Clifton Park retail center getting facelift, new tenants

Clifton Park's oldest shopping center is receiving a makeover and new tenants.

North Country Commons, the owner of 1208 Route 146 at North Country Commons, has spent more than $1 million renovating its 106,000 square-foot retail center and signed leases for storefronts.

Goldfish Swim School is undergoing renovations, as are Clifton Park Beverage Center. These centers will be occupying 7,000 and 7,500 square foot, respectively.

Goldfish is hoping to open in the first week of the month, while the beverage center hopes to be open by July 4th, according to Howard Carr, the commercial broker for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Blake Realtors, who represents the owner.

Flipside Gaming is a trading cards game store that opened in December. It occupies 2,800 square foot.

There are still about 13,700 square foot of space to be leased. Two out-parcels can house buildings up to 3,150 square feet or 4,750 square inches.

Carr says he has received many inquiries about retail space in the last three months. He suggested that this could be due to pent-up demands during the pandemic, and "the return of normalcy" in the world.

Kushan patel, owner of beverage centers in South Troy and on Burden Avenue, Central Avenue, Colonie, Kushan saw the opportunity to expand his business into Clifton Park.

The store will be opened by him and his two partners, Jay Patel (left) and Pratik Shah (right).

Kushan said that there is only one beverage centre, located on Route 9 which serves the Halfmoon area. There's nothing else on the other side (closer to Clifton Park).

The shopping center is home to Ocean State Job Lot and Clifton Park Bottle & Can Retrieval Center, as well as Cartwheels, a gymnastics facility.

Whitney Lane Holdings LLC owns the property since about 14 years.

Upstate Concert Hall, formerly known as Northern Lights, moved into downtown Albany and Northway Church moved further north, to a brand new building at Ushers Road, Exit 10 on the Interstate 87 Northway.

The shopping plaza was built on the site of a supermarket called Albany Public Market and a department store named Joy Department Store.

The site is located on the western edge, where many new businesses and homes have been built along Route 146.

A roundabout has been built at the intersection of Vischer Ferry road to deal with the increased traffic and improve safety.