Albany-Saratoga Speedway could be sold for apartments, retail development

By Mike DeMassi – Reporter, Albany Business Review Jun 3, 2024 Updated Jun 4, 2024 12:02pm EDT

The Albany-Saratoga Speedway — which draws thousands of people on Friday nights to watch stock cars race around an oval dirt track — could be sold and turned into a large mixed-use development called Camber Ridge under plans presented to the Malta Town Board Monday night.

Given the amount of time needed for a planned development district and site plans to be reviewed and potentially approved, racing would continue this season and next year — the track's 60th anniversary — and potentially beyond, but 2025 could be the last season if a sale is finalized.

A joint venture of Five Corners Development of Saratoga Springs and The NRP Group, one of the nation's largest builders of affordable housing, is proposing a multi-phased project with about 700 apartments and townhouses (including market-rate, affordable and senior) and 20,000 square feet of retail space along Route 9.

It would take years for a full build-out at an estimated cost of $250 million. The first phase, with 250 apartments and the commercial space, has an estimated price tag of about $100 million.

Sumeet Gupta, founder and principal of Five Corners, has had preliminary talks with potential retail tenants such as day care centers, restaurants and Fidens Brewing Co., which has a popular taproom in Albany's Warehouse District.

"We did an anonymous survey online asking what's missing in town," Gupta said. "A Mexican restaurant, coffee shops, breweries, Italian restaurants. We've selected operators that would like to come here. Right now we have a ton of interest."

The mixed-income housing — which would be built in the rear of the roughly 50-acre site — would help fill a gap in apartments and townhomes affordable to local residents who have been priced out of Malta in recent years due to rising rents and home values.

The average rental cost in Saratoga County increased by 8.8% from 2022 to 2023 while wages increased by 3.3%, according to data the developers cited from a new Capital District Regional Planning Commission affordability study.

One-third of residents in Malta (population 17,500) pay more than 30% of their income toward housing, a threshold that's considered an economic burden.

"The service workers are priced out of this market," Gupta said. "We're focusing on firefighters, teachers, nurses, GlobalFoundries technicians. ... This isn't Section 8 housing. That's the common misconception."

Gupta, 42, started Five Corners Development in 2022. He was formerly with Hoboken Brownstone Co. of New Jersey, which unsuccessfully pursued a large redevelopment of Monument Square in downtown Troy for several years. Five Corners Development has a few projects in the planning and early development stages in the region, he said.

The Speedway at 2671 Route 9 has remained a fixture in Malta as the rural town's population has grown and new businesses have opened since the $15 billion GlobalFoundries computer chip plant was built more than a decade ago.

GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS), which employs about 3,000, plans to build a second factory, but it's unclear when construction will begin.

The Speedway is one of several dirt tracks in the Albany region popular with families, drivers and gear heads, but also a source of complaints from neighbors who have to contend with the noise and dust that's kicked up by modified race cars careening around the 4/10-mile track.

Howard Commander, who owns Albany-Saratoga Speedway and the Lebanon Valley Speedway in Columbia County, recently received an offer from Five Corners Development and The NRP Group for the property, which wasn't publicly listed for sale.

They signed a contract with Commander in March to purchase the real estate for an undisclosed amount.

The deal was facilitated by Antonio Johnson, Louis Marocco and Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas of Berkshire Hathaway Blake Realtors Commercial Division.

Commander didn't return a message seeking comment.

He has owned the Speedway in Malta since 2014, when he bought it from the family of CJ Richards. He's the fourth owner since the Speedway was opened in 1965 by Joe Lesik, according to Area Auto Racing News.

The developers intend to honor the history of the Speedway through a tribute of some kind on the property.

The name Camber Ridge was picked because the definition of camber is a "bend or curve upward in the middle" which, in automobiles, refers to the angle of the tire relative to the axle.

"It's paying respect to the heritage of the site and speaks to what we're talking about," Gupta said, "creating traction for the Malta community. By creating changes we're creating traction in the market. I learned what camber was about while I was in college [studying auto engineering]. Any car enthusiast would know."