Albany businessman Glenn Singfield Sr.: Detractors fear competition

ALBANY — Glenn Singfield’s celebratory mood over his successful campaign to have the city of Albany commit some $623,000 in downtown development funds to renovations that would allow him and his family to open a restaurant/event center at 112 Pine Ave. turned sour, Singfield said Thursday, when he read comments by developer Pace Burt that appeared in Thursday’s edition of The Albany Herald.

“You’d think that people who say they care about downtown Albany would be excited about a proposal that removes an eyesore in favor of a top-of-the-line restaurant/event center,” Singfield, who, with his son, Glenn II, and wife, Tandra, owns and operates the successful Albany Fish Company restaurant at 1921 Dawson Road, said. “I think the problem with some is that I don’t have a legacy of wealth.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t have the work ethic or the business savvy to expand my vision.”

In addition to Albany Fish Company, Glenn Singfield Sr. is the principal of Albany-based Artesian Construction, a company that he calls “one of the most prominent in the Southeastern United States.”

Burt, who is developing the Flats at 249 housing complex a couple of blocks west of the proposed restaurant site, told The Herald Wednesday that he fears the City Commission had “set Mr. Singfield up to fail” by making funding available for repairs on the largest building in the city’s Front Street Market development along Front Street and Pine Avenue. Burt said, “Everyone knows it’s going to take years before there is sufficient foot traffic (to support new businesses downtown).”

Burt also expressed concern that Singfield might not be able to “weather a financial storm” if the restaurant gets off to a slow start. That, Singfield said Thursday, is a personal affront.

“Here’s someone talking about what I can afford who has no idea what I can or can’t afford,” he said. “Maybe these people who are complaining think that because I don’t have the legacy of wealth that they do, I’m not capable of conducting a successful business. I think I’ve proved that I can. To make such an assumption is disingenuous at best.

“I have no interest in causing hardship for others, but what I think the problem is for some is that they made the move to the west side of town because that’s where the money was. Now that there has been a paradigm shift, they know there is a great deal of interest in downtown. Their real fear is competition.”

Singfield said that some local business officials and restaurateurs — whom he refused to name — had complained that the city was “giving me something.” He refuted that claim Thursday.

“The city isn’t giving me anything,” he said. “I asked that repairs be made on the building so that we could come in and develop it. That building needs a new roof — it leaks like a sieve — it has no HVAC, no restrooms, no electricity, no plumbing. All I asked the city to do — and all the city did — was agree to make funding available for needed repairs and for the city manager to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with me, just like she has for other developments downtown.

“Everybody has their own ‘thing’ that they worked out with the city. Yes, Mr. Burt is going to pay back the no-interest loan he agreed to, but he got that building for $50,000. Over the course of the 10 years of his loan, he could generate up to $5 million in business (at the Flats at 249). What the city will do with me will not be a gift. It will be an investment.”

Singfield said his research into a downtown development yielded the “same findings” as the independent Bleakly Advisory Group, which made a report to city officials.

“What they found is the same findings as my research: that a restaurant/high-end event center in that location is a perfect fit with the microbrewery,” he said. “(Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority Board President Jimmy Lindsey) referred to what we’re planning to do (at the Albany City Commission meeting Tuesday) as a ‘gathering place.’ I don’t like that connotation. We’re going to have a special events center to host corporate functions, community events, wedding receptions, business meetings.

“We’ll have all the technological accommodations that those kinds of events need — white boards, WiFi, all the technology, things that will make it unique. And because we’re so small, we won’t be competing (for events) with the Hilton Garden Inn or other places nearby. We don’t want to compete, we want to enhance. I think we have a phenomenal business plan that’s going to draw people to Albany from a thousand miles away.”

Singfield said he’s looking forward to sitting down with City Manager Sharon Subadan to work out an agreement that will allow him to start work on his project.

“Albany, Georgia, is my home by choice, not by force,” he said. “I owe the people of this community a lot for their support over the years, and I want to show them my gratitude by helping bring the city’s downtown back to life. I’m ready to expand my vision.

“I can’t spend a lot of time worried about people who would rather see the city’s assets occupied by their own interests.”

Attempts to reach Downtown Albany Manager Latoya Cutts for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.