$10M project approved near Glenville's Socha Plaza

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Goot

A vacant lot on Route 50 adjacent to Socha Plaza will be filled with a $10 million-plus commercial and residential project.

The Glenville Planning and Zoning Commission approved a plan by developer William Socha to construct a 60,000-square-foot, three-story building on a nearly 10-acre parcel.

Construction is set to begin in the spring. Shady Lane Realty Inc. Vice President Grant Socha said he is “psyched” about the project.

“It’s great. We’re getting through this and we’ll start getting bids lined up,” he said.

The plan calls for retail and restaurant space on the first floor, office space on the second floor and 17 apartments on the third. Twelve of the apartments would be corporate apartments for extended-stay business travelers and the other five would be luxury apartments.

No commercial tenants have been named.

“We have nothing finalized, but we’re talking to quite a few people and getting a lot of positive inquiries,” Socha said.

Engineer Gavin Vuillaume said the first floor will contain 3,600 square feet of dining space, possibly some combination of a 200-seat restaurant and a deli. Also, once the restaurant is named, Socha will have to go back to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a conditional use permit, as is required by all restaurant proposals in town.

A medical office had been previously mentioned as a possible tenant for the second-floor space.

Vuillaume said he tweaked the drainage plan in response to concern from some neighbors. Less stormwater will be flowing to the rear of the property in the new design and most will be collected in the dry swale in front of the property.

“We had that 3- or 4-inch rain about a month ago and it’s still dry. I think things are working good,” he said.

Vuillaume said the development will look different from anything else in Glenville. Project officials have said previously that this would be a “New Urbanism” design that reflects a walkable community with internal sidewalks throughout the entire complex and a tree-lined street with parallel parking for the road that runs through the development. There will be attractive signs for the retailers and restaurants on the first floor.

Chairman Michael Carr said it will make a nice addition to the town. “Make it look pretty,” he said.

The developer had to clear several hurdles to get to this point, including obtaining variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals to exceed the town’s 35-foot height limit with a 40-foot-tall building, to allow the parking for the building to be closer to the adjacent property line than required under zoning, and to allow less landscaping than required.

other business

In other business, the commission granted preliminary approval to a plan to establish a micro-brewery in the Glenville Grange building at 2035 West Glenville Road. The operation would make less than 1,000 barrels of beer initially.

One of the partners in the project, Jordan White, said they will still have to obtain permits from the New York State Liquor Authority. They will start that process once they get all the town approvals.

A public hearing and final approval will take place at the commission’s next meeting on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.

The Town Board earlier this year changed the zoning ordinance to allow people to brew up to 10,000 barrels of beer and make up to 2,000 barrels of wine a year in the rural and agricultural, community business, general business and research/development/technology zoning districts.