B-Spa Business Leaders Discuss Jobs, Real Estate, and Beer

BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa business leaders representing the construction, real estate, tourism, and hospitality industries convened at the Milton Community Center on Tuesday morning to discuss the state and future of the village.

County-wide issues such as meager housing inventory and a declining workforce in the trades have borne their brunt on Ballston Spa. But the impact of local events such as the forthcoming Belmont Stakes or the opening of Tree House Brewing have yielded positive and/or mixed results for the village.

Challenges, successes, and future plans were the focus of the “Inside Ballston Spa” discussion presented by the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County (an affiliate of the Capital Region Chamber) and the Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association.

The Trades

Doug Ford, vice president of public relations and purchasing at the Curtis Lumber Company, said his industry has changed dramatically since he first entered it. Women, once a rare sight in lumber yards in the 1970s, now make up roughly half of Curtis’ workforce, he said. But attracting younger people into the industry has been a persistent challenge.

“We’ve done an absolutely horrible job of getting in front of young people and helping them understand exactly what our job entails and the opportunities that exist,” Ford said. “It’s not the schools that were at fault, it was us as an industry. We were absolutely doing nothing to help ourselves.”

Ford said that, at first, his company began talking to high school juniors and seniors, but he soon realized this was too late in a young person’s life to introduce the possibility of working in the trades. Today, outreach begins with elementary students and continues through middle school, high school, and college.

“I think the biggest thing we have to understand is that the trades are not a default to going to college. That’s the mindset that really needs to change,” Ford said. “If you’ve tried to hire a plumber, electrician, or someone from the trades recently, you’ll start to understand that’s a very lucrative and rewarding career path. It’s not something we should be looking down upon.”

Real Estate

Lisa Licata, managing broker of the Sterling Real Estate Group, said housing inventory remains low (despite high demand) and that interest rates are averaging around 6% for a 15-year mortgage and 6.8% for a 30-year. But, she said, there’s also been a sizable uptick in new construction and interest in modular homes.

“The average price point for a resale home is about $409,000, and that’s up 4% from last year,” Licata said. “In April, 61% of the homes that sold went above the asking price. 90% of those homes were on the market for less than 30 days. There is a big need for affordability.”

Tourism

Darryl Leggieri, president of Discover Saratoga, is a Ballston Spa resident who said that the village’s remarkable growth over the years has made it a destination for the influx of Saratoga Race Course visitors arriving each summer.

“I’m pretty proud of what’s happening here,” Leggieri said. “The culinary scene, the small businesses; you don’t see a lot of vacancies downtown, which is awesome…We have the assets here, it’s about amplifying that message and that’s what we try to do at Discover Saratoga.”

Leggieri said that tourism is a $1 billion industry in Saratoga County, creating thousands of jobs and tax relief for residents.

“If you create a destination where people want to visit, you’ll create a destination where people want to live,” he said. “And if you create a destination where people want to live, you’ll create a destination where people want to work, and they’ll also want to invest. That’s the circle, and it keeps on going and going.”

Breweries

One Ballston Spa-based asset that reels in tourists is Speckled Pig Brewing, which is expanding its downtown presence with a new, neighboring distillery set to open sometime this year. Larry Heid, a Speckled Pig co-owner, said his company offers tastings at the Taste New York Pavilion at the track, which allows them to invite racing fans to venture to their brewery in Ballston Spa. He also said that outdoor spaces are an important attraction for summertime tourists (Speckled Pig has a rooftop space and the forthcoming distillery will feature an outdoor patio).

As for the arrival of Tree House Brewing earlier this year, Heid said he knew the brewery would offer some stiff competition, but that Speckled Pig offers more of a community experience than its larger competitor.

“What we really like to do is make sure that when people come to the Speckled Pig, they feel like a community,” he said. “We love seeing people all of a sudden be like, ‘Oh my God, we haven’t seen you in forever,’ and the Speckled Pig becomes a gathering place for residents of the Village of Ballston Spa. So we can hit on that customer experience that a place like Treehouse doesn’t doesn’t have.”

Heid said he often sees people arriving at Speckled Pig after first stopping by Tree House. This brewery-hopping, added Leggieri, has become a focus for Discover Saratoga, which is working on ways to incentivize tourists to visit multiple local breweries.

“Stay tuned for more,” Leggieri said.