The City of Gloversville requested technical assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR) to prepare a reuse assessment for an abandoned, former glove manufacturing site at 80 Lincoln Street. The 2.02-acre brownfield site included a vacant, two-story, 109,000 square-foot structure that was most recently used to manufacture vinyl records for Decca and was currently being used for storage. The city and the property’s private owner sought a manufacturing operation or data storage operation to buy and redevelop the entire structure. 

Vita Nuova’s reuse assessment, which included a real estate market assessment and stakeholder interviews, determined that the site was no longer suitable for manufacturing, and it was very unlikely that a single manufacturing company would renovate and occupy the structure. The market assessment indicated a strong demand for housing in the city, and the site, surrounded by existing residential uses, was most suitable for either market-rate or workforce housing. Its proximity to downtown and a regional Rails-to-Trails bikeway also provided attractive amenities for residential reuse. The Vita Nuova team also saw an opportunity to combine the Decca Records site with an adjacent, city-owned public works garage that the city was in the process of disposing of. The combined acreage of the two sites created a large enough parcel to allow for a higher number of units and, therefore, a more attractive development opportunity. The city has since issued a Request for Proposal and secured a real estate developer to redevelop the site.