Upstate University Hospital using ROSA brain robot for minimally invasive brain surgery

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Upstate University Hospital announced it has started using new robot technology to perform minimally invasive brain surgery. The ROSA brain robot is

Security Mutual Life’s Guerriero elected secretary of Society of FSP

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Ernie Guerriero, VP of marketing at Security Mutual Life, was elected secretary of the Society of Financial Service Professionals (FSP) at the organization’s Aug. 7 annual meeting. His position is for the 2020 — 2021 term and went into effect on Sept. 1. The Society of FSP is a multidisciplinary community of

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Gilligan joins OCRRA board of directors

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SALINA — OCRRA (Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency) announced it has appointed Eileen D. Gilligan, of Lafayette, to its board of directors. Gilligan has more than 30 years of experience as a consulting geologist and has worked on numerous groundwater, surface water, and air-contaminant projects. She previously served on the board of OCWA, Central New

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New York corn production fell an estimated 4% this year, USDA reports

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New York farms are estimated to have produced 82.7 million bushels of corn this year, down 4 percent from 86.1 million bushels in 2019, according to a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service forecast issued on Sept. 11. New York farms are projected to harvest an estimated 495,000 acres of corn for grain in 2020, down

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Rosamond Gifford Zoo targets summer 2021 to open new $8M animal health center project

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SYRACUSE — The Rosamond Gifford Zoo hopes to have construction of a new animal health center completed by July 2021. The project is a $7.5 million investment, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said during a Sept. 10 groundbreaking ceremony. “This money was appropriated … in 2018 with the public-private partnership we have with our Friends

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SYRACUSE — The Rosamond Gifford Zoo hopes to have construction of a new animal health center completed by July 2021.

The project is a $7.5 million investment, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said during a Sept. 10 groundbreaking ceremony.

“This money was appropriated … in 2018 with the public-private partnership we have with our Friends at the Zoo, the Friends group will be donating $1.2 million worth of medical equipment to the health center,” said McMahon.

Zoo officials have been waiting for this day for a long time, said Ted Fox, director of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, who joined McMahon for the groundbreaking.

“The health-care center that’s in the zoo now in the main building has served its purpose was really state-of-the-art when the zoo was redone in the [1980s],” Fox said in his remarks. “But this facility is going to really knock it out of the park in terms of animal care and wellness.”

Fox and other zoo officials appeared before the Onondaga County Legislature to make the case for a new health clinic.

“First off to continue the accreditation at the zoo, but also, as you know, we’ve had a lot of events here where we are entrusted some of the most amazing animals in the world and to continue that, we need the ability to make sure that they receive the proper health care,” McMahon said in his remarks.

McMahon noted that VIP Structures of Syracuse designed the project and Upstate Companies of Mt. Upton in Chenango County is the general contractor on the project. Environmental Design & Research, Landscape Architecture, Engineering, & Environmental Services, D.P.C. (EDR) of Syracuse is also conducting engineering work on the project.

Burns Bros. Contractors of Syracuse will handle the mechanical and plumbing work in the building as well.

“Two of our friends here today will be some of the largest animals that will benefit from the health clinic,” McMahon said, referring to two camels that zoo officials brought to the mid-morning groundbreaking ceremony.

New York egg production rises nearly 7 percent in August

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New York farms produced 149.1 million eggs in August, up 6.6 percent from 139.9 million eggs in the year-ago period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported. The number of layers in the Empire State averaged 5.68 million in August, up 3.2 percent from 5.5 million layers a year earlier. August egg production

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2nd phase of State Fair’s orange lot project wraps up

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

GEDDES — Crews have completed construction on the second phase of the New York State Fair orange lot project. The effort was about “improving access to the State Fairgrounds and furthering the transformation of one of Central New York’s economic engines,” the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a Sept. 15 news release. As

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GEDDES — Crews have completed construction on the second phase of the New York State Fair orange lot project.

The effort was about “improving access to the State Fairgrounds and furthering the transformation of one of Central New York’s economic engines,” the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a Sept. 15 news release.

As part of the project, the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) constructed a new Interstate 690 (I-690) eastbound on-ramp bridge, ensuring that a temporary traffic signal on the highway will not be required during future events at the State Fairgrounds.

The new I-690 eastbound on-ramp bridge also accommodates pedestrians with a 10-foot wide pedestrian walkway that will help “ease the journey” to and from the orange lot, the state contends.

“The completion of the orange lot ramp solves a major challenge for us and our transportation partners and will help greatly with the flow of traffic out of our largest parking lot,” New York State Fair Director Troy Waffner said in a release.

About the project

Construction on the $27 million first phase of the State Fair’s 65-acre orange lot project began in October 2017 and the DOT completed the project in time for the 2018 New York State Fair.

The first phase created more than 7,000 parking spaces in the orange lot, up from the 4,000 to 5,000 that were available on the previous dirt surface. A new exit ramp to I-690 West from the western end of the orange lot also allowed fairgoers direct access to I-690 from the State Fair and the Onondaga County-owned amphitheater.

Prior to the opening of this ramp, vehicles could only exit the orange lot from the Exit 7 area of I-690 during events scheduled outside of the Fair.

The second phase of the $11.18 million State Fair access improvement project took the first phase “a step further.” In addition to the new eastbound ramp, the project negated the need for a temporary traffic signal that is in operation on I-690 for the New York State Fair every year.

$3 million awarded during GENIUS NY virtual Pitch Finals

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

[On Sept. 17], together with New York state, we announced Geopipe as the winner of GENIUS NY’s $1 million grand prize during the program’s first-ever virtual Pitch Finals. BotsAndUs from the United Kingdom; Droneseed from Seattle, Washington; Eget Liber from Syracuse; and Skyy Network from Australia were also each awarded investments of $500,000 during the

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RAV buys, plans to improve Salina Industrial Powerpark

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Small Business, Subscriber Only

SALINA — In August, RACER Trust announced the sale of a multi-tenant industrial park, which was formerly a General Motors (GM) manufacturing plant, to Jamesville–based RAV Properties. The Salina Industrial Powerpark features an 805,860-square-footage main building with a separate 14-acre shovel-ready site; the property totals 78.5 acres. The park currently has 13 tenants that employ

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SALINA — In August, RACER Trust announced the sale of a multi-tenant industrial park, which was formerly a General Motors (GM) manufacturing plant, to Jamesville–based RAV Properties.

The Salina Industrial Powerpark features an 805,860-square-footage main building with a separate 14-acre shovel-ready site; the property totals 78.5 acres. The park currently has 13 tenants that employ 425 people. Robert Lieberman, founder and managing member of RAV Properties, says the park could house three to four more tenants.

Before its transformation into an industrial park, the property originally was a GM automotive plant that began operations 1952 but closed in 1993. In 2011, RACER Trust took title to the Salina property following the GM bankruptcy and continued to operate it as a multi-tenant industrial park. Despite the property being a revenue generator for RACER, the purpose of RACER is to sell properties not to hold them, the trust said in a news release.

RACER (Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response) Trust was created to clean up and position for redevelopment properties and facilities owned by the former GM before its bankruptcy.

Lieberman, who owns a second industrial complex on Thompson Road in the town of DeWitt, founded RAV Properties in 2008. Before becoming an investor, Lieberman started as a property manager but found that he would rather have “ownership than be an employee.”

In 2010, RAV Properties purchased and improved a two-building complex, once known as Flickinger’s Warehouse, near Carrier Circle in DeWitt. The complex, which has been home to various businesses since 1998, totals 290,000 square feet.

CNYBJ recently chatted with Lieberman about his latest purchase.

“The time is right to make this acquisition,” he says. With 70 percent of the current space occupied, Lieberman believes the Salina Industrial Powerpark is in a great position for future growth.

“The fact that RAV Properties is locally based and understands the Central New York market so well gives us confidence that the property is in good hands and will continue to be a source of jobs and opportunity for the community,” Elliot P. Laws, of EDPLET, LLC, administrative trustee of RACER Trust, said in the release.

Lieberman also says that despite the presence of COVID-19, most tenants’ businesses at Salina Industrial Powerpark were deemed essential and business has not been impacted.

However, the 70-year-old industrial park is in need of some maintenance repair, says Lieberman. He says he wants to repair the roof, update fire safety and sprinkler system, and to increase curb appeal.

“As investments, these are both pretty solid,” Lieberman says of his two industrial parks. However, he says that this will be his last investment.

Lieberman declined to disclose the purchase price of the property and would not provide any financial information for his business.

CNY unemployment rates fall to single digits in August

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Most CNY regions lost thousands of jobs in last year Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Watertown–Fort Drum, Binghamton, and Elmira regions dropped to single-digit figures in August but remained higher compared to a year ago amid the impact of layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

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Most CNY regions lost thousands of jobs in last year

Unemployment rates in the Syracuse, Utica–Rome, Watertown–Fort Drum, Binghamton, and Elmira regions dropped to single-digit figures in August but remained higher compared to a year ago amid the impact of layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

The figures are part of the latest New York State Department of Labor data released Sept. 22.

In addition, the Syracuse and Utica–Rome regions lost jobs in five-digit figures between August 2019 and this past August.

At the same time, the Binghamton, Watertown–Fort Drum, and Ithaca areas lost jobs in four-digit figures in the same timeframe. The Elmira region’s job losses in the last 12 months totaled in the triple digits.

That’s according to the latest monthly employment report that the New York State Department of Labor issued Sept. 17.

Regional unemployment rates

The unemployment rate in the Syracuse area was 9.8 percent in August, up from 4.2 percent in August 2019.

The Utica–Rome region rose to 9.3 percent from 4.3 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum area’s rate hit 9.2 percent, up from 5.1 percent; the Binghamton region’s number climbed to 9.4 percent from 4.6 percent; the Ithaca area’s jobless rate reached 7.2 percent, up from 4.0 percent; and the Elmira region’s number jumped to 9.6 percent from 4.3 percent a year ago.

The local unemployment data isn’t seasonally adjusted, meaning the figures don’t reflect seasonal influences such as holiday hires.

The unemployment rates are calculated following procedures prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state Labor Department said.

State unemployment rate

New York state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 12.5 percent in August, down from 15.9 percent in July, but up sharply from 3.9 percent in August 2019.

The state’s August jobless rate was also much higher than the U.S. unemployment rate of 8.4 percent in August. New York has been among the slowest states to recover from the economic problems caused by the restrictions made to combat the coronavirus pandemic, according to WalletHub. New York has the third highest jobless rate in the nation.

In August, the number of unemployed New York State residents decreased by 339,000, while labor-force levels decreased by 86,700.

The federal government calculates New York’s unemployment rate partly based upon the results of a monthly telephone survey of 3,100 state households that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts.

August jobs data

The Syracuse region lost more than 38,000 jobs in the past year, a drop of 11.8 percent.

The Utica–Rome metro area lost more than 13,000 jobs, down 10.4 percent; the Watertown–Fort Drum region shed 6,000 positions, a decrease of 14 percent; the Binghamton area lost 7,400 jobs, off 7 percent; the Ithaca region dropped 2,300 jobs, a decrease of about 3.8 percent; and the Elmira area shed 300 jobs, off 0.8 percent.

New York state as a whole lost nearly 1.2 million jobs, a decrease of 12.2 percent, in that 12-month period. The state economy gained more than 153,000 jobs, a 1.8 percent increase, in the last month, the labor department said.

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