By Kelsey Brown, Staff Writer at Times Union
Published February 28, 2025
GLENS FALLS — It’s hard to imagine that 22 Ridge St., a three-story building that houses restaurants and beauty salons, would be a viable location for a farm.
The inside of the building, with its dated interior and peeling walls, furthers doubt. But upon reaching the third floor, one will find a 480-square-foot PVC box, its tiny windows casting bright white light against the dim backdrop. Inside, there’s a pristine, vertical farm, its shelves stocked with billowing leaves of basil glistening green under lines of LED lights.
As part of the Glens Falls Urban Agriculture Pilot, Jeff Flagg, the city economic development director, and Josh Fabian, a farmer and electrician, have embarked on what Flagg said is a simple mission: to maximize growth and production with minimal resources and space.
The space, which Flagg estimates was vacant for about a decade, is “unique, in a very hard to repurpose” way. Originally, it was a Masonic hall, he said. At one point, it was a taekwondo dojo, evident in the crest imprinted on the wooden floors near the box’s entrance. It would’ve been difficult to redevelop into housing, Flagg said and was a strange setup for an office.
“Every upstate New York town, every Rust Belt post-industrial city, has spaces like this,” Flagg said. “The idea was, can you, in a relatively easy way, make this something productive.”
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