SARATOGA SPRINGS — A vacant lot at the intersection of Park Place and Cottage Street is poised to become the future site of a six-unit, three-story condominium building after the city’s planning board approved the project with a unanimous 7-0 vote on Jan. 22. 

The property is a couple blocks away from the southern tip of Congress Park and a little more than half a mile from the Saratoga Race Course.

Vincent and Katherine LaTerra, the project’s developers, said they hoped to acquire a building permit by this summer and to finish construction by the summer of 2027.

The building’s design was inspired by the Spa City’s Gilded Age glory years.

“We didn’t want to just put up another multifamily building,” Katherine told Saratoga TODAY. “We wanted to create something lasting, something that predates trends.”

“We wanted to create a unique condo building that had that residential feel. [It’s] historic but new construction—no shared walls, private access kind of feel, which was also unique to this project,” Vincent said.

The LaTerras said that the two-year design process was a challenge because they wanted the U-shaped building to have windows facing every direction while still preserving its Gilded Age look.

“It was really important to us to have it feel unique and special and have the continuity of the architecture from the city’s history,” added Katherine.

Prior to the planning board’s approval, some city residents expressed opposition to the project primarily due to its size (18,500 square feet) and impact on a neighborhood filled with smaller structures.

“I think it’s a very attractive building in some other place,” said Susan Bokan during a public comment period. “It’s too big. The scale is wrong. Our neighborhood is all two stories (at most) of modest, wooden homes, and this is just so out of place, it’s outrageous. I’d love to see it someplace else, it’s very pretty, but not here.”

In regard to the size of the building relative to nearby homes, the project’s application pointed out that there are numerous examples of a juxtaposition of larger buildings with smaller ones throughout the city.

The planning board reviewed the project for about nine months before approving it.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Tru Cutz Barbershop, founded in 2016, held a ribbon cutting last Friday at its new, soon-to-open location at 148 South Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs.

Tru Cutz is relocating to South Broadway after outgrowing its original location at 45 Park Place and spending years searching for a space that would support growth while staying close to the community that helped build the business. The new shop is located just two minutes from the original location.

The expanded South Broadway location allows Tru Cutz to grow from five barber chairs to eight, with room for future expansion, helping to reduce wait times and overcrowding. Renovations are nearing completion, with floors finished and barber chairs being moved into place.

The relocation was made possible through the support of Dan Roohan of Roohan Realty, who represented Tru Cutz Barbershop, along with Anne O’Toole and Cindy Hollowood, also of Roohan Realty, who had the South Broadway property listed for lease.

For more information, visit www.trucutzbarbershop.com or follow Tru Cutz on Instagram @trucutzbarbershop, Facebook (Tru Cutz Barbershop), and TikTok @trucutz.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs chapter of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with their 74th annual dinner on March 17 at the Holiday Inn on Broadway. 

The group is a fraternal organization that meets once each year on St. Patrick’s Day to honor the patron saint of Ireland and to raise money for local Catholic charitable organizations.

Last year, the organization had 122 dinner attendees and raised $5,000 for local Catholic charities.

The 2026 officers for the dinner are President Patrick Fleming, Vice President Stephen Rowland, Treasurer Jack Parrish, Secretary Michael Mitchell, and Past President and Keeper of the Shillelagh Mark Phillips.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Familiar Creature, a Montreal-inspired wine bar on Phila Street, recently won a Best Short List award (a wine list with fewer than 200 listings) from the Star Wine List. 

Familiar Creature was one of only four establishments across the globe to receive the Short List honor.

“We were among some amazing wine bars from Brazil to Canada for the finals,” Familiar Creature stated in a social media announcement. “Just a little wine bar in Upstate New York that’s got a lot of heart! Just in time for our one-year anniversary.”

Star Wine List bills itself as the “Michelin guide of wine,” bestowing various honors upon restaurants and wine bars throughout the world. Familiar Creature is a “white star venue,” which means its wine offerings have been vetted and approved by Star Wine List.

Familiar Creature opened its doors in February 2025 and is owned by the team behind Hamlet & Ghost. Miles Merton is the bar’s wine director.

CLIFTON PARK — Realm Artesian Water, which has a bottling facility in Clifton Park, announced on Monday that it has received its New York State Department of Health certification and will thus begin full-scale production of its Adirondacks-sourced water.

From inception, Realm was designed as a fully closed-loop, vertically integrated water company. Realm owns and controls its artesian source, operates its own bottling facility, and manages its distribution network end-to-end. Realm’s water is transported directly from the source to the bottling facility, where it is bottled on site using stainless steel piping, advanced filtration, and “rigorous” quality control systems. The facility’s cleaning and sanitation processes use Realm’s own artesian water, helping to reduce exposure to outside contaminants.

“This level of integration is uncommon, particularly in the premium water category,” said Todd Kletter, CEO of Realm. “But it’s essential if you want to deliver a product with true integrity. The only thing inside our bottle is genuine Realm Artesian Water — nothing added, nothing compromised.” 

With production now underway, Realm’s initial offering will feature a 475 mL (16 oz) still water, followed by a 750 mL hospitality format designed for fine dining and luxury service environments. A sparkling water line is scheduled to launch in Q2 2026. 

An extensive sampling and placement program will begin in late February, with early distribution focused on high-end and boutique hotels, fashion houses, professional offices, wellness destinations, and premium hospitality venues.

Realm bottles exclusively in glass to preserve flavor, mineral balance, and overall quality, while reinforcing its sustainability commitments.

“We often ask a simple question — do you know where your water comes from?” Kletter said. “We can answer that with absolute certainty.”

Pre-orders are available at www.drinkrealm.com, with shipping scheduled to begin on March 1.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Four executives representing the local institutions Arrow Bank, Adirondack Trust Company, Bouchey Financial Group, and Stifel convened last Thursday at the Excelsior Springs Event Center for an economic outlook panel.

Hosted by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, the event aimed to provide timely analysis and projections on economic conditions affecting local businesses and stakeholders, including perspectives on national and global trends and their implications for Saratoga County’s economic climate.

“I’m bullish on our local economy,” said Charlie Wait, Jr., the president and CEO of Adirondack Trust. “I think we have a lot of resilience here, more resilience than we used to have. I think we’re not just a tourist economy anymore. I think we have some light manufacturing. We have GlobalFoundries, so we have the technology piece, and I think that bodes well for the economy.”

“I can’t see how this area can’t grow, but also grow its tax base because the [GlobalFoundries] employees that are going to be coming to this area are going to be higher salaried employees,” noted Ben Chuckrow, a senior vice president at Stifel. “The other good thing is we’re going to have lots of jobs for these kids who are graduating from our great local community colleges. So I couldn’t be more optimistic about the growth of Saratoga.”

David DeMarco, president and CEO of Arrow Bank, said he agreed with the panel’s optimistic assessment but also had concerns about housing costs. 

“Not to get political, I’m not going to talk about affordability, but it’s a big impact,” DeMarco said. “It’s having an impact on our communities. The cost of housing rates are coming down, but…the 10-year yield curve, the longer end, is going up. We’re never going to see the 3% interest rates we saw in mortgages…and that’s going to have a negative impact.”

“I wish there was a little bit more transportation up here so people weren’t so worried about having to buy a house so close to downtown Saratoga; that they could go out and move to areas where the houses were much cheaper,” said Chuckrow. “But people aren’t able to buy those houses because they don’t know how they’re going to get to work because they have to have a car and everything else. Growth is a very good thing, but growth is only really good if it’s anticipated and handled properly.”

Martin Shields, chief wealth advisor of the Bouchey Financial Group, said the topic of affordability was a real concern among his clients, but he also noted that median house prices in the Capital Region were significantly lower than median prices nationally and downstate. 

“I think even from an affordability perspective, we’re in a good spot,” Shields said. “We do have one of the highest levels of college graduates compared to other upstate cities and even across the U.S. and New York State. So, [with] all these factors, it’s really hard not to be positive about this area. I think the big element too, is we don’t see the low lows and we don’t see the high highs. Living in that spot, it’s really beneficial.”

“I worry about the affordability that’s happening right now,” Wait said. “I worry about money coming out of the banking system, going to places like private credit, because that credit is opaque and so there could be a crisis building in there… But even in 2008, this area fared much better than other areas. I think because we don’t experience the high highs, but we also don’t experience the low lows. I think just keeping that steady growth is one of the benefits that we have in this area, and that’s what makes it such a great place to be.”