Joseph Leuci is a co-owner Foothills Builders with his father, also named Joe. Over the past 10 years, they have successfully built up their family-owned home building and real estate development business alongside his father and his wife, Jill.

He grew up in Queensbury and studied civil engineering at Saint Michael’s College and The University of Vermont.  Joe and Jill have two beautiful children, ages 3 and 5.

Here is a recent interview from the Albany Business Review.

You studied civil engineering in college. Did you always plan for a career in real estate development and construction? My grandfather’s a builder on my mom’s side and my dad’s side is filled with carpenters. It was just something I always thought about. My dad was in the car business for a while, and then after I graduated we started Foothills Builders together.

How did you come to start your business? I was working for an engineer, my dad and I GC’ed my house together and knew we really liked it. It was over 10 years ago at this point. So we bought some land and got the ball rolling and the rest is history.

How many homes have you built since starting the business in 2013? Around 100 or so. Primarily it’s been subdivisions of 13 to 30 houses around Queensbury, Corinth, South Glens Falls, and a little in Schuylerville and Granville. We’ve sold primarily ranches in the 1,400-square-foot to 1,700-square-foot range. In our latest subdivision in Corinth, we’ve had more of a balance of one and two-story home plans.

Foothills Builders has done some smaller mixed-use projects, but you’re finishing up construction on your largest project yet at 80 Main St. in Queensbury. Tell me about that project. It’s 24 apartments — it’s 20 one-bedroom apartments and four two-bedroom apartments. The first floor is about 7,000 square feet of commercial space.

We drove past this lot a thousand times. It had a for sale sign on it. It was an older house and finally I said, “Let me see what it is.” I looked at the tax map, looked at the zoning of what is allowed here. And it seems like this area is pretty much written for mixed-use development. Given how close this is to the Northway and how close this is to downtown, it just seemed like a perfect spot for a building like this. We’re getting a lot of people who want the apartments who commute, both going south and north. We figure someone working at the hospital, this is a great spot for them too.

Queensbury, and really all of Warren County, is facing a housing shortage. What has demand been like for these apartments? It’s really strong. When we are ready to turn over the apartments to people in May, it’ll be full.

Do you have tenants for the first-floor commercial space? There’s a convenience store going in one of the spaces, and we’re going to put our office and showroom in one of the other spaces. For a while, our office has been in our guest room, so we’re excited to get it out of the house and separate a little bit.

There’s two spaces still available. One’s about 1,500 square feet, and the other one’s about 1,900. It’s a lot of word of mouth. Facebook Marketplace is where I found success for the smaller-scale commercial in the past.

What are some of the other larger development projects you have in the works? We’re working on approvals on two large-scale projects. One’s another mixed-use development in Glens Falls on Warren Street that is 60 apartments, with about 11,500 square feet of commercial. And then there’s going to be climate-controlled storage, about 8,500 square feet of storage space. We’re hoping to be on the May agenda for a planning board for that and we’re hoping to have approvals this spring.

We’re also seeking approval for a 64-townhouse development where Mead’s Nursery currently is on Ridge Road in Queensbury.

How is the region’s housing shortage driving demand for new apartment and townhome developments? Housing in general is a huge demand. We like the mixed-use aspect, especially for Warren Street, given its proximity to downtown. Not only is it adding housing where it’s a huge need in the city, but it’s also an opportunity for more stores or restaurants that will eventually be needed as more people are moving there. The South Street development in Glens Falls that’s about to be underway is going to bring a lot of people downtown. I think with the influx of people, there’s going to be a lot of demand for stuff that maybe five, 10 years ago wasn’t in demand.

What are some of the biggest challenges to both building and getting projects approved right now? We wish the approval process would go quicker, but we understand there’s a lot of steps that need to be taken and a lot of engineering that needs to be done. A big adjustment for me on building [80 Main] was reworking my expectations of the timelines. I’ve learned along the way and we’re ready for the next one now, at least, with better expectations. We’re always trying to make sure you have something coming in the pipeline because you never know how long it’s going to take to have it ready. Sometimes it could be ready in a year, sometimes it could be ready in years.

What is surprising you about the current market? Just how strong the demand still is. Sometimes I’m shocked at where the prices are with the interest rates high and the prices high. A couple years ago the interest rates were so low that with the prices being high, the payments weren’t much different. But now it’s a little shocking to see how expensive housing has gotten, and I think part of that is a function of how little there is out there. The demand is still up, so it’s still moving. There’s still waiting lists in apartment buildings and there’s still multiple offers and houses for sale.

What other projects are you working on? We’re just getting underway on a new subdivision in Corinth. It’s 26 single-family houses and there’s eight duplex lots. We are starting construction on the first 10 houses that are under contract. We have one framed with mechanicals going in and a couple more foundations are underway.

Who’s your average buyer? We have a couple of townhouses in Queensbury, three bedrooms with first-floor bedrooms. Those attracted downsizers, who want something more maintenance free. We’ve also found a lot of families or young professionals who may not be ready to buy, but they’re looking to get a place and live on their own.

Do you plan to continue building single-family projects, even with some larger developments in the pipeline? I don’t know if we’ll ever turn away from the single-family housing. There’s a need for it. There’s also satisfaction with putting together a neighborhood. Occasionally we’ll still drive through some of our older neighborhoods and just see how they look. It’s fun to see them five years later as the landscaping grows up around the houses. It’s great to know you’ve created a neighborhood, we talk to a lot of the people we’ve built and hear about the new friendships that have formed in the neighborhoods.

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Floor plan catalog for Black Bear Path

Click here to download 15 carefully selected elegant floorplans.

Foundation
– Poured concrete footings per plan
– 8”W x 8’H poured concrete walls
– Asphalt water seal coating on basement walls
– Poured concrete floor slab
– Exterior basement walls insulated per code
– 1 Basement Egress window with window well and ladder
– Poured concrete garage floor slab

Electrical
– 200-amp underground service
– Underground phone and cable service to house
– Hard wired smoke detectors with battery backup per code
– Carbon Monoxide detectors per code
– 2 exterior outlets, front and rear
– 1 overhead combination light/vent in each bathroom
– Each bathroom wired for vanity lights
– Each bedroom wired for 1 overhead light and walk in closet light
– Lighting layout per builder’s plan
– $750 light fixture allowance

Plumbing/ Heating
– Pex tubing throughout house
– Water line for refrigerator ice maker
– 50-gallon electric water heater
– PVC waste lines
– Washer/ Electric Dryer hook up (gas dryer
optional)
– 2 frost free exterior hose bibs, 1 front, 1 rear
– Propane, forced hot air heat
– Central AC

Roof and Siding
– 30-year Owens Corning asphalt shingles
– Ice and water shield at all valleys and eaves
– Roof ventilation system
– Low maintenance vinyl siding
– Vented soffit system
– Shutters on front elevation windows

Kitchen
– Low maintenance luxury vinyl plank flooring
– Wolf cabinets from builder’s selection (Kitchen Island optional)
– Granite countertops from builder’s selection (Backsplash optional)
– Wired for 30” Electric Range
– Stainless steel appliance package (Washer/Dryer not included)
– Stainless steel single bowl sink
– Chrome Delta faucets or equivalent

Flooring
– Low maintenance luxury vinyl plank flooring in bathrooms, kitchen, laundry and mud
room from builder’s selection
– Carpet with padding from builder’s selection in bedrooms, living room, stairs (from first to
second floor) and second floor

Interior
– 9’ Ceilings on first floor of two-story floor plans
– Cathedral ceilings on one-story floor plans (where shown)
– 3 ½” pine baseboard molding, painted white
– 2 ¼” pine picture frame trim around door frames and window frame, painted white
– All interior sheetrock primed: ceilings and trim painted white, interior walls painted flat white

Windows and Doors
– Energy efficient vinyl windows
– Single Fiberglass front entrance door (sidelights and transom lights optional)
– 6’ Energy efficient vinyl sliding door (where shown)
– Single 16’ x 7’ carriage style overhead garage door

Main bathroom
– 36” Single bowl vanity molded marble countertop sink combination from builder’s selection
– Single unit white fiberglass bathtub/shower combination
– Comfort height elongated white toilet
– Polished chrome fixtures

Master bathroom
– 36” Single bowl vanity molded marble countertop sink combination from builder’s selection
– White fiberglass shower insert
– Comfort height elongated white toilet
– Polished chrome fixtures

Powder Room (Where shown)
– White pedestal sink with polished chrome fixtures
– Comfort height white elongated toilet

Landscaping
– Yard graded with topsoil
– Paved driveway (width of garage opening by length to road for front load garages)
– Concrete sidewalk from paved driveway to front porch

Note: Builder reserves the right to substitute materials specified with similar products of equal quality. Items described as
“optional” may contain and associated upgrade cost. Marketing and construction drawings may depict upgraded features.
Foothills Builders’ standard list shall supersede any upgraded items depicted on the drawings unless the upgrade is specifically
mentioned in the contract price list or subsequent change order documentation.

Builder and brokerage team up for 1% commission on home sales

(May 6, 2024) Albany Business Review

Foothills Builders grows to take on larger projects

(April 17, 2024) Albany Business Review

Builders propose new four-story building in Glens Falls with 60 apartments

(March 4, 2024) Albany Business Review

Foothills Builders Will Start Construction Of A 24-Unit Apartment Complex This Year

(October 2022) Glens Falls Business Journal 

Foothills Builders Planning To Construct 77 Townhouses On Former Garden Center Plot

(January 2022) Glens Falls Business Journal