One slide in the Town of Malta's August 2026 presentation on Route 9 has a photo and three bullets. The west side of US Route 9 has "no existing pedestrian facilities." There are "numerous businesses along the corridor." The third bullet reads "worn foot-path along the roadside."
The slide belongs to the Malta PEDALS project, short for Pedestrian Downtown Access Linkage System. It came out during a year when several Route 9 storefronts changed hands. Two restaurants opened in spaces that had sat empty or changed owners. A new convenience store started going up across from a Stewart's. A twelve-year restaurant left a space that still has no announced successor. Each of those changes took months. The path along that roadside is on a federal schedule that won't put equipment on the ground until summer 2027.
The gap between those two speeds is the story of Route 9 this fall.
Four Addresses, Four Speeds
| Address | Before | Now | Status as of October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2955 Route 9 | 13 North | Sherry Hot Chicken & Grill | Open since July 23, 2026 |
| 2853 Route 9 | Dunning Street Station | Harvest Grain Pizza | Open since early May 2026 |
| 2954 Route 9 | XtraMart | Honey Farms Market | Under construction, no opening date set |
| 2639 Route 9 | Nanola | No announced tenant | Closed since Sept. 30, 2025 |
The fastest turnover was at 2955 Route 9. NEWS10 reported that 13 North closed at this address in 2025. Its owners rebranded and reopened as Elody at 54 Phila Street in Saratoga Springs. Sherry Hot Chicken & Grill opened in the Malta space on Thursday, July 23, 2026. It's the chain's second location. The first is at 1121 Glenwood Avenue in Oneida. The menu covers chicken sliders, tenders, wings and nuggets at various heat levels, plus gyros, burgers, rice platters, salads and seafood. It's open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Harvest Grain Pizza took a slower path into 2853 Route 9, the former Dunning Street Station. NEWS10 covered the sale of that restaurant space to Harvest Grain in July 2025. The station reported the pizzeria's opening on May 5, 2026, saying the doors had opened that Monday. That puts about ten months between the announced sale and the first pies.
Both are restaurant-to-restaurant handoffs. Each new operator moved into a kitchen that was already built, and that's why the turnover could happen in months.
The Two That Are Still Dark
A ground-up building takes longer, even for a large company. At 2954 Route 9, Global Partners is replacing its closed XtraMart with Honey Farms Market, which will be the brand's first store in New York. NEWS10 reported on March 31, 2026 that construction was underway and the company expected a summer opening. Trade outlet CSP later printed an August target and noted that a new store building would go up on the site.
Summer came and went. Saratoga Springs Magazine reported on October 1 that the new building was still going up. As of September 21, neither a construction completion date nor an opening date had been finalized. Store hours, the number of fuel pumps and the Malta menu were still unannounced. The same report points out that a Stewart's operates at the same intersection. The site is also less than four miles from Ballston Spa, where Stewart's is based. A Global Partners executive said Saratoga "stood out as a great fit" and that there is room for customers to use both stores.
The other quiet address is 2639 Route 9. The Daily Gazette reported that Nanola would close effective September 30, 2025, and that its owner planned to focus on Ophelia's, his restaurant in Albany. Saratoga TODAY marked the closing after 12 years of restaurant, bar and live music on Route 9. The same Saratoga TODAY report notes that in February 2025, Slidin' Dirty took over Nanola's kitchen and debuted a new menu. No new tenant, sale or redevelopment plan has been announced for the space since then.
So the four addresses run at four speeds. A finished kitchen with a ready buyer filled in a matter of months. A planned sale took most of a year. A new building on a cleared lot is running past its own targets. One space is still empty a year later.
What the Town Is Building Beside Them
PEDALS is the town's plan for the strip of ground those storefronts face. According to the August 2026 presentation, the work runs along the west side of US Route 9 from Taddeo Road to just north of Landau Boulevard. The town's draft consultant agreement puts the length at about 3,200 feet, with curb ramps, curbing, crossings, lighting and signage.
The presentation lists the main pieces:
- A 10-foot-wide asphalt multi-use path with a 5-foot grass buffer between it and the road
- Concrete gutter south of Stonebreak Road and new curbing north of it
- The existing sidewalk along the roundabout replaced by the wider path
- New ADA-compliant street crossings
- Drainage improvements, three utility pole relocations, and manhole and valve adjustments
The town's public session notice says the path would link downtown to neighborhoods south of Stonebreak Road. In plain terms, the worn footpath in the photo becomes a paved, buffered route past many of the same businesses that turned over this year.
Why a Path Takes Longer Than a Restaurant
The budget is $1,960,000, which covers engineering, construction and inspection. Federal money pays 80 percent and local money pays 20 percent. PEDALS is set up as a Locally Administered Federal-Aid project sponsored by the Town of Malta. Federal money comes with federal steps, and the town's schedule shows them in order:
- Design approval, summer 2026
- Detailed design, winter 2026
- Bid opening, spring 2027
- Construction start, summer 2027
The schedule has already slipped once. The town's October 2024 consultant agreement planned for construction to begin in summer 2026. The 2026 presentation moved that start back a full year, and neither document gives a completion date.
Land is part of the reason. The presentation proposes right-of-way takings from 9 properties and says none of them are residential. A restaurant changes hands with one buyer and one seller. A public path along a commercial strip needs agreements on nine parcels before anyone bids on the work.
In 2026, Sherry Hot Chicken went from an empty space to an open dining room in the time PEDALS took to reach design approval. The path will open onto whatever lineup of businesses is there in 2027 or later, and that lineup could look different from this October's.
What Construction Will Look Like
The presentation describes construction as a shoulder project. Access to properties stays open the whole time, and residents are notified before work begins. Crews would use temporary shoulder and lane closures, no full closures or detours are expected, and work is restricted on holidays. Creighton Manning Engineering & Surveying is the consultant, with Don Adams, P.E., as project manager.
Until then, the corridor stays as it is now. There are two new kitchens to try, a convenience store still under construction with no opening date, and a closed twelve-year restaurant at 2639 Route 9. The west side has no sidewalk, only the worn path in the town's own photo.
If you own property near a corridor like this one and want to talk through what its changes could mean for you, Horse & Home Estates would be glad to talk it through over a Concierge Consultation.
