Construction crews have finally broken ground on a retail plaza at 244 Wolf Road in Colonie, tucked between a Sunoco gas station and the northbound off-ramp for Exit 4 of Interstate 87. The project, which will include a Subway restaurant owned by veteran franchisee Russ Faden, is expected to be completed next spring, capping a saga that included a rejected proposal and a lawsuit against the town.
According to the Times Union, the plaza will span 6,500 square feet on a 0.7-acre lot, with a project budget of $2.75 million. The building will include a 1,900-square-foot Subway location owned by Faden, who is described as a local developer and longtime Subway franchisee. Faden bought the property in 2022 for $250,000 alongside Yates Scott Lansing and Colin Lansing, both affiliated with Lansing Engineering in Malta.
The road to groundbreaking was not smooth. Faden first pitched the project to the Colonie Planning Board in February 2023, but the board denied his initial concept plan in 2024, citing traffic concerns near the development. Earlier reporting from timesunion.com noted a 2022 traffic study had estimated roughly 13 vehicles entering the site during morning peak hours and 28 during the afternoon peak, and board chairman Heider said at the time that members planned to hire a traffic engineer for further review.
Lawsuit Preceded Planning Board Reversal
After the board's denial, developers sued the town and the Colonie Planning Board, alleging in court documents that the board rejected the proposal without a clear explanation and denied the organization's property-related rights. The lawsuit asked the court to reverse the board's decision and require the town to pay the developers' legal fees. That suit was ultimately discontinued, and the Planning Board approved an early concept version of the plan at its April 23, 2024 meeting, with the final version to be reviewed at a later date, according to the Times Union's earlier coverage.
Yates Scott Lansing of Lansing Engineering represented the developers at that April 2024 meeting, timesunion.com reported. The property is owned by 224 Wolf Road LLC, an entity associated with Faden, Yates Scott Lansing and Colin Lansing. C2 Design Group is listed as the architect for the plaza, while Faben Enterprises is both its developer and builder.
Project Figures Vary Across Reports
Reported dimensions and costs for the Wolf Road project have shifted depending on the source. The Times Union's latest report pegs the structure at 6,500 square feet with a $2.75 million budget, while a separate account from saratoga.com described the building as 6,400 square feet with an estimated cost of $2.5 million, and said financing had been secured through Pioneer Bank. A real estate listing from redmarkrealty.com, meanwhile, marketed the planned structure as a three-unit retail building totaling approximately 6,000 square feet and divisible into separate spaces, sitting along a stretch of Wolf Road the listing says sees more than 25,000 vehicles a day.
Saratoga.com's report added that all approvals for the project were in place except for a permit from the state Department of Transportation, and credited Scott Lansing of Malta-based Lansing Engineering PC with doing much of the work to secure the project's approvals and permits. The outlet also reported that the building would accommodate three tenants, one of which will be Faden's Subway, with Faden saying, “I own the Subway shop and we're assuming there will be two other businesses in there.”
A Growing Portfolio of Plazas and Apartments
Faden is a prolific figure in the regional Subway franchise world, owning 41 Subway franchises and employing 300 people across full- and part-time positions, per saratoga.com. He started developing commercial plazas in 2018 and had built six by the time of that report, including an 8,400-square-foot retail development at The Outlets at Lake George that added 24 storage units in the rear.
Beyond Wolf Road, Faden is working on a 34-unit apartment building behind his existing retail plaza in Queensbury, as well as a mixed-use development on West Avenue in Saratoga Springs. Saratoga.com's report described a planned 74-unit apartment building at the corner of West Avenue and Station Lane in that city, and noted Faden had two other commercial developments in Queensbury in the planning stages.
Wolf Road itself continues to see fresh development activity nearby. The Colonie Planning Board recently approved concept plans for a proposed Raising Cane's on Wolf Road, and construction is already underway for a nearby QuickChek location, according to the Times Union.
