundries. The park is owned by Forest Ridge Development LLC.
White Pines Business Suites is the first of the seven proposed buildings at the business park where developers have received approval to build 750,000 square feet of customizable co-warehousing, distribution, manufacturing, and office space for small and medium-sized businesses.
The facility will feature 30 boutique suites, each measuring 30×50 feet. Each suite will also have a 14×14 foot overhead door. Franco Construction of Ballston Spa is the contractor for the project.
“The units are 1,500 square feet, but we do have the flexibility that if someone needed 3,000 square feet, we could make that accommodation for them. So, we are flexible in terms of their size,” said Jeffrey Chouinard, principal at Forest Ridge Development.
“The whole purpose of this was geared towards the small and growing business owner. What we’ve seen out there in the marketplace is that there are a lot of large warehouses and buildings out there and that there are not a lot of options for the small startup business owner—the small contractor.”
According to Chouinard, the spaces would be ideal for companies in the ecommerce, specialty delivery, or HVAC industries.
“There are hundreds of different uses for these spaces. They could be used by a small distributor that has small amounts of inventory that they need at a central location, and I just got an inquiry from someone who is an interior decorator/designer that wants to keep samples there.”
If construction proceeds as scheduled, the spaces—several of which have already been leased by tenants—should be ready for occupancy before the end of the year.
“The foundation is in, the slabs are in and poured and backfilled, and we are starting to address the parking area. Lumber is being delivered, and we’ll be vertical within the next week at the latest,” said Chouinard.
Several other projects are in the works for the business park, and two other firms have signed NDAs with Chouinard.
“We have over 750,000 square feet approved for the entire park, and this (White Pines Business Suites) is just the first 45,000,” he said. “There are a variety of different ways we can go with it. Someone can purchase a building site, and we will build to suit. They could potentially do a land lease. It depends on what their needs are, and we’ve got that flexibility which is great.”
“I’m not in the position to be able to discuss it, but I’m working with two other firms as we speak. They are totally different than these business suites. They are more warehouse-ish manufacturing-ish businesses. We are full steam ahead, and in the next few days I will be poring over numbers for the next building.”
According to Chouinard, the business park is the culmination of a 10-year project.
“It’s part of an overall comprehensive plan. Adjacent to this, there an apartment component to it, and there was also a single family component to it. Luther Forest is the single family housing community, and we sold the apartment approval to the Element (Elements at Saratoga Lake). This was the last phase of three-phase project.”