Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Stymied in his effort to transform the Elm Street parking lot, Mayor Bill Collins is actively pursuing 333 Glen and its parking garage and lot for a transportation hub in downtown Glens Falls.
In January, the City submitted a $1.3 million bid for a federal “BUILD” grant to add two levels and about 150 parking spaces to the garage and create a central location for CDTA, Greyhound and Trailways buses; car and bike sharing programs; and e-vehicle charging stations.
The $1.3 million would cover engineering and all other planning leading up to such a project says Jeff Flagg, the City’s Economic Development Director.
BUILD stands for “Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development.”
Dr. Flagg said the program, newly renamed under the Trump administration, offers infrastructure grants through the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The City’s unsuccessful 2022 bid for funds toward creating a transportation hub in the Elm Street lot was under the Biden administration’s “RAISE” program, “Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity.”
Public sentiment was mixed over such a project at Elm Street.
A smaller follow-up federal grant put the City together with a firm that helped determine need and target sites for a transportation hub, Dr. Flagg said.
“It could be a public-private partnership,” Mayor Collins says.
Dr. Flagg says 333 “is the preferred location — but it’s not the only one we’re looking at.”
Kevin Lynn, Property Manager for 333 Glen Associates, tells The Chronicle, “We were told two years ago this process was already in play and imminent, so my confidence is low that anything will actually materialize.”
Mr. Lynn told The Chronicle in recent weeks, “We are going in another direction now.”
They aim to offer paid public parking in the four-story structure — for day or night use and long term arrangements — ideally by later this summer.
Mr. Lynn said he provided engineering plans to the City earlier this year as it was working on the BUILD grant.
However, he says, “I doubt we will revisit a transportation hub now.
“If they secure the air rights in a timely manner” — to add two decks to the parking structure — “we would be open to work with them,” Mr. Lynn says.
Mayor Collins said, “I share their sentiment. It’s not progressing as quickly as we want. It never progresses as quickly as we’d like it to, especially when it’s a federal grant.”
Separately, the City says 333 Glen remains its first choice as the site for the 75 parking spaces it contractually committed to provide Bonacio Development for its Phase Two project on South and Elm Streets. No agreement has yet emerged.
“They’ve got plenty of parking in that building,” the Mayor says.
“I don’t have signed contracts,” for spaces there, “but we’re certainly continuing to meet with them.”
Bonacio is expected to break ground on the five-story, 70-unit apartment and retail building “in a month or a little more,” Mayor Collins told The Chronicle.
The City is also sitting on a $1.5 million grant from Empire State Development to use towards parking, the Mayor said.
333 Glen was most recently known as the Travelers building.
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