BY BARBARA PINCKNEY
Developers from Florida and western New
York are close to starting work on Grande Ville
at Park Place, a 500-plus unit residential community
near GlobalFoundries.
Lecesse Development Corp., of suburban
Orlando, and Pittsford-based Morgan Management,
acting through a joint venture called
Lecmor Multifamily LLC., received final project
approval from the Malta Town Planning Board
last fall.
They plan to build 512 upscale rental units
on a 41-acre site on Landau Boulevard, which
is just off Route 9 near Stonebreak Road, and
about three miles from GlobalFoundries.
John Flynn, director of acquisitions for
LeCesse, said trees are being cleared from the
property and site work should get underway
within 60 days. It will then take 16 to 18 months
for the completion of Phase I of the project,
although he indicated that the first units might
be available for rent in less than a year.
The developers are close to naming a contractor
for the project, but Flynn declined to provide a name.
Phase I will consist of 292 one-, two- and
three-bedroom units in 18 buildings. Flynn said
there will be three types of buildings: Traditional
“higher density,” elevator-service apartment
buildings with 30 or 32 units each and attached
garages; two-story “carriage” buildings, each
with four units with eight garages; and traditional
townhomes with “true streetscapes” in
front and detached garages in back.
Amenities include 9-foot ceilings, granite
countertops, tall cabinets and upscale appliances
in the kitchens, and full-size washers
and dryers.
“Finishes will be very similar to what you
would find, quite frankly, in a single-family
home,” Flynn said. “If you’ve seen the other
newer, nicer, upscale apartment complexes in
Saratoga County–it will be on par with those.”
He said rent will be market-based, but is currently
estimated at between $1,300 and $2,200
a month, depending on the size of the unit, the
type of building it is in, and garage access.
Lecmor also will take a 5,500-square-foot
community center, originally built when Park
Place was intended as the site of single-family
condominiums, enlarge it to about 9,000 square
feet, and renovate it for use by its tenants.
“It will be a traditional multi-family clubhouse
with first class amenities, including a
fitness center, a business center and an Internet
café,” Flynn said.
Both LeCesse and Morgan have other properties
in the Capital Region. LeCesse, which
has built more than $2.5 billion in multifamily
properties since its founding in 1952, owns The
Landings, a 240-unit community in Clifton Park.
Morgan’s holdings include the apartment communities
of Old Coach Manor in Queensbury,
Hillcrest Village in Niskayuna and Park Guilderland
in Guilderland Center.
Flynn said the partners were attracted to
the region by the growth of the nanoscience
technology industry.
“Independent of the GlobalFoundries project,
we like that I-87 Corridor between the [Nano]
college [in Albany] and Saratoga Springs,” he
said. “We have been looking to develop in the
market, we just hadn’t found the right opportunity.
Once this opportunity came along, looking
at the front door of GlobalFoundries, it was very
appealing to us. We are very excited.”
Park Place at Malta has been under development
for several years. It was originally
designed, by a group that included developer
Victor Gush, to hold more than 230 multi-family
homes, 55 single-family homes and 115,000
square feet of commercial space. Lecmor purchased
the 41 acre parcel it is using in 2013.
DeGraff Bloom Custom Builders of Round
Lake is building single-family homes on another
section of the Park Place property. So far a
dozen 2-4 bedroom homes, ranging in price from
$273,000 to about $313,000 have been built in
this community, and a 13th is under contract,
according to Diane Van Alstyne, the Realtor
representing the property for Coldwell Banker
Prime Properties.
Photo Courtesy Lecesse Development Corp.