By Jill Nagy
North Country Commons, one of Clifton Park’s oldest shopping centers, is in the midst of a major facelift— a new facade and a new layout—and is welcoming new tenants, including a swim school and computer games parlor.
Part of the center, at 1206 Route 146, is a former church that once housed an Albany Public Market. That has been divided into four smaller spaces. The occupant of one of them, Flipside Gaming, opened in November and already has customers lined up every morning waiting for the video and computer game facility to open, according to Howard F. Carr, a broker with Berkshire Hathaway Real Estate, who is managing the center and the renovation project.
Goldfish Swim School, a swim school, already has 600 children signed up for lessons, Carr said. He represents the owners, Whitney Lane Holdings LLC of New York City.
Another tenant new to the center is Clifton Park Beverage Center. The center already has outlets in Colonie and South Troy.
Carr said the facelift project might be completed by the end of the summer. It has been a long haul—two and a half years just to get necessary municipal approvals—made longer by shortages of materials.
For example, it took three weeks to get plywood for the facade, something that normally takes two days, he said. Materials like plywood, steel studs, and electrical switching software are not manufactured locally and are in short supply.
“We can’t ask for price anymore,” he said, “It’s just, ‘Can I get it?’,” he said.
One local roofing supplier has about 60 percent of his shelves empty, Carr estimated. Usually it is more like 2 percent. For another project, Carr is still waiting for 266 lighting fixtures he ordered in January.
The total cost of updating the center was estimated at $1.5 million. Carr now calls that the minimum cost. “Everything you purchase today has gotten much higher” including such items as concrete, copper wire, and steel stud work.
The investor group in New York City that owns the center “is not balking at added costs, but they are not happy about it,” he said.
While the renovation “was not a total gut,” electrical work, plumbing and improved air conditioning are included in the project.
So far, no tenants are leaving and space is renting quickly, Carr said. Still, space is available and “we are always looking for tenants.” If they run out of space, “we can build,” he said. A new restaurant is a probable addition to the center.
“We are talking to a couple of different ones. We’ll see what works out. I’d like to get some food in there,” Carr said.
Carr took over the management and leasing of North Country Commons 14 years ago, when the current owners bought it. He has been in the commercial real estate business for 54 years, he said, and was involved in the construction and management of several other well established shopping centers and malls.