Gloversville officials are hopeful that a suite of state-funded projects will reinvigorate the Fulton County city’s downtown.
After being awarded $10 million through New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative program in 2021, Gloversville is closing in on a new era.
Twelve grant-funded projects range in scope from a $350,000 renovation of the Schine Memorial Hall to the construction of a $1.1 million greenspace pavilion in the otherwise desolate St. Thomas Square.
Gloversville Downtown Development Specialist Jennifer Donovan says all of the projects work in tandem.
“Imagine being a nice, young artist moving into the Glove City Lofts here, you’re going to walk about a block and a half up to the Schine building where you could do your work in the co-artists space. And in the downstairs, of course, there’s some restaurants that are going in from the DRI. And as an artist, what does that mean? It could be visual; it could be performance. So, there’s the Glove Theatre right there, so another place you could work. Or you could showcase your stuff in the already current art exhibit there. And in your off hours you could come to the park for some nice entertainment by the musician of the artists,” explained Donovan.
On a tour of the city’s DRI projects, Democratic Mayor Vincent DeSantis is quick to highlight that most of the city will remain visually the same.
“Now we still have the old, historic infrastructure, still here, unspoiled, and to have the opportunity to redevelop the community and to renew everything and make it into a 21st century community is a tremendous gift that we have,” said DeSantis.
Like many upstate New York cities, Gloversville faced significant blight following the decline of industry and related population loss in the 20th century.
Speaking in a co-op food market and art space, DeSantis highlights how the injection of millions of state dollars invigorated the city’s regrowth.
“For so many years, you know, you sort of struggle. Little by little, little by little. And then, eventually, it starts to snowball. And, now, the snowball is to the point where the big job is to keep up with it instead of keep trying to push it up the hill,” said DeSantis.
A pub project received around $3 million in DRI and Restore NY Grant funds to renovate The Carriage House on Main Street.
$1.2 million in grant funding has gone toward the construction of 75 modern housing units, designed for the anticipated growth in the city’s artist population, across the street from city hall.
The largest of the projects is also closest to the core of DeSantis’ vision for a thriving arts scene: a $4 million renovation of the city’s historic Glove Theatre.
Kathleen Perrott is the President of the Glove Theatre Board of Directors.
"We’re going to be expanding our capacity. We’re going to be beautifying our space. We’re going to be making the theater proper as well as the balcony more accessible. Restoring the balcony will add an additional 250 feet to our venue. And that additional capacity plus the beautification project will enable us to bring in new and enhanced programming and to expand our audience,” explained Perrott.
Around $450,000 of the DRI grant is going toward a dilapidated, empty lot on South Main Street. For DeSantis, it’s a field of dreams.
“The owners of the buildings that back onto this are excited about doing something with the back of those buildings. Jason Ashley’s going to be doing something here with a café and a space outdoors to overlook whatever performances are going on back there. So, we can show outdoor movies here, we can have Shakespeare in the park, we can have musical performances,” said DeSantis.
While things are looking up now, DeSantis says it wasn’t easy to get everyone on board.
“In the beginning there was a lot of pessimism because what we were trying to do and what we were trying to convince people is that we can build a new city, we can build a new Gloversville. And, originally, people didn’t believe it. That has changed now, amazingly. There’s a critical mass of people that now, because of the successes that we’ve been able to chalk up, really believe that we’re going to do this. I’ve had people say ‘I’ve never been more optimistic about Gloversville in my life,’” said DeSantis.
Timelines on projects vary, with greenspaces slated to be completed by fall 2024 and the construction of the Glove City Lofts estimated to be completed by 2025.
