GUILDERLAND — A property in development for years is now looking to push for approval, to start construction by the end of summer. 

First proposed in 2019, Spruce Plaza, a 1.82-acre site directly across Route 20 from Guilderland Town Hall, would be 12,500 square feet consisting of professional offices, restaurants, and apartments. 

The building, which is located in the  local-business zoning district, requires a special-use permit from the zoning board.

During an April 21 public hearing on the proposal, zoning board members were told the project’s owner, Michael Davidson, a lawyer, would occupy one of the professional office spaces, and that his wife’s dentistry office would occupy the other.  

Davidson’s wife’s dentistry office, Alina Dellanzo DDS, which is currently located in Stuyvesant Plaza, would be the anchor tenant while his own law firm would be the other major tenant. A “healthy eatery” and a yet-to-be-determined restaurant were also proposed for the building, as were three apartments on the building’s second floor. 

Davidson was looking for project approval, he said, because the intent was to start construction by the end of the summer, so that the building would be weather-proof by winter and set for a spring 2022 opening.

During the public-comment portion of the hearing, neighbor Matt Hulihan told the board he was worried about the height of the building and amount of screening being proposed by Davidson.

One of the proposed restaurants would have a 1,000-square-foot roof deck that Hulihan thought would look directly into his backyard — he’s got three children.

Davidson said Hulihan lives about 210 feet behind the development, and he added screening to mollify Hulihan, but said, “There are two sides to a fence, and if for whatever reason, he didn’t feel like all these pine trees that I’m going to be putting up are going to be enough privacy, he could have, of his own accord, put up [screening] if he chose to.”