Businesses coming to city building
By RODNEY MINOR, The Leader-HeraldGLOVERSVILLE - A coffee shop, a massage business and an antique store are expected to open in a downtown building owned by the Two Great Guys.
Fulton County Senior Planner Sean Geraghty, who advises the Planning Board, said the board approved the plan to open a coffee, tea and pastry shop at 10 S. Main St.
The board also conditionally approved the site plan for a massage and spa-therapy business at 11 W. Fulton St., he said.
The building has storefronts on both streets.
At its meeting Tuesday, the board also waived public hearings on the site plans because much of the proposal merely changes how the inside of the building would be used, Geraghty said.
The same person wants to open both the coffee shop and massage businesses, John Betor said.
Betor, an owner of the Saratoga Springs-based Two Great Guys Realty, said a man who does massage therapy in the region would lease both spaces.
"It's unique," he said of LG's Hands of Light, the spa-therapy business. "It will have more appeal to people based on that."
The coffee shop will be called Friends Cafe, Betor said.
He also said another person plans to open an antique shop in the building.
"When the coffee shop opens, hopefully we can get people to spend some more time downtown to see what is available," he said.
Two Great Guys Realty purchased properties between 2 and 26 S. Main St. in 2002 with plans to create retail, office, and living space in them.
Since then, the company has experienced problems with back taxes and code violations.
The city waived fines because of the progress Betor made getting the buildings up to code.
Betor said he now has had no problems with the city.
"They are keeping an eye on me, and I respect that. It needs to be done," he said.
In May, the company paid approximately $50,000 in back taxes on the properties.
Betor said since then, his focus has been on trying to find tenants for the approximately 10 storefronts.
One storefront already is occupied, he said.
Betor said it is normal for potential business owners to be hesitant about moving into an area that has a number of empty buildings.
"As businesses move in, they will bring more in with them," he said.
If the downtown is busy, more people will be interested in the apartments above the storefronts, Betor said.
While some of the details need to be worked out, he said, the coffee shop and massage business could open before the holidays.
Geraghty said the conditional approval requires the site drawings to be revised to show more details, specifically about the exact location of the buildings.
There is no deadline for the revised drawings.
City Building Inspector and the Historic Preservation Review Board may have to give approvals for the work.
Rodney Minor covers Gloversville. He can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com.
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salgovernale
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09-05-08 8:06 PM
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im sorry but you could line every street in gloversville with gold, its still gloversville. you cant shine a turd.
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swilliams
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09-05-08 8:05 PM
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Hats off to John Betor for finally beginning a turn around with the buildings owned by Two Great Guys. Both are higher-end businesses that at least show good faith in the downtown area. I won't hold my breath for a return to the glory days though....with very few exceptions downtowns everywhere have been killed by the construction of arterial roadways and their resultant strip malls. Gloversville is no different than Beacon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Hudson, Albany, Schenectady, etc., etc. I'm happy to see quality businesses downtown, and hope to see many more, but suspect that real change will be incremental and slow.
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Discobulous
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09-05-08 7:50 PM
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Can you get a coffee and a massage at the same time?
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dale0916
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09-05-08 2:26 PM
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I don't know if anybody else notice but we have enough coffee shops in downtown Gloversville. I thnk what downtown Gloversville needs is a indoor RC racecar track. Each weekend there could be a 100 lap feature with the winner taking all. Besides 47 Market Place has great coffee. Once again this is Pat Mcpirit hoping that downtown Gloversville is returning back to the GLORY DAYS of past years.
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LoyalSocialist
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09-05-08 11:49 AM
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Finally....looks like there might be some progress....a coffee shop is a great idea. Hopefully they will host some music there and it will actually be open later on the weekends.
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