Smith's Tavern

Stewart’s Shops plans to put the former Smitty’s Tavern on the market in as soon as a week, possibly.

Smith's Tavern

Voorheesville adopted a moratorium on development at the end of June so that its first-ever comprehensive land-use plan can be completed. 

Anyone with a fond memory of Smith’s Tavern in Voorheesville was invited in this week to buy and take home a piece of a community cultural landmark, just after it shut down.

Stewart’s Shops has exercised its option to buy Smith’s Tavern although the special-use permit that would allow for gas pumps has not been decided upon.

Gertrude Smith will celebrate her 88th birthday in the place she considers her second home — Smith’s Tavern. She and her husband ran the Voorheesville eatery for decades.

Stewart’s Shops planned to buy Smith’s Tavern, a popular Voorheesville eatery, and put a gas station and convenience store on Maple Avenue but now, says Chuck Marshall, representing Stewart’s, the village wants to block the project with a moratorium on gas stations while it searches for a new well site.

Residents from Guilderland, Bethlehem, and Albany have joined Voorheesville villagers in mourning the anticipated loss of Smith’s Tavern in the heart of the village along the Vly Creek, and across from the elementary school. The iconic pizzeria may soon be sold to Stewart’s Shops.

“I’m trying to retire,” Smith’s Tavern co-owner Jon McClelland told The Enterprise. “I thought we had it sold to a group.”

The sale did not go through, he said.

In addition to negotiating for Smith's Tavern, Stewart's Shops is entering "normal business-to-business" discussions with the corporate owner of the Voorheesville Mobil station.

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