Downtown Cohoes enjoying revival

COHOES -- LinguaLinx, a foreign language translation agency, has offices in San Francisco, London, Beijing and now -- Cohoes.

"You can't just look at the storefronts. There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes here," said David Smith, president of LinguaLinx.

This office, with more than 40 employees, moved to Remsen Street last year because Cohoes had what they were looking for.

"Really the extra effort in customizing everything for us, meeting each one of our concerns from parking to security to the layout of the building," said Smith.

Their location is just off the highway where three counties meet.

This is an old industrial mill town and the industry up and left. Mayor John McDonald saw the only chance for survival was to reinvent.

"We're not trying to land tomorrow's Wal-Mart, tomorrow's Target. Now, they all serve their purpose and their function. But downtown Cohoes is a perfect spot for people who want a niche business," said McDonald.

But everyone wants to bring in business. Why choose Cohoes? Companies say the price is right and Cohoes is hungry.

"They've really done a lot. The mayor and his team really help you find financing. There are grants available," said John Oberlander, head of Oberlander Group.

But it's more than that. Oberlander wanted to buy a creative space for his design and branding firm. He found an old theatre and a new spirit.

"There were really some creative little shops up and down Remsen Street that had started, some nice little businesses. So we could see the ball was rolling already, so that kind of convinced us that it was a wise decision to invest," said Oberlander.

Downstairs he has retail including a longtime barber shop Horan's and a new handbag store called Satchel.

But things are not just happening along the main street. The old Grave's cotton bale warehouse is now Grant Street Studios. Artist Fred Neudoerffer found space for his commercial photography.

"I think there's a lot of art going on in Cohoes," said Fred Neudoerffer of NeuStudios. "It may not be visible to everybody, but I think there is a lot going on here."

"I think there's a creative community in Cohoes that I think helps a lot of towns that at one time or another, for one reason or another, struggled to start back up."

The mayor says Cohoes is "large enough to matter, small enough to care," and following a detailed plan.

There are pioneers, like a knitting store, the Cohoes Music Hall and the Harmony House Marketplace, which was a a three-building restoration project. It's now becoming itself a destination.

Across the street, there's Smith's, which has been restored and re-opened.

"I just felt that the city would support it. It's been here so long and people had come here for so long," said Joe Hostig of Smith's Restaurant.

It's rich with history, like its hometown. Cohoes is now evolving, breathing new life into an old city.