Campuses must develop schedules that conduct the test as close to a student’s departure date as possible, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced Oct. 27. In all, SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities will test about 140,000 students over a 10-day period preceding Thanksgiving break, SUNY said. SUNY contends that this testing requirement will help prevent community […]
Campuses must develop schedules that conduct the test as close to a student’s departure date as possible, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced Oct. 27. In all, SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities will test about 140,000 students over a 10-day period preceding Thanksgiving break, SUNY said.
SUNY contends that this testing requirement will help prevent community spread as students return to their hometowns. Colleges and universities must submit a plan to test all of their on-campus students within that 10-day window no later than Nov. 5.
All students who are taking at least one class on campus; utilizing on-campus services such as the gym, library, or dining hall; or working on campus must test negative for COVID-19 within 10 days prior to their college closing on-campus instruction and services.
Antibody tests do not count toward this requirement, SUNY noted.
“As in-person classes and instruction come to a close [in late November], tens of thousands of students will travel across the state and country to be with their families and complete their fall courses remotely,” Malatras said in a statement. “By requiring all students to test negative before leaving, we are implementing a smart, sensible policy that protects students’ families and hometown communities and drastically reduces the chances of COVID-19 community spread. While we understand there is a lot of focus on plans for the spring semester, we must first finish this semester safely.”
Under previously approved, fall-semester plans, most SUNY colleges and universities are set to shift to 100 percent remote learning after Thanksgiving, with residential facilities shutting down, barring exceptions for students “with extenuating circumstances.”
Pending sales skyrocketed ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors closed on the sale of 13,322 previously-owned homes in September, up 12.2 percent from the 11,878 homes sold in September 2019, amid strong buyer interest as the market emerged from the worst effects of the pandemic. Pending home sales jumped 49.3 percent to 16,813 in September from
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York realtors closed on the sale of 13,322 previously-owned homes in September, up 12.2 percent from the 11,878 homes sold in September 2019, amid strong buyer interest as the market emerged from the worst effects of the pandemic.
Pending home sales jumped 49.3 percent to 16,813 in September from 11,264 a year ago. That’s according to the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR)’s September housing-market report issued Oct. 22.
“As cooler weather approaches, the New York State real estate market continues to heat up with strong buyer activity amid continued low inventory,” NYSAR said in the report.
New listings increased as well, rising 13.6 percent from 18,542 homes a year ago to 21,062 this September.
As buyer demand rose amid limited inventory, it caused house prices to soar. The September 2020 statewide median sale price popped 17.5 percent to nearly $325,000 from over $276,000 in September 2019.
The months’ supply of homes for sale at the end of September stood at 4.5 months’ supply, down about 22 percent from 5.8 months a year ago, per NYSAR’s report.
A 6-month to 6.5-month supply is considered to be a balanced market, the association said.
The number of homes for sale fell 21.5 percent from 67,107 units in September 2019 to 52,687 homes this September.
Central New York data
Realtors in Onondaga County sold 481 previously owned homes in September, down 4 percent from the 501 homes sold in the year-ago month. The median sale price rose 16.7 percent to $178,000 from $152,500 a year prior, according to the NYSAR report.
The association also reports that realtors sold 195 homes in Oneida County in September, up 8.9 percent from the 179 homes sold during September 2019. The median sale price increased 14.4 percent to $152,950 from $133,700 a year ago.
Realtors in Broome County sold 189 existing homes in September, up 21.9 percent from 155 a year earlier, according to the NYSAR report. The median sale price rose 8.4 percent to $135,500 from $125,000 in September 2019.
In Jefferson County, realtors closed on the sale of 143 homes in September, up 32.4 percent from 108 a year ago. The median sale price rose 5.7 percent to $161,000 from $152,350 in September 2019, according to the NYSAR data.
All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York state and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.
Doctors’ practices are in a fight to stay financially viable as they battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a new nationwide physician survey, issued Oct. 28 by the American Medical Association (AMA) shows medical practices have been economically stressed by the public-health crisis with a 32-percent average decline in revenue. “Physician practices continue to be
Doctors’ practices are in a fight to stay financially viable as they battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a new nationwide physician survey, issued Oct. 28 by the American Medical Association (AMA) shows medical practices have been economically stressed by the public-health crisis with a 32-percent average decline in revenue.
“Physician practices continue to be under significant financial stress due to reductions in patient volume and revenue, in addition to higher expenses for supplies that are scarce for some physicians,” AMA President Susan R. Bailey, M.D. said in a release about the survey. “More economic relief is needed now from Congress as some medical practices contemplate the brink of viability, particularly smaller practices that are facing a difficult road to recovery,” she contends.
The AMA’s nationally representative survey of 3,500 physicians, administered from mid-July through August 2020, “illustrates precarious trends and realities that physicians face as they continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” per the release.”
Financial impact
• 81 percent of physicians surveyed said revenue was lower than in February. Revenue reductions were 50 percent or more for nearly 1 out of 5 physicians.
Patient volume
• 81 percent of doctors were providing fewer in-person patient visits than in February. In-person patient visits fell 50 percent or more for greater than one-third of physicians.
• Despite increased telehealth visits since February, almost 7 out of 10 physicians were providing fewer total visits (in-person plus telehealth). Total patient visits fell 50 percent or more for greater than 1 out of 5 physicians.
Practice expenses
• Spending on personal protective equipment (PPE) since February increased 50 percent or more for nearly 2 out of 5 medical-practice owners.
• 36 percent of physicians said that acquiring PPE was very or extremely difficult, especially for smaller practices that lack purchasing power to compete with larger health systems.
According to the AMA survey, most medical-practice owners reported that the federal financial-assistance programs offered early in the pandemic were very or extremely helpful.
You can check out the full AMA survey results at https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-10/covid-19-physician-practice-financial-impact-survey-results.pdf
SYRACUSE — Syracuse Stage announced that it has named Herman Frazier, who is senior deputy director of athletics at Syracuse University, as president of its board of trustees. Frazier has been a member of the Syracuse Stage board since 2017 and served as treasurer during the 2019-2020 season. Before coming to Syracuse in 2011, he
SYRACUSE — Syracuse Stage announced that it has named Herman Frazier, who is senior deputy director of athletics at Syracuse University, as president of its board of trustees.
Frazier has been a member of the Syracuse Stage board since 2017 and served as treasurer during the 2019-2020 season. Before coming to Syracuse in 2011, he held positions at Temple University, University of Hawaii, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and Arizona State. Frazier replaces outgoing board president Bethaida (Bea) González, who will remain on the board as a trustee.
Syracuse Stage also announced that Nancy Green, managing member at Edward S. Green & Associates, LLC, has taken the position of Syracuse Stage board chair. Green has been on the Syracuse Stage board since 2008. Prior to her time at Edward S. Green & Associates, she held investment advisory roles at Armory Capital Management, UBS Financial Services, and Dean Witter, and is a past board member of Manlius Pebble Hill School and board president of CazCares.
Syracuse Stage also announced that Amir Rahnamay-Azar — who is senior VP for business, finance, and administrative services and chief financial officer at Syracuse University — is its new board treasurer. Rahnamay-Azar has been a member of the Syracuse Stage board since 2017. With nearly 25 years of experience in higher education, he has held roles at Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Southern California. In his current position at Syracuse University, Rahnamay-Azar is responsible for overseeing auxiliary services, campus development and facilities operations, campus safety and emergency management services, financial planning and resource management, internal audit and real estate, and asset management.
Founded in 1974, Syracuse Stage is the nonprofit, professional theatre company in residence at Syracuse University.
SYRACUSE — Just over four out of 10 hotel rooms in Onondaga County were filled with guests in September, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hamper the hospitality industry. The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county was 43.5 percent in September, down 31.3 percent from September 2019
SYRACUSE — Just over four out of 10 hotel rooms in Onondaga County were filled with guests in September, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hamper the hospitality industry.
The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county was 43.5 percent in September, down 31.3 percent from September 2019 levels. That’s according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. Year to date, hotel occupancy in the county is down more than 39 percent compared to 2019.
Onondaga County’s revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, was $35.70 in September, down 47.4 percent from a year prior. RevPar is off nearly 51 percent through the first nine months of 2020, compared to the same period last year.
Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, was $82.15 in September, down 23.3 percent from September 2019. ADR is down almost 19 percent year to date, from 2019 levels.
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Broome County hotels posted an average occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) of 49.6 percent in September, the highest mark since the COVID-19 pandemic started. In comparison, the county’s occupancy rate was 46.2 percent in August, 38.1 percent in July, 34.1 percent in June, and 27.3 percent in
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Broome County hotels posted an average occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) of 49.6 percent in September, the highest mark since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
In comparison, the county’s occupancy rate was 46.2 percent in August, 38.1 percent in July, 34.1 percent in June, and 27.3 percent in May, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. Still, September’s occupancy rate was down nearly 17 percent from a year ago. Also, it’s likely hotels will take a significant business hit in October as a surge in coronavirus cases has led to stay-at-home recommendations and parts of the county being declared a “Yellow Zone” by the state, which placed restrictions on gatherings, events, and restaurants.
Broome County’s revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, improved to $38.87 in September from $37.36 in August, $28.97 in July, and $24.93 in June. However, RevPar was down more than 31 percent from a year earlier.
In its manufacturing heyday in the early 20th century, Syracuse certainly deserved the moniker, Gear City. At that time, Syracuse ompanies such as New Process Gear, Brown-Lipe Gear, Brown-Lipe-Chapin, Durston Gear, Diefendorf Gear, and Nixon Gear, fabricated 25 million gears annually, made $50 million, and employed thousands of local citizens. The breadth of finished products that
In its manufacturing heyday in the early 20th century, Syracuse certainly deserved the moniker, Gear City. At that time, Syracuse
ompanies such as New Process Gear, Brown-Lipe Gear, Brown-Lipe-Chapin, Durston Gear, Diefendorf Gear, and Nixon Gear, fabricated 25 million gears annually, made $50 million, and employed thousands of local citizens.
The breadth of finished products that utilized locally made gears was incredibly diverse: bicycles, automobiles, trucks, printing presses, sewing machines, portable and industrial tools. Gear companies located in Syracuse reputedly made about 90 percent of the automotive gears used in the U.S.
This article offers brief synopses of some of the more notable gear manufacturers in Syracuse, culminating with Nixon Gear, which is celebrating its centennial year in 2020.
New Process Raw Hide Company, New Process Gear Corporation, New Venture Gear, Inc.
Thomas W. Meachem organized the New Process Raw Hide Company on June 25, 1888 in Baldwinsville, with $30,000 in capital. The company first made leather-covered boats and canoes, utilizing its patented new leather tanning process. By the following year, New Process had expanded its product lines to include solid, noiseless rawhide gears used on high-speed machinery and electric railway cars.
By the early 20th century, New Process Raw Hide complemented its rawhide gears with those made from hardened steel, brass, and cast iron. In 1912, the company introduced the first bevel gear and officially renamed the business New Process Gear Corporation.
Thomas Meachem retired as president in November 1918 and sold the company to auto maker John Willys, president of the Willys-Overland Company. Meachem and his sons, Thomas G. and Joseph F.S., then formed the Meachem Gear Company in 1919. The two sons operated the new company until November 1924, when they suddenly announced without explanation that they were closing the business.
Willys-Overland sold New Process Gear to General Motors in 1921. General Motors then sold the company to Chrysler in 1934, later becoming a Chrysler subsidiary in the 1950s.
N
ew Process Gear made four-wheel drive systems and transmissions for trucks, tractors, and military equipment. During World War II, New Process Gear employed 1,700 workers, earned $10.75 million in gross sales, and had a payroll of $80,000 each week. By the 1970s, New Process Gear led the world in making a two-speed transfer case for heavy-duty vehicles.
In 1990, New Process Gear celebrated its 102nd anniversary and was reorganized as New Venture Gear, the first joint venture between Chrysler and General Motors. In February 2002, General Motors sold its company share to DaimlerChrysler. In 2003, New Venture Gear had $1.5 billion in sales, 4,000 employees, and a $5 million-a-week local payroll. DaimlerChrysler sold 80 percent of its share of New Venture Gear to Magna International in September 2004. However, by 2007, New Venture Gear was having trouble winning new manufacturing contracts and was losing a great deal of money. In August 2012, the plant stopped production and closed its doors after 124 years.
Brown-Lipe Gear Company
Two inventors and entrepreneurs, Alexander T. Brown and Charles E. Lipe, formed a business partnership in Syracuse in 1895. Brown, an amazing inventor and engineer, is credited with about 300 inventions.
Charles E. Lipe, a mechanical engineer, opened the C.E. Lipe Machine Shop on South Geddes Street in 1880. At the Lipe Shop, Lipe worked on his own projects while renting space to other budding inventors and entrepreneurs. The shop became an incubator for new inventions and was known as Syracuse’s cradle of industries. The Syracuse Journal newspaper credited these men with sowing “the germs that sprouted into major business enterprises in Syracuse and elsewhere.”
Together, Brown and Lipe invented and patented the Hy-Lo Bi-Gear for bicycles in 1894, and a year later formed the Brown-Lipe Gear Company. Their gear wasn’t well-liked by bicycle makers but soon became popular with automobile manufacturers. In 1895, Charles Lipe died and his brother Willard replaced him, and the company began making three-speed transmissions for Franklin, Ford, and the Yellow Cab Company.
The company’s business continued to grow, and in 1907, Brown-Lipe Gear Company built a new five-story factory at the corner of West Fayette and South Geddes Streets at a cost of about $100,000.
By 1908, Brown-Lipe Gear Company was working to capacity and could have easily employed 1,000 workers to make vehicle-steering gears and differentials but did not have the space or the equipment to take advantage of the sizeable increase in orders.
On Dec. 12, 1928, William Schall & Company bought the Brown-Lipe Gear Company for $3.4 million. At the time, Brown-Lipe Gear was recognized as the largest independent manufacturer of transmission gears, clutches, and controls for trucks, taxicabs, and buses in the nation. The magnitude of the local gear business caused the Syracuse Journal newspaper to credit the Brown-Lipe Gear Company with bestowing upon Syracuse the appellation, Gear City.
William Schall & Company then sold the Brown-Lipe Gear Company to the Spicer Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio, in 1928, which by April 1931, had moved Brown-Lipe Gear’s operation to that city, leaving a huge complex of empty buildings along West Fayette and South Geddes Streets.
Today, Cosmo Fanizzi and Rick Destito own two former Brown-Lipe Gear Company buildings on West Fayette and South Geddes Streets. Destito subsequently renamed his building the Gear Factory.
Bown-Lipe-Chapin Company
In 1910, Charles Mott of General Motors asked if Brown-Lipe Gear Company could make a new bevel gear differential. Making the new differential required more capital and manufacturing space than Brown-Lipe Gear Company could accommodate, so in 1910, Brown, Lipe, and H. Winfield Chapin formed another company — Brown-Lipe-Chapin — to make the bevel differential, along with transmission gears and clutches. The new company constructed a five-story building between West Fayette, Marcellus, and Seneca Streets, one of the largest factories built in Syracuse at that time.
During World War I, the federal government awarded Brown-Lipe-Chapin a $1.5 million contract to produce rear axle differentials for 17,000 military vehicles.
In January 1923, Brown-Lipe-Chapin formally affiliated itself with General Motors and became one of GM’s divisions.
As production waned between 1930 and 1933, General Motors closed the plant and converted it into an industrial center housing several small businesses. This venture lasted three years until GM resumed production of automobile parts at the factory site in February 1936.
That same year, Brown-Lipe-Chapin became affiliated with the Guide Lamp Division of General Motors and switched from making transmission gears and clutches to making flashier chrome parts: headlamps, tail lamps, hub caps, and bumper guards. The product line soon grew to include steering gears and automobile emblems.
In 1951, Brown-Lipe-Chapin began making parts for the Curtis-Wright J-65 Sapphire jet engine. The following year, Brown-Lipe-Chapin built a new plant in DeWitt to build the jet engine.
In December 1961, General Motors consolidated Brown-Lipe-Chapin into the Ternstedt Division. The Ternstedt Division then merged with the Fisher Body Division in November 1968.
For the next 25 years — 1968 to 1993 — employees at the Fisher Body plant in Syracuse continued to make automotive body parts for GM vehicles. In October 1993, GM closed the plant, known by then as the Fisher Inland Guide Plant, due to major corporate restructuring.
Durston Gear Corporation
Daniel M. Lefever established the Lefever Arms Company in Syracuse in 1884 to make breech-loading shotguns and rifles. About 1902, Lefever left the company to set up a new firearms company. James F. Durston, president of Lefever, had endeavored to make transmissions and jackshafts for motor wagons by 1912. Demand for Lefever Arms’ auto gears had amply increased in 1915, and it did not take long for the company to focus more on making auto gears than firearms.
Therefore, in June 1916, Lefever Arms Company sold its firearm business and formed Durston Gear Corporation. Immediately, James Durston added onto the Maltbie Street building to accommodate 500 employees.
During WW I, the U.S. government awarded a large contract to Durston Gear Corp. to make transmissions for U.S. Army trucks, one of only two companies in the entire country to be awarded the contract. By this time, James Durston relinquished the presidency to his older son, Alfred. When James died in 1921, and Alfred died in 1926, James’ younger son, Marshall, became company president, holding the position until Durston Gear Corp. closed its doors in 1945.
Diefendorf Gear Corporation
Willis H. Diefendorf was the chief engineer at the New Process Gear Company until he founded Diefendorf Gear Corporation in 1920 for the purpose of making a variety of specialized non-automotive, industrial metallic and non-metallic gears. In 1923, Diefendorf moved his company to 920 West Belden Avenue.
Willis Diefendorf died on May 25, 1929 at age 59. His widow, Mary, then succeeded her husband as company president and treasurer. Mrs. Diefendorf was one of only a few women business executives at the time and she successfully managed the company until her own death in January 1941. Mrs. Diefendorf’s son, Donald, then managed his parents’ gear business into the 1970s.
Diefendorf Gear Corp. made gears for machine tools, portable electric and pneumatic tools, packaging machinery, dairy-handling equipment, conveyors, and sewing machines. Employees made spur and spiral bevel gears out of rawhide, iron, steel, and bronze in sizes from less than one inch up to six feet in diameter, with some gears weighing 3,000 lbs.
Diefendorf Gear Corp. operated until the early 2000s when it closed due to stiff overseas competition.
Nixon Gear
The auto industry’s success in the early 20th century had already prompted several gear companies to open in Syracuse by 1920, and it was this burgeoning manufacturing environment that prompted George C. Nixon to join the ever-expanding local gear manufacturing scene. On Nov. 17, 1920, George Nixon founded Nixon Broach and Tool Company at 200 Oxford St. to sell general machining and special tooling.
George Coleman Nixon was born in Marengo County, Alabama in 1882. On June 9, 1909, Nixon married Kate Estelle Shakaw in Alabama. By 1916, George and Kate had moved to Detroit, Michigan where George established the Steel Treating Equipment Company with $10,000 in capital stock. This company specialized in manufacturing carbonizing compound and milled charcoal.
George and Kate Nixon migrated to Syracuse to establish Nixon Broach and Tool Company while he was still president of the Detroit company. By March 1921, Nixon was advertising that his shop could grind auto cylinders, then fit them with new pistons and rings. He guaranteed his work and provided quick service.
In 1924, Nixon began to manufacture gears and changed the business’ name to Nixon Gear and Machine Company. Nixon continued to advertise for experienced toolmakers and machinists in the classified section of the local newspapers throughout the 1920s. The management team operating Nixon Gear and Machine included George as president, Kate as secretary and treasurer, and George’s brother-in-law, John E. Shahan as VP. Shahan, also born in Alabama, had moved to Syracuse in 1924 to assist the Nixons with operating the company. In 1930, their positions altered with Shahan becoming company president, Kate becoming VP, and George becoming secretary and treasurer. George and Kate then moved back to Detroit in 1932. Shahan stayed in Syracuse and served as company president for many more years.
George continued managing the Steel Treating Equipment Company in Detroit, and from there, George and Kate Nixon continued their association with Nixon Gear and Machine Company as secretary and treasurer and VP, respectively, until 1941.
In the mid-1950s, Nixon Gear and Machine Company placed an ad in the Syracuse Herald-Journal newspaper touting its growth and success and allying itself with the progress achieved by Central New York. The company expanded and purchased more equipment to meet the demand for its products and services: thread milling, worm wheels, and helical, worm, bevel, and spur gears. The ad also described Nixon Gear and Machine Company as the exclusive Central New York distributor for diamond roller chain and sprockets, as well as asserting that the company was in the “enviable position of being able to fulfill the requirements of any gearing problem regardless of complexity or size of order.” In 1955, the company offered “precision flame hardening of all types of gears.”
On Jan. 1, 1956, company president, John E. Shahan, Sr., announced that he thought Nixon Gear and Machine Company would have its best production and sales year in the company’s history. By adding new machinery and enlarging its sales territory to a national extent, Shahan, Sr. predicted that the company would continue to expand and serve its increasing number of customers. At this time, Nixon Gear also made “fine pitch precision gears used on precision measuring and computing equipment for the army.”
George C. Nixon remained in Detroit until his death on Sept. 13, 1957 at age 75. His brief obituary in the Detroit Free Press newspaper lacked recognition of all that Nixon had achieved, including owning two successful businesses. By the time of George’s death, the Shahan family managed Nixon Gear and Machine Company. John E. Shahan, Sr. continued as president, John Sr.’s two sons, John E., Jr. and Robert were dual VPs, and John Sr.’s wife, Justina, was treasurer.
Nixon Gear and Machine Company applied to the Bureau of Building and Rehabilitation to construct a new facility at 185 Ainsley Drive in Syracuse in 1958. The application stated the building would measure 175-by-101 feet and cost $150,000 to build. The company moved to this address sometime in 1959.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, along with donating money to the local community chest, Nixon Gear and Machine Company employees faithfully donated many pints of blood to the American Red Cross. Numerous newspaper articles recognized the employees’ generous donations of the much-needed lifesaver. The company also participated in job-training programs for unemployed or underemployed local citizens via grant money provided by the federal government, as well as career opportunity fairs aimed at providing employment for those interested in working in an industrial facility.
John E. Shahan, Sr. died in January 1967 at age 73. John E., Sr.’s sons, Robert and John E., Jr., succeeded their father as company president and VP, respectively.
The following January, Nixon Gear and Machine Company was at the center of a proposed industrial complex to be created on Onondaga Hill in the Town of Onondaga. The proposal included Nixon Gear constructing a new $1 million, 60,000-square-foot plant on 80 acres that would accommodate 200 employees. At the time, the facility on Ainsley Drive comprised 21,000 square feet and accommodated 120 employees. The Town of Onondaga, which very much wanted to increase its commercial tax revenue, rezoned the property, and formally approved the plan on March 21, 1968. Construction on the new plant began in May and it opened at 4601 Nixon Park Drive in 1969.
In the late 1960s, a major product shift occurred in the business-machine segment of the gear manufacturing market with powdered metal and plastic gears replacing steel spur and helical gears. By the early 1970s, plastic parts and electronic components were quickly replacing metal gears. These changes forced the company to change its focus and develop new product and sales markets.
After about 20 years of being associated with Nixon Gear and Machine Company, Robert Shahan retired from his position as president in 1976; John Shahan, Jr. stayed with the company. Also that year, Nixon Gear and Machine Company became Nixon Gear, Inc.
Evidently, Nixon Gear, Inc.’s business faltered and the company declared bankruptcy sometime in 1976. In March 1977, Gear Motions, Inc. of Massachusetts purchased Nixon Gear. Through this acquisition, Gear Motions added precision- ground gearing to its product network and substantially enlarged its sales territory into the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. By January 1978, John Shahan, Jr. predicted a 15 percent increase in sales volume for that year. In a Syracuse Herald- American article from January 1978, David Edmonds, assistant to John Shahan, Jr. was quoted as saying, “Nixon’s long standing reputation for supplying quality gear products in the precision and commercial gear classes has enticed local and national accounts to place their critical needs at Nixon’s modern Onondaga Hill facility.”
By February 1979, Samuel Haines, president of Gear Motions, declared that the company had surpassed its prediction of a 15-percent sales-volume increase by realizing a 40-percent increase.
Throughout the 1980s, Nixon Gear continued to thrive under the leadership of Gear Motions.
After being associated with Gear Motions for 15 years, Nixon Gear moved from its building in the Town of Onondaga to a new state-of-the-art, climate-controlled building located at 1750 Milton Avenue in Solvay in 1992. The 45,000-square-foot structure allowed the company to improve its operations and efficiency while allowing for additional investment in precision gear grinding. It became one of the first ISO 9002-registered gear manufacturers in 1996.
In the 21st century, Nixon Gear, remains a division of Gear Motions, at 1750 Milton Avenue. Employees make high-speed precision gears for commercial and industrial applications. Through the last 100 years, Nixon Gear has remained successful by continuing to grow and adapt during changing times. Today, the company continues to invest in the future, by adding industry-leading robotic automation and super grinding equipment that it purchased in early 2020.
Congratulations to Nixon Gear and Gear Motions for sustaining the 100-year-old gear-manufacturing company in Onondaga County. Celebrating Nixon Gear’s centennial in 2020 also is a celebration of Syracuse and Onondaga County’s long and diverse history of gear manufacturing that has lasted since the 19th century.
Thomas Hunter is the curator of collections at the OHA (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.
SYRACUSE — A pandemic-related equipment delay has pushed back the upcoming opening of the Salt City Market, which remains under construction at 484 S. Salina St. in downtown Syracuse. A factory in Texas, which is assembling the equipment, has been operating at 50 percent capacity, which resulted in the delay, Maarten Jacobs, the project’s executive
SYRACUSE — A pandemic-related equipment delay has pushed back the upcoming opening of the Salt City Market, which remains under construction at 484 S. Salina St. in downtown Syracuse.
A factory in Texas, which is assembling the equipment, has been operating at 50 percent capacity, which resulted in the delay, Maarten Jacobs, the project’s executive director, tells CNYBJ in an Oct. 27 email.
“As a result, we are about six weeks behind,” he adds.
Jacobs also serves as director of community prosperity with the Allyn Family Foundation, which has offices in Syracuse and Skaneateles.
Construction effort
The Salt City Market — a $24 million mixed-use project — is a design-build project by Syracuse–based VIP Structures, says Jacobs.
Subcontractors on the project include Raulli & Sons, Inc., which is handling the steel work, and Century Heating & Air Conditioning Inc., which is doing the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning work on the project.
They also include Paragon Environmental Construction of Brewerton, which is handling the sitework and concrete elements; Phoenix Electric of CNY Inc., which is doing the electrical work; and BR Johnson Inc. of DeWitt, which is responsible for the doors on the project, according to Jacobs.
The Salt City Market construction effort continued throughout the state’s pandemic restrictions this past spring. The project qualified as an essential construction project because it includes affordable housing, according to Jacobs.
VIP Structures also partnered with Environmental Design & Research, Landscape Architecture, Engineering, & Environmental Services, D.P.C. of Syracuse, along with New York City–based iCRAVE and Minneapolis, Minnesota–based Snow Kreilich to design the interior food hall and the exterior shell, respectively.
The Allyn Family Foundation is financing the effort, using a line of credit against the foundation’s endowment, according to Jacobs. Once the project is complete, the foundation will shift to permanent financing, he adds.
“We created a separate nonprofit called the Syracuse Urban Partnership to do the project and manage it and to own the building,” says Jacobs.
About the project
The two anchor tenants in the 78,000-square-foot, four-story building are the Syracuse Cooperative Market and Salt City Coffee. Other tenants include food entrepreneurs like SOULutions Sley’s Southern Cuisine, Big in Burma, Firecracker Thai Kitchen, Pie’s The Limit, Cake Bar, Erma’s Island providing “Jamaican dining at its best,” Mamma Hai, and Miss Prissy’s, per the market’s website.
In addition, the tenants include Baghdad, a Middle Eastern restaurant, and Farm Girl / Catalpa Flowers, a micro stall serving cold-pressed juices and smoothies and selling flower bouquets.
In addition to the food merchants, the first floor of the Salt City Market will include a 2,100-square-foot grocery store, as well as a coffee shop that transitions to a bar in the afternoon/evenings.
The Allyn Family Foundation wanted to take an “underutilized or blighted” corner of the downtown area and “revitalize it,” says Jacobs.
The organization saw progress happening in downtown and wanted to be a “connector” between the revitalization of downtown and some of the neighborhoods that “could be poised for revitalization but haven’t been to date,” referencing some neighborhoods along South Salina Street and West Onondaga Street.
“That’s really why we selected that location,” he says.
Besides the food-related tenants, the Salt City Market will also include 26 apartments and space for the Allyn Family Foundation.
“With our apartments, we’ve been really intentional to make sure that there’s affordable units that will always be affordable to lower-income individuals and we’ll also have market-rate apartments as well,” says Jacobs.
The main part of the building is the first floor and the food hall, which is intended to “create wealth-building opportunities primarily for entrepreneurs of color.”
The Salt City Market allows entrepreneurs to start in a small space, test out their business, build it, and decide if that’s what they want to do.
“That’s really the focus of the first floor and just creating a space where people can come together and eat and have a new space in Syracuse,” says Jacobs.
Project origin
The Salt City Market is based on a model built by the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) located in Minneapolis.
The nonprofit NDC has helped start more than 400 businesses in the Twin Cities region. Many of those business launched in the Midtown Global Market, a large public market owned and managed by NDC.
NDC has “long had a connection to Syracuse” through its partnership with the Upstart program, which CenterState CEO operates. Through that existing relationship, the Allyn Family Foundation teamed up with CenterState CEO and NDC to develop a “similar concept” for the food hall that is under construction in Syracuse.
ITHACA, N.Y. — Welliver, a construction firm based in Montour Falls, announced that it was recently recognized for its work in the reconstruction and preservation of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) house on the campus of Cornell University. Historic Ithaca Inc. presented the 2020 Preservation Award in front of the fraternity house in Ithaca, Welliver
ITHACA, N.Y. — Welliver, a construction firm based in Montour Falls, announced that it was recently recognized for its work in the reconstruction and preservation of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) house on the campus of Cornell University.
Historic Ithaca Inc. presented the 2020 Preservation Award in front of the fraternity house in Ithaca, Welliver announced on Oct. 7.
Welliver, located at 250 North Genesee St. in Montour Falls, is a provider of construction services in New York state and northern Pennsylvania. Welliver describes itself as a fifth-generation, family-owned company, supported by a team of construction professionals, project managers, and subcontractors.
Historic Ithaca annually presents awards for restoration and preservation projects within Tompkins County. Nominations are reviewed by a panel of preservation professionals, and awards are made based on criteria such as the long-term preservation of the building; adherence to basic preservation principles; and the project’s impact on the surrounding community.
“Welliver has been constructing communities for about as long as the Delta Kappa Epsilon House has been around,” Anne Welliver-Hartsing, company president, said in a release. “We applaud Historic Ithaca for being champions in preserving buildings and maintaining their historical significance in the community. It’s an honor for Welliver to be part of this project and help to preserve the County’s history and heritage.”
The Delta Kappa Epsilon house was built in 1893 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It was designed by William Henry Miller to serve as a fraternity house, with plans to originally house 16 students.
Two sides of the exterior were clad with marble from the St. Lawrence Marble Company of Gouverneur in northern New York.
Together with Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLP of Albany, Welliver reconstructed the deteriorated granite stairway, entrance, and front porch of the DKE house. The reconstruction included removing and labeling all existing granite stones and stair treads and storing off site while all back-up walls and existing drainage were demolished and reconstructed. After pouring new backup walls, crews reset all stones and treads, and fabricated and installed new wood and bronze handrails.
“Leading the construction team and witnessing the revival of this historic structure was a very rewarding experience,” Jake Perno, project manager at Welliver, said. “Preserving historic buildings and structures like the Delta Kappa Epsilon house is what gives Ithaca its character and sense of community. Our skilled tradespeople are trusted experts in performing preservation work. We are proud to be recognized for this initiative.”
JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. — The former Gannett newspaper-printing plant in Johnson City was recently sold to the Binghamton University Foundation for $4.5 million. The 97,000-square-foot-building, situated on 10 acres at 10 Gannett Drive, was purchased by the foundation, the fundraising arm of the university. Rick Searles and Peter Finn of the real-estate firm, CBRE, exclusively
JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. — The former Gannett newspaper-printing plant in Johnson City was recently sold to the Binghamton University Foundation for $4.5 million.
The 97,000-square-foot-building, situated on 10 acres at 10 Gannett Drive, was purchased by the foundation, the fundraising arm of the university. Rick Searles and Peter Finn of the real-estate firm, CBRE, exclusively represented Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC in the transaction.
Binghamton University plans to use the structure as a library annex.
The building was constructed in 2006 and served as Gannett’s Central New York production facility until mid-2018, when the company shifted printing to Rochester. The structure has been vacant since then.
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