MALTA — The Town of Malta has purchased the property of the former Mangino’s Ristorante, and the town has plans to turn the location into public lake access and more.

Mangino’s, a restaurant run by the Mangino family for 72 years, closed in 2018. Town of Malta Supervisor Mark Hammond said plans for the town to purchase the property were “long-awaited.” The town purchased the property for $1.9 million, Hammond said.

“This has been something that was on my radar nearly two years ago, when I was deputy supervisor,” said Hammond. “I really thought that property was something, that it would be a benefit to the town residents to obtain that and solidify and firm up any lake access we would ever have on behalf of our town to the lake.”

Hammond said he “breathed a huge sigh of relief” when the sale was finalized, emphasizing the importance of the town having public lake access. 

“Really happy that we’re at this point,” Hammond said. “It’s step one. …The major step is the first one, and that was getting the property.”

Hammond said he hopes to create office space and boat slips/launches for the Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District (SLIPID), the Malta Ridge Volunteer Fire Company, and the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol. 

Hammond said there are also goals to build a park for residents, and mentioned picnic spaces, a non-motorized launch, and a fishing pier as possibilities. Hammond said the goal is to allow the town’s residents to “enjoy the lake.”

“That’s our goal. Let our residents enjoy Saratoga Lake,” said Hammond. “It’s our way of affording them access to that body of water that a lot of people enjoy. But from the Town of Malta standpoint, we had nothing until now that guaranteed our residents access to that lake.”

Hammond said he envisions the park holding picnic areas, grill setups, and more, allowing a space where residents can relax by the water and “enjoy the serenity of the lake.”

“Basically, just relax, and enjoy one of the beauties that we have right in our backyard,” Hammond said. “It really, truly, is a gem.”

Hammond also said it would be beneficial for SLIPID, Malta Ridge, and the County Sheriff’s Marine Unit to have a presence on the lake. He said SLIPID “are the true stewards” of Saratoga Lake.

“I want them to have their own bonafide office space, where they can show the residents, and have a presence at this location, to show, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing to keep this lake healthy, and keep it safe,’” said Hammond. “I’d like to have those three entities have a means to say, ‘OK, this is where we can launch to and from, or slip,’ and also provide what small office space they may need to facilitate their operations daily.”

The property is roughly 2.65 acres in total, said Bonnie Mangino, daughter-in-law of former Mangino’s owners Richard and Pauline Mangino and a former employee of the restaurant. She said the family is “so grateful” to Hammond and the town for their purchase.

“We are so grateful to Mark Hammond. It’s really his vision to make that happen, and to make sure that property didn’t go to some sort of private development,” said Mangino. “He worked hard, and over a long period of time, to make that happen.”

Mangino said the family is glad the property will become a resource for local residents.

“Gratitude is the absolute feeling of the week, and the month, and the year,” Mangino said. “Toward a lot of people, but Mark is at the top of that list, for sure. …Years from now, people won’t remember our name or his name, but they’ll know that park and they’ll love it.”

Hammond said the town is hoping to move quickly, attempting to maintain “forward momentum” with the project.

“Once we get pointed into a direction of what we should do, I’m going to move as quickly as I can,” said Hammond. “Not because I want to do it out of haste, but because I don’t want this opportunity to lose its steam. I want this to move forward, and I want it to be available for people sooner than later.”

WILTON — Officials from the Wilton Mall, Macerich, and Paramount Development met on Tuesday to discuss proposed plans to add nearly 400 apartments and townhomes on the site of the mall’s former Bon-Ton location.

The group included Wilton Mall General Manager Mike Shaffer, Tom Settle, Principal at Paramount Development, and Tawney Farmer, Macerich Vice President of Development. Shaffer said the project can be a “catalyst” for attracting new uses to the mall.

“The project is really about economic revitalization, and ensuring that we continue to contribute to the Town of Wilton the way we have historically, and also continue to make this a vibrant shopping center with mixed-use and new uses that are essential in today’s environment for malls of our nature,” said Shaffer.

First proposed to the Wilton Town Board in April 2022, the project would see the development of 296 apartments and 86 townhomes in place of the former Bon-Ton location.

Bon-Ton closed in 2018, and has been vacant since. Wilton Mall partnered with Paramount Development in May 2021, and began developing plans for apartments.

Roughly half the apartments will be one-bedroom, said Settle, while townhomes will primarily be two- and three-bedroom units. The plans also include a clubhouse between 12,000 and 20,000 square feet, and Settle said the group has looked into amenities such as an indoor pool.

“We want to do as much as we can afford to do,” said Settle. “We’re going to do what everybody else does, and then some.”

Surface-level and garage parking will be available to residents. Settle said the complex would have a gated entry that residents can access via their phones, and other smart features. Rent is expected to begin around $2,000, Settle said.

Tawney Farmer, Vice President of Development at Macerich, said they envision the mall becoming a “town center.” The goal is to attract more entertainment, dining, and retail spaces back to mall property.

“It’s going to drive traffic to the property, not just to shop for retail, but for restaurants, and for entertainment, and visiting people who live here,” said Farmer. “We’re trying to create a place where the community wants to be, not just to shop.”

“And what better amenity to a residential community than having shopping and restaurants just outside your door?,” Shaffer added. “The project will also be pedestrian friendly, offering convenient access to Wilton Mall via sidewalks and green space.”

Shaffer said the mall’s first venture into mixed-use was when Planet Fitness and Healthy Living Market opened in the former location of J.C. Penney in 2012 and 2013. More recently, Saratoga Hospital moved parts of their operation into the former Sears location in 2020.

“As we continue to bolster our property for success, it’s important once again we look beyond the traditional plans to replace a former anchor that has been vacant for some time,” said Shaffer.

Shaffer and Farmer said there is general interest in the area, but that many companies are seeking visibility on Route 50. 

“There’s not a lot of vacancy on Route 50, and there’s interest in this market,” Shaffer said. “We need to be able to offer some additional reasons besides the traditional mall to attract that interest.”

“Everybody wants that Route 50 frontage, they want that visibility,” added Farmer. “But if we can create a destination, it’s a different story. …  There are national restaurant chains interested in the area, but they want to be on Route 50. The signage is one of the things too that we show in the renderings. 

“In the future, we can do that to get them the Route 50 visibility, but they’d be in the property, either in the parking lot or in the mall. So we need this first domino to fall, and then we can hit the retailers hard and get the interest back.”

The project will operate in two phases, Shaffer said. Phase one would consist of the apartment developments, the demolition of Bon-Ton, and “some additional green space” and landscaping between the apartments and the mall. The townhomes would be constructed as part of the second phase.

Shaffer said infrastructure for the plans are already in place due to the mall. He said a traffic study did not identify additional impacts to area traffic, with Farmer saying the mall was, “built for traffic.”

“It’s built in close proximity to the highway,” said Farmer. “It’s built to handle a lot more traffic than it’s getting, that’s for sure.”

Shaffer said he has served as the mall’s general manager for 11 years, and spent 30 years in retail prior. He is a resident of the Town of Wilton, he said.

The Town of Wilton Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the project to the Town Board, provided they show renderings of the project. An update on the project, including the renderings, will be presented at the upcoming board meeting on March 2 at 7 p.m. at 22 Traver Road in Gansevoort, with the group saying they are hoping the board will set a public hearing.

More information on the project is available at reimaginewiltonmall.com.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Saratoga Hospital Community Health Center (CHC) physician assistant Samuel Halajian, MPAS, PA-C, traveled a circuitous pathway to his career. Pivoting away from his success in film and TV production, Halajian now renders medical care both in a clinic setting and in the street to those with medical needs, regardless of their ability to pay.

A Briarcliff, New York, native, Halajian, a husband and father at 38, describes his early life as “an artist, always.” But even as a student at New York University, he found himself drawn to train as an emergency medical technician (EMT) and, once certified, he volunteered in Ossining, New York. Soon, despite making a professional mark in visual media, he yearned for more responsibility in medicine and became a paramedic, “physically and emotionally demanding work,” he recalls, in busy urban settings, like the Bronx, where he was exposed to a range of serious and stressful situations and problems, including violence, accidents, and injury.

“I loved it, but it was wearing me down,” says the Ballston Spa resident. “I couldn’t imagine doing it for 30 or 40 years. Then I learned about opportunities as a physician assistant, and it was definitely attractive to me. I knew I wanted to be in medicine, but I didn’t want to spend years and years in medical school. Being a P.A. was the answer.”

A physician assistant (P.A.) is a mid-level health care provider who may diagnose illnesses, develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications, and serve as a principal health care provider.

After researching his options, Halajian discovered that one of the best P.A. programs in the United States is through the military. In exchange for his extensive medical education, he committed six years of service after completing the training to the Army Reserves; he has two left to go. 

“It’s definitely not ‘free’ schooling,” he points out, adding, “The training was fantastic. The Army program is among the top 10 among about 300 in the United States.” Last year, Halajian was temporarily deployed as an Army medical officer to Eastern Europe.

“I love my work for both the Army and the Saratoga Hospital Community Health Center,” he enthuses, “The people I work with in health care are passionate about what we’re doing.”

Although anyone is welcome to use the Community Health Center, Halajian notes that he works extensively with the homeless population, both in the office and in the field, utilizing his special skills in addiction medicine and mental health.

“I go into motels, into the streets, the parking lots, the woods – where the homeless are, I go,” he says. Halajian explains he is part of “street outreach initiative” that relies on a network of partners, including Captain Community Services (the lead agency), Shelters of Saratoga, The Salvation Army, Healing Springs, and RISE Housing and Support Services. Other involved ar agencies include Veterans & Community Housing Coalition, Inc. and Wellspring, which serves individuals experiencing domestic violence. He is part of a weekly video conference with the network partners.

Halajian’s goal in the field is to establish trust with unhomed individuals via consistent, direct engagement outside the office, including to diagnose and treat acute and chronic medical concerns, including splinting a limb, binding a wound, diagnosing diabetes, COVID-19 testing and much, much more. The job is a perfect fit for Halajian, who is dedicated to working with mental health and addiction issues often found in this population.

“It’s a chicken-and-egg question,” Halajian says. “Do people become homeless because they are alcoholic or have mental illness, or does being homeless lead people to drink?” Either way, he tends to those who are struggling. “There are routine places I go,” he notes, “or I might get a call to check out a location or a specific person. I bridge the gap between the doctor’s office and the emergency department, because that’s often where the homeless end up. However, they may get immediate care and then not follow up once they’re on their own again. With me, there’s trust built over time and they’ll hopefully come to the office for help or see me again in the street. Not all, not everyone I see, obviously, follows up, but I would say I now have more than 20 office patients who are unhomed. The situation is improving.”

He says, “There is much I can do in the field and in the office, write prescriptions, order tests that people need to get into detox programs and expedite the results, interact with a case manager from social services, and more.”

Some homeless people depend on Medicaid or Medicare, acknowledges Halajian, but some, such as those who live in a woods encampment, for example, have commercial insurance through a job. Also, social services, disability insurance, and other supplemental income programs are set up to help fill prescriptions.

“When we combine our inter-agency skills, the care team is very resourceful at getting people what they need with discretionary funds from drug companies, for example,” Halajian points out.

Halajian is quick to point out that there is “no one response or reception” to his presence in the field. “It depends on the individual, or even a mood that can change day to day. But I am not there to judge, I am there to love and help them all.”

Some of the homeless want nothing to do with Halajian and his services, he admits, but he rarely gets “right down to business. We do a little dance of getting to know each other to build trust. Some of these people, when sober, are intelligent, funny, and warm. I love talking to them, whether we’re in the street or the office. More and more, enough of them know who I am to begin to believe I’m there to help. There are folks I encounter who start out very suspicious, people with mental illness, and they’re really challenging to treat, they’re very guarded, but the vast majority are willing to engage and want me to be their provider.”

Halajian observes that there are fluctuations in the volume of the homeless population and that “They seem to come in waves – in the summer there are many homeless near the train station in the woods, but then some end up in jail or in the hospital or another mental health program, and many are gone when it gets cold.”

“Everyone individual is different,” underlines Halajian. “There is not one single factor that drives people into the street; if we talk to 50 people, we get 50 stories. Looking at human beings as ‘trends’ is not useful. What is productive is asking what we can do.”

Halajian disagrees with those who claim there aren’t enough services for people who are unhomed. “We have services, what we also have are barriers to access, for example, a lot of people don’t have transportation to service agencies or doctors and that’s the problem: barriers to care.”

He also says that mental health problems are another barrier, as it may make patients non-compliant. “If I see someone with high cholesterol and treat them, but they insist on living on pizza and hamburgers, that’s not my fault,” he points out. “We can offer assistance, but we can’t make people accept it. But, it’s really important not to paint the homeless population with a broad brush. While a lot of my patients have the tragic disease of alcoholism, we do have some success engaging them for detox, mental health services, and employment. It helps to find out about the individual’s unique history and how he or she got to a place of being homeless and alcoholic, or to abusing other substances, to support them in making good progress. I put my hand out – it’s up to them whether to take it. Sometimes, people with addiction issues make bad choices. Unfortunately, that’s when they become visible to the public. I try to give people the help they need so they can do better, do well.”

Halajian notes that the Community Health Center is a patient-centered medical home which offers behavioral health, addiction medicine, dental, and primary care services.

“This is complex work,” Halajian says. “We have to keep these people safe. Nobody should freeze to death in Saratoga – I think we can all agree on that. People get uncomfortable and unhappy with the idea of unhomed people being around them, so I’m grateful that my role is focusing on health care, but I can’t do it all by myself. That’s why we have a network of partners. We are there for each other and the people we serve. I get to build all these relationships with people who live with barriers. I get to talk to people about how to take care of themselves – and that’s a privilege. There’s a lot on my plate, but it makes me grateful to have a home, food on my table, and a family to love.”