St. Lawrence alum donates $5M for second phase of Appleton Arena expansion project

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CANTON — A donation from a graduate will help St. Lawrence University in Canton pay for the second phase of a renovation and expansion project at the school’s Appleton Arena. The $5 million gift will support an expansion of the Michael “Buddy” Cornacchia ‘74 Strength and Conditioning Center, along with locker room and team facilities […]

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CANTON — A donation from a graduate will help St. Lawrence University in Canton pay for the second phase of a renovation and expansion project at the school’s Appleton Arena.

The $5 million gift will support an expansion of the Michael “Buddy” Cornacchia ‘74 Strength and Conditioning Center, along with locker room and team facilities for the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, field hockey, softball, and men and women’s rowing teams.

George Karpus, who graduated from the St. Lawrence County school in 1968, donated the funding, the university said in a Tuesday news release. It’ll be known as the George W. Karpus ‘68 Athletic Center at Appleton Arena.

Appleton Arena — which is also home to the Saints’ NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey programs — was recently renovated. St. Lawrence dedicated the new facilities earlier this year on Feb. 8, the school said.

St. Lawrence University has worked with HOK, a St. Louis, Missouri–based design firm, during the past three years. Plans and construction drawings were completed in 2018 and the school is updating project costs. Fundraising will continue, and once completed, crews will begin construction with a target date of spring 2022.

The completion of the George W. Karpus ‘68 Athletic Center at Appleton Arena will also “positively impact the entire campus community,” the school contends. St. Lawrence also plans to revamp the current strength and conditioning space for student athletes in the Stafford Fitness Center, “allowing students, faculty, and staff access to a larger area,” the school said.

Karpus in 1986 founded Karpus Investment Management, an investment advisory firm with offices near Rochester and in Florida. He has been a “generous” donor to the St. Lawrence Fund and in 2006, established the George W. Karpus ‘68 Expendable Scholarship Fund, the school said.

The Appleton Arena project is supported by the Campaign for Every Laurentian, which the school describes as the “largest comprehensive fundraising initiative” in the more than 160-year history of St. Lawrence University.

Pathfinder Bancorp posts 15 percent profit increase in Q3

Banks & Credit Unions, Subscriber Only

OSWEGO — Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBHC), the holding company for Pathfinder Bank, announced that its net income rose about 15 percent to $1.5 million in the third quarter from $1.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The Oswego–based banking company generated earnings per share of 25 cents in the third quarter, up nearly 14 percent

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The Oswego–based banking company generated earnings per share of 25 cents in the third quarter, up nearly 14 percent from 22 cents in the third quarter of 2019.

Revenue growth, led by an increase in loans, combined with expense control, largely led to the profit increase.

“We continued the upwardly trending financial performance of the first half of 2020 into the third quarter, with strong revenue growth, a stable net interest margin, an improving funding mix and effective noninterest expense management,” Tom Schneider, president of Pathfinder Bancorp, said in the earnings report, which was issued on Nov. 10. “We believe that our ability to generate favorable results in a very challenging and uncertain business environment is, in large measure, a reflection of our operating strategy that is focused on quality commercial lending, the management of funding costs, enhancement of fee-based income, and controlling operating expenses.”

Pathfinder reported third-quarter revenue (net interest income plus total noninterest income) of $9.8 million, up more than 15 percent from $8.5 million in the year-ago earnings period.

The banking company’s net interest income also improved 15 percent to $8.3 million from $7.2 million for the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, Pathfinder held the line on noninterest expenses in the third quarter, generating a decline of $52,000 compared with the corresponding period in 2019.

Third-quarter noninterest income of $1.5 million was up almost 16 percent from $1.3 million for the year-ago quarter.

Pathfinder had total loans of $820 million as of Sept. 30, up 13 percent from a year prior. The banking company had total assets of $1.2 billion as of Sept. 30, up 14 percent from a year earlier.

Pathfinder Bank is a New York State chartered commercial bank with 10 full-service branches located in its market areas of Oswego and Onondaga counties, as well as one limited-purpose office in Oneida County. Through its subsidiary, Pathfinder Risk Management Company, Inc., the bank owns a 51 percent interest in the FitzGibbons Agency, LLC.

Annual Economic Champions event virtually honors nearly 300 businesses

Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO on Nov. 19 hosted a virtual event recognizing nearly 300 local companies as 2020 Economic Champions. The event acknowledged the local firms for “driving the region’s economy forward” through job creation, business expansions, and investments in operations. The virtual ceremony also recognized organizations that have demonstrated “resilience and innovation” during the

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New York egg production jumps nearly 10 percent in September

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New York farms produced 145.8 million eggs in September, up 9.9 percent from 132.4 million eggs in the year-prior period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported. The number of layers in the Empire State averaged 5.78 million in September, up 5.7 percent from 5.47 million layers a year ago. September egg production per

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New York corn production edges up this year, USDA forecasts

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New York farms are estimated to have produced 86.3 million bushels of corn this year, up 0.2 percent from 86.1 million bushels in 2019, according to a USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service forecast issued on Nov. 10. The estimate was down from a month ago when the agency forecast 86.8 million bushels of corn were

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Carrols posts profit in Q3 amid pandemic

Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TAST) — the largest Burger King franchisee in the U.S. — reported net income of $3.5 million, or 6 cents a share, in the third quarter that ended Sept. 27. The figures are an improvement from a net loss of $6.8 million, or 15 cents a share, during

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The figures are an improvement from a net loss of $6.8 million, or 15 cents a share, during the same quarter in 2019, the company said in its Nov. 5 earnings report.

Net income in this year’s third quarter included $2.9 million of impairment and other lease charges. The net loss in the third quarter of 2019 included $500,000 of impairment charges and other lease charges.

Carrols generated total restaurant sales of $407 million in the third quarter, an increase of 2.2 percent from $398.4 million in the prior-year quarter.

Comparable restaurant sales for the company’s Burger King restaurants increased 0.8 percent. Comparable restaurant sales for the company’s Popeyes restaurants, a much smaller part of its business, jumped 5.5 percent.

Adjusted EBITDA increased to

$34.1 million from $25.7 million in the year-ago quarter. EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Adjusted restaurant-level EBITDA increased to $52.8 million from $43 million in the prior-year quarter, Carrols said.

Syracuse–based Carrols Restaurant Group is one of the largest restaurant franchisees in the U.S. and currently operates about 1,088 restaurants. It has 1,023 Burger King restaurants and 65 Popeyes restaurants. Carrols has operated Burger King restaurants since 1976.

CEO comments

“The sequential quarterly improvement in comparable restaurant sales of 720 basis points at our Burger King restaurants is demonstrative of Carrols’ resiliency in the face of the unprecedented current environment. We believe our business model is well-suited to meet the needs of customers seeking great value and convenience and we have been able to serve them effectively and efficiently through our drive-thru, at-the-counter for take-out, and delivery channels,” Daniel Accordino, chairman and CEO of Carrols Restaurant Group, said in the report. “Over the past two months, we have seen modest softening in comparable sales at our Burger King restaurants driven primarily, we believe, by a strain on consumer spending due to a weakening ‘Main Street’ economy. Despite this year’s challenges, we have been extremely adept in managing food costs, optimizing labor hours despite higher wage rates, and controlling other restaurant-level and corporate-overhead expenses. Third-quarter results reflect the strength of our positioning and operational acuity as we once again delivered improved restaurant-level profitability and increased adjusted EBITDA compared to the prior year period.”

The Carrols CEO noted that “more importantly, looking further into the future,” the company is poised to re-engage in “strong but balanced” organic and non-organic growth strategies beginning later in 2021 while “keeping our leverage in check.”

“In terms of organic growth, we are in the process of negotiating a restructuring of our Burger King area development agreement with our franchisor. The remodel and new restaurant build commitments that required elevated levels of capital spending on our part under the current agreement are expected to be significantly reduced under the new agreement. Also, we anticipate that we would give up our right-of-first-refusal provision which we believe has diminished value in the current QSR [quick service restaurant] business environment,” said Accordino. “Under this new arrangement, we believe we will have added flexibility to grow our business as we believe best optimizes our profit growth potential while generating consistent and enhanced free cash flow. It is important to note that while we believe such new agreement will be entered into, it is still being negotiated and there is no assurance that such new agreement will be entered into on such terms or at all.”

Accordino went on to say that although Carrols is still “firming up specific new” construction and remodel plans for 2021 and beyond, the company is “committed to executing on our message last quarter” of spending $40 million to $50 million annually in capital expenditures over the next three years.

MVCC Trustee Mathis leads national organization of community college trustees

Health Care, Subscriber Only

UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) Trustee David Mathis was recently selected to lead the nation’s largest organization of community college trustees, the college announced. Mathis on Oct. 2 was elected chair of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), which represents more than 6,500 trustees at over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges

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VIEWPOINT: 5 Signs that it’s Time to Sell the Family Business

Business Mentors, Small Business, Subscriber Only

Owning and operating a family business is a big part of the American dream. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 90 percent of all North American business enterprises are family-owned. But along with realizing that dream comes a bittersweet reality for some family business owners — knowing when it’s time to sell. And that can be

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Owning and operating a family business is a big part of the American dream. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 90 percent of all North American business enterprises are family-owned.

But along with realizing that dream comes a bittersweet reality for some family business owners — knowing when it’s time to sell. And that can be a challenge as they wrestle with deep emotional ties to the business and various selling options.

One of the most challenging parts of owning and operating a family business is succession planning. While many family-business owners may dream of passing ownership of the business onto future generations, keeping the business within the family isn’t always a viable option.

There are many other reasons owners come to the often hard, sometimes-easy decision to sell — burnout, profitability, dramatic changes in their industry, a favorable tax climate, etc. But with the economy rapidly changing, it’s a reckoning for some, a fork in the road for others, while some need to read the signs.

Here are five signs that it’s time to sell the family business:

• Your children are not interested in the business. If you put your kids through college, thanks mainly to a profitable small business, chances are they have their sights set on bigger goals when they graduate. This realization can be painful to a parent. There is nothing wrong with laying out the facts regarding the opportunity that the family business presents to them but forcing the company on your children will only result in resentment or poor performance, or both.

• Your children are not capable. Not everyone has what it takes to run a business, and when unqualified children are allowed to take over, the results can be disastrous. This is where the saying “Thunder, Blunder, Under” came from. It means the first generation made the business successful, the second generation floundered and somehow kept the business together, and the third generation let the business go under.

• Ownership has become too diluted. Unless the company is always growing, it’s hard to support a growing number of owners. This is true whether they work in the business or not, because the company can’t keep paying salaries, dividends, or bonuses to those not in the business or individuals who are not working full-time there. And having too many owners often disrupts the process of managing of the company.

• You receive an offer you can’t refuse. This is rare, but when it happens you should know it is a great offer and take it. Markets go up and markets go down. Regardless what kind of business you are in, you should always know what the market value of your business is in your industry.

• Members of the next generation don’t like working together. Perhaps all of your children are capable, but they can’t seem to get along. If they are not getting along now, it will only be worse once they are in business together. Turning the business over to them will impact your retirement plans, affect their lives, and possibly destroy the relationships they have with each other.

Sometimes the difficult but smart decision is to sell the family business. It’s important to give yourself enough time to adequately plan, and you may want to consult with some specialists to ensure that you have as much information as possible before making a decision.

Terry Monroe (www.terrymonroe.com) is founder and president of American Business Brokers & Advisors (ABBA) and author of “Hidden Wealth: The Secret to Getting Top Dollar for Your Business” with ForbesBooks. Monroe has been in the business of establishing, operating, and selling businesses for more than 35 years.

VIEWPOINT: SBA’s troubling new requirements for PPP borrowers of more than $2 million

Business Mentors, Health Care, Insurance & Financial Services, Small Business, Subscriber Only

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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has circulated Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan-necessity questionnaire forms that it intends to require borrowers with PPP loans in excess of $2 million to complete. It is expected that nonprofit-entity borrowers will be required to complete Form 3510 (https://www.bsk.com/uploads/SBA-Form-3510.pdf) and for-profit entity borrowers will have to complete Form 3509 (https://www.bsk.com/uploads/Form-3509.pdf). These troubling new questionnaires specifically require borrowers to disclose information regarding their operations and liquidity during their covered periods.

The SBA asserts that the purpose of the questionnaires is to assist with the “review of your good-faith certification that economic uncertainty made your loan request necessary to support your ongoing operations.” However, some of the additional information aims to evaluate the borrower’s business during the pandemic in hindsight and rather than at the time of the PPP application. It appears that the SBA may determine that borrowers did not satisfy the good-faith certification as to the loan’s necessity in situations where their business ended up not being as negatively impacted by the economic effects of the pandemic as anticipated at the time of their application. This is a concerning development for many PPP borrowers and the consequences can range from a denial of the loan-forgiveness application to criminal prosecution.

Recall that in the PPP application, borrowers were required to make the following need certification: “[c]urrent economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.” Regardless of the SBA’s stated purpose for the new questionnaires, the requirement to complete these new questionnaires and the information that the SBA is seeking from borrowers contained therein is seemingly a departure from the SBA’s previous position that the need-based certification is evaluated at the time of the application.

You may also recall that this same necessity certification was the subject of much controversy and ultimately resulted in a safe-harbor period to return PPP funds back in May. Borrowers with loans under $2 million were automatically deemed to have made this certification in good faith. Borrowers with loans exceeding that amount were allowed to return their PPP funds before the safe-harbor date if they determined that they were ineligible for the loan based on additional guidance regarding the interpretation of this certification. That additional guidance clearly indicated that when making the necessity certification, borrowers should consider their “current business activity and their ability to access other sources of liquidity sufficient to support their ongoing operations in a manner that is not significantly detrimental to the business.” While the new questionnaires contain questions clearly aimed at business activities and liquidity, many of the questions ask what actually happened to the borrower’s business and liquidity, not what was anticipated or uncertain at the time of the application.

Specifically, Form 3510 (for nonprofit entities) asks borrowers questions regarding their business activities, such as: (1) their gross receipts and expenses from certain quarters in 2019 and 2020; (2) if the borrower was subject to a state or local shutdown order or was forced to alter its operations; (3) if the borrower voluntarily ceased or reduced operations; and (4) if the borrower recently undertook any capital improvement projects. Form 3510 also asks nonprofit entities questions regarding the borrowers’ liquidity, such as: (1) how much the borrower had at the time of the application in cash, savings, and cash investments; (2) how much debt the borrower had prepaid during the covered period; (3) if the borrower paid any employees salaries of $250,000; (4) if the borrower is restricted from using funds in certain ways; (5) information regarding the borrower’s endowments; (6) information regarding the borrower’s non-cash investments; and (7) if the borrower received funds from any other CARES Act program.

Additionally, universities and colleges are required to provide tuition information and information regarding decreases in revenue. Health-care providers are required to provide information regarding their program-service revenue as well.

Form 3509 (affecting for-profit entities) seeks similar information from for-profit borrowers. Form 3509 asks borrowers questions regarding their operations, which include: (1) gross revenues in certain quarters of 2019 and 2020; (2) if the borrower was subject to state or local shutdown orders, was forced to significantly alter its operations due to compliance with those orders, and other information regarding those orders; and (3) if the borrower voluntarily ceased or reduced operations and why. The form also asks for-profit entities questions regarding the borrowers’ liquidity, which include: (1) how much the borrower had at the time of the application in cash and cash equivalents; (2) how much the business paid its owners in dividends during the covered period; (3) how much debt the borrower had prepaid during the covered period; (4) if the company paid any employees or owners compensation in excess of $250,000; (5) if the borrower’s equity securities are listed on the national securities exchange; (6) if any owner is publicly traded or a private-equity firm; (7) the book value of the business; (8) information regarding the parent company of a borrower if it is a subsidiary; and (9) if the borrower received funds from any other CARES Act program.

Not surprisingly, the borrower will need to make new certifications regarding the accuracy of the information disclosed in the questionnaire and the authorization to sign the questionnaire. There is also an acknowledgment regarding prosecution pursuant to federal law for making false statements to obtain a PPP loan or obtain forgiveness of a PPP loan. The completed questionnaire form, along with supporting documentation, is due to the lender servicing the borrower’s PPP loan within 10 business days of borrower’s receipt of the questionnaire from its lender.

As a reminder, there is still the opportunity to return monies during the SBA review period if the necessity of the loan is questioned. According to SBA FAQ 46, if the SBA in the course of its review determines that a borrower lacked an adequate basis for the required certification concerning the necessity of the loan request, the SBA will not pursue administrative enforcement or referrals to other agencies, as long as the borrower repays the loan after receiving notification.

Kate Chmielowiec and Elizabeth L. Lehmann are associate attorneys in the Syracuse office of Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC. Contact them at kchmielowiec@bsk.com and elehmann@bsk.com, respectively. Jeffrey B. Scheer is a member (partner) in the law firm. Contact him at jscheer@bsk.com

Innovation/Entrepreneur Resource Directory

Small Business, Subscriber Only

Welcome to the 2020 Innovation & Entrepreneur Resource Directory. The following organizations foster innovation and provide funding, consultation, training, information, and other support to entrepreneurs across Central New York. CASE at Syracuse University 2-212 Center of Science & Technology Syracuse, NY 13244 - Phone: (315) 443-1060 - Website: case.syr.edu - Year established: 1984 - Organization type: incubator, funding source

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