Saratoga Springs’ Eastern Plateau poised for mini-housing boom
By Saratoga-Report staff
At least three areas along the Route 9P/Union Avenue corridor of the Spa City east of the Northway, aka the “Eastern Plateau”, are the sites of housing developments at various levels of construction. Plans for all three developments call for adding a combined total of at least 99 new housing units when complete.
The most expansive of the three developments is the continuation of the Oak Ridge development along Union Avenue, Meadowbrook and Dyer Switch Roads. This location has two developers, with Long Island-based The Beechwood Organization planning the bulk of the new development, of which clearing has already begun.
Above: Clearing of trees continues at Oak Ridge. Below: Sign along Union Avenue.
According to this June 4, 2020 article in the Albany Business Review (subscription required), Beechwood was in contract and in some cases already purchased a total of 53 lots from Oak Ridge’s original developer, Jeff Snyder and Oak Ridge Development. The neighborhood has a fountain off its Meadowbrook Drive entrance, large high-end homes, and carriage lanes reminiscent of Saratoga Springs’ older neighborhoods. It is worth taking a drive through to see some of these impressive homes and unique layout.
Beechwood is owned by Michael Dubb, who is also a leading owner of thoroughbred racehorses at Saratoga Race Course and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit. He is also known for his philanthropy for children of NYRA and track employees. In 2002, after hearing about children of backstretch workers sleeping in cars and not having adequate childcare available, he built Anna House at Belmont Park. Currently, Dubb is financing construction of a new childcare facility at Saratoga Race Course, on the Oklahoma side of Union Avenue.
Above: Saratoga Race Course’s new childcare facility under construction, as seen from Union Avenue.
A representative from The Beechwood Organization said the company was not yet in a position to release details of their Saratoga project.
Just to the east of Oak Ridge, Capital-Region developer Belmonte Builders has begun construction on what will be the final phase of the Regatta View development. Unlike the previously-built homes there, which were all single unit houses, the 24 units planned for the area between Dyer Switch Road, Union Avenue and Regatta View Drive will be “Carriage Homes”. There will be 12 of these two-unit buildings constructed along the planned street which will be called “Dartmouth Drive”, and each unit will be marketed as a townhome with floor plans covering between 1,600 and 2,400 square feet.
Above: Clearing at Regatta View as seen from Dyer Switch Road. Below: 28 Julians Way in the new Spencer’s Landing development
Peter Belmonte, owner of Belmonte Builders, told Saratoga-Report that most of the units will have three bedrooms, but some will have four, and the prices will start “somewhere in the $400,000s”. Belmonte noted this phase has been “intended for a while” but various factors delayed it. He noted approval from the NYS Attorney General’s office, which is required for these types of projects, was “imminent” and the project already had approvals from other local and state agencies.
Belmonte also developed the previous phases of Regatta View, and notes with pride that when the original homes were built there, his company donated a four-acre waterfront parcel to the Saratoga Rowers Association where the organization’s boathouse was subsequently built. He stated that the current project also added two parcels of land dedicated to the Regatta View HOA, some of which will be used to install an 8′ walking path loop which “will make it much safer along Union Avenue”.
Less than a mile from Regatta View, Belmonte Builders has also begun construction on what will be 22 single-family houses at its Spencer’s Landing project, which is located along Arrowhead Road and Jillian’s Way, near the Water’s Edge development. Seven of the 22 planned homes are currently under construction there.
Belmonte told Saratoga-Report that the the halting of sales and construction activity was “devastating” at the beginning and height of the COVID pandemic this past spring, but that recent activity was “extremely strong” and customers have been “quite excited” as New York enters new phases of recovery.
Asked how Belmonte Builders has maintained its success over the years during good times and bad, the one-time corporate America employee replied “You have to have passion to do it because obstacles will be beyond your ability to foresee”. In a 2018 interview with Saratoga Living Magazine, Belmonte summed up his thoughts on his company’s contributions to the Saratoga region by saying “I am very proud that Belmonte Builders has been able to provide not only homes, but also neighborhoods that people want to live in. It is very gratifying to know that we have been a part of the evolution of this area, and that our communities have been chosen by so many people to call home now and in the future.”