Glens Falls Business Journal
By Paul Post
Ryan and Erin Connor are just the right people to develop a property ideally located for taking advantage of Glens Falls’ ongoing economic rejuvenation.
The couple, both RPI grads, recently purchased the three-story, 45,000-square-foot Union Square building at 9-15 Broad Street, just around the corner from South Street, a cornerstone of the city’s revitalization.
The acquisition, financed by NBT Bank, was for approximately $1.6 million.
“The prior owner, Tom O’Neil, did a lot of capital improvements,” Ryan said. “He upgraded gas service, installed an elevator. The building’s got great bones. We’re going to further that a bit, focusing on the roof and grounds. From there we’ll be looking to add a mix of commercial and residential space depending on where it is in the building.”
There’s currently an eclectic mix of business and professional tenants such as a day spa, chemical firm, mortgage group, legal and architectural firms occupying spaces ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 square feet.
But the building, including a spacious basement in addition to three overhead stories, is only half full and the wide-open top floor is completely vacant. This space, with a separate Pine Street entrance and ample parking, is most suitable for apartments and it’s within easy walking distance of downtown shops and restaurants.
“We’re looking to develop the building to best suit the community, but apartments are a need in the area,” Ryan said. “It does seem appropriate for that. They would be for one and two bedrooms.”
The Connors, who grew up in the Glens Falls area, have owned Queensbury-based EBRM Properties LLC since 2008. “Basically we’ve been improving older homes in the Glens Falls area including three on Glen Street, mostly residential up to this point,” Ryan said. “This one has more of a commercial aspect than we’ve done in the past. We were wrapping up work on other properties, were looking for our next project and saw this on the market.”
The Connors’ extensive engineering backgrounds are well-suited for their new upcoming plans. Ryan said Erin specializes in layout, materials selection and the general look of things.
“When you get into these old buildings you get into a lot of old construction problems,” he said. “You need to figure out what to do. That’s what I view as my strength, to engineer a solution and also plan out the project itself.”
“Over time I’ve grown to love building science and doing general construction,” Ryan said. “I’m always doing something related to construction, whether it’s our own place or apartments. I’m always doing projects, always bringing creativity to them. Erin really enjoys design so she and I complement each other. We always look to challenge ourselves. We take a lot of pride in what we can turn a place into.”
To date, the Connors have renovated 25 apartments near downtown, priced from $900 to $1,400 per month.
“There’s a lot of variables,” Ryan said. “Cost depends on size, is there laundry, parking, is heat included? We definitely look to keep our housing affordable and clean. We value good, long-term tenants. There is demand for apartments with amenities and parking close to downtown. That’s what we’ve learned with our experiences on Glen Street.”
“Our strategy at Union Square is incremental improvement,” he said. “We’re going to keep what’s good going and look to further it. There’s a lot of good happening on South Street. You can definitely see things moving. We want to contribute to that revitalization with this building.”