UTICA — Hotels in Oneida County were slightly fuller in February than in the year-ago month, according to a new report.

The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county increased 2.1 percent to 47.9 percent in February from 46.9 percent a year prior, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. The county’s occupancy rate has gained in 11 of the last 12 months.

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, edged up 0.9 percent to $50.38 in February from $49.91 in February 2018. Oneida County’s RevPar has also increased in 11 of the past 12 months.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, fell 1.1 percent to $105.25 in February from $106.45 a year ago. 

SYRACUSE — Jam Fitness of CNY has leased a 2,708-square-foot retail storefront to become the latest tenant to join the Genesee Plaza on Syracuse’s near westside, according to Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company, which helped arrange the transaction.

No lease terms were disclosed.

Genesee Plaza is a neighborhood shopping center located at 1001 West Genesee St., with nearly 50,000 square feet of total retail space spread across a series of freestanding buildings. The plaza’s tenants include Aldi, Dollar Tree, Dunkin’ Donuts, EarQ, Jreck Subs, and United Auto Supply.

The property, located at the high-traffic corner of West Genesee Street and North Geddes Street, was the longtime home to the Sam Dell Dodge dealership, which went out of business. The property lay vacant for several years before being redeveloped into a shopping center in the last few years. Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage has the exclusive rights to market and lease the plaza. The real-estate firm is currently marketing a new 10,000-square-foot retail building, with a dock door built in 2018, for lease within the plaza.

If a community wants to capture a $10 million grant in the state’s regional downtown competition, it should have a downtown area where millennials want to live. 

That’s among the criteria for consideration in the fourth round of New York’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI).

The downtown area must be “an attractive and livable community for diverse populations of all ages,” including existing residents, millennials, and skilled workers, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in an April 19 news release. 

It’s one of several criteria that the Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC) will consider when selecting the grant recipient.

The new state budget includes $100 million for the next round of DRI awards. The effort will support 10 additional downtown neighborhoods, one in each region of the state, “boosting local economies and fostering vibrant neighborhoods that offer a higher quality of life,” Cuomo’s office contended.

The governor first presented the DRI program in his 2016 State of the State address.

As in the previous three iterations, one community in each of the 10 REDC zones will be selected by the regional council to receive a $10 million investment following an application process and evaluation of each downtown’s “potential for transformation.” Applications for the fourth round are due by 4 p.m. on May 31.

Regional winners of the $10 million in DRI grant funding through the first three rounds include Auburn, Cortland, and Oswego in Central New York; Owego, Watkins Glen, and Elmira in the Southern Tier; Amsterdam, Rome, and Oneonta in the Mohawk Valley; and Saranac Lake, Watertown, and Plattsburgh in the North Country. 

Other DRI criteria

Besides the “diverse populations” living component, the REDCs will weigh several criteria to select nominees, Cuomo’s office said.

Its downtown area should be compact, with well-defined boundaries. It should also be able to “capitalize on prior or catalyze future” private and public investment in the neighborhood and its surrounding areas. 

The community should have “recent or impending job growth within, or in close proximity to” its downtown that can attract workers to the downtown, support redevelopment, and make growth sustainable. 

The municipality should already “embrace or have the ability to create and implement policies” that increase livability and quality of life, including the use of local land banks, modern zoning codes and parking standards, complete street plans, energy-efficient projects, green jobs, and transit-oriented development. 

The community should have conducted an “open and robust community-engagement process resulting in a vision for downtown revitalization” and a preliminary list of projects and initiatives that may be included in a DRI investment plan. 

The municipality must also have identified “transformative projects that will be ready for implementation with an infusion of DRI funds within the first one to two years,” Cuomo’s office said.

More than four in five retirees are confident in their ability to live comfortably throughout retirement, up from 75 percent last year and comparable to highs measured in 2005 and 2017. 

That’s according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s (EBRI) annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) report, which was released April 23.

The percentage of workers who say they are very confident in their ability to live comfortably throughout retirement reached 23 percent. That’s up from last year’s 17 percent and “now reflecting levels measured more consistently in the late 1990s and early 2000s, prior to the financial crisis of 2008,” the EBRI) said in its report. 

Now in its 29th year, the annual RCS is the longest-running survey of its kind, measuring worker and retiree confidence about retirement. EBRI and independent research firm Greenwald & Associates, both headquartered in Washington, D.C., conducted the study.

Researchers initiated the 2019 survey of 2,000 Americans online between Jan. 8 and Jan. 23. All respondents were ages 25 or older. The survey included 1,000 workers and 1,000 retirees, EBRI said.

Other findings

The survey also found that retirees this year are also much more likely than last year to be confident in their ability to afford the lifestyle that they’re accustomed to (77 percent, up from 70 percent) and having enough money to last their entire life (76 percent, up from 67 percent). 

Eight in 10 retirees also indicate they are very or somewhat confident they will have enough money to take care of medical expenses, compared with 70 percent in 2018. Retirees are also less likely than last year to say their overall expenses, health-care expenses, and long-term care expenses are higher than they expected.

The RCS found that two-thirds of American workers (67 percent) feel confident in their ability to retire comfortably, with 23 percent feeling very confident. It reflects a 6 percentage point increase in the workers who feel very confident over 2018. 

Though comparable to highs last seen 1997 through 2006 and in 2015 and 2016, worker confidence in 2019 still falls short of the 27 percent high measured in 2007, pre-financial crisis.

“Retirement confidence continues to be closely related to having a retirement plan,” Craig Copeland, EBRI senior research associate and co-author of the report, said in the survey report. “Workers reporting they or their spouse have money in a defined contribution plan or IRA, or have benefits in a defined-benefit plan, are nearly twice as likely to be at least somewhat confident about retirement (74 percent with a plan vs. 39 percent without a plan).”

The survey found 72 percent of workers are very or somewhat confident about being able to afford basic expenses in retirement. However, 41 percent are not confident about their ability to cover medical expenses and nearly half (48 percent) do not feel confident about having enough money for long-term care in retirement.

Workers are also more likely to cite debt as a concern compared with retirees. RCS found 61 percent of workers say debt is a problem for them, compared with 26 percent of retirees. 

“Historically, the RCS has found a correlation between debt levels and retirement confidence,” said Copeland. “In 2019, 41 percent of workers with a major debt problem say that they are very or somewhat confident about having enough money to live comfortably in retirement, compared with 85 percent of workers who indicate debt is not a problem. Thirty-two percent of workers with a major debt problem are not at all confident about their prospects for a financially secure retirement, compared with 5 percent of workers without a debt problem.”

Managing finances

Asked to identify their guiding principle for managing finances in retirement — income stability versus preserving principal and wealth — a majority of both retirees (65 percent) and workers (74 percent) select “Income Stability: Ensuring a set amount of income for life.” 

More than four out of five retirees and workers indicate that Social Security is or will be a source of retirement income, but differences emerge in the income sources (and the stability of those sources) that retirees report and the expectations of workers. 

Eight in 10 workers (82 percent), for example, expect income from a workplace retirement-savings plan (separate from a pension plan), while just half of retirees (54 percent) report this is a source of income. Also notable, EBRI said, half of workers suggest they expect a product that guarantees income for life, such as an annuity, will be a source of retirement income for them, whereas only a third of retirees (33 percent) receive income from this type of product. 

“The most pronounced gap in retiree experience and worker expectation for retirement-income sources remains working for pay in retirement,” Lisa Greenwald, executive VP of Greenwald & Associates, said in the EBRI report. “Three-quarters of workers believe work for pay will be a source of income in retirement and only a quarter of retirees actually receive income from work. It is risky for workers to assume they will be able to work into retirement when, for so many retirees, this has not been the case. I understand there’s a strong desire for income stability, but for many, continuing to receive a regular paycheck from work may not be the solution.”

Retirement age

The RCS “continues to identify a lack of alignment” between workers’ expectations about their age of retirement and prospects for working in retirement, compared with retiree experiences. 

Workers continue to report an expected median retirement age of 65, while retirees report they retired at a median age of 62. The survey has consistently found that 43 percent of retirees leave the workforce earlier than planned, with 35 percent citing illness or disability as the reason and 35 percent retiring due to changes at their company. 

In keeping with their income expectations, 80 percent of workers expect to work for pay in retirement, while only 28 percent of retirees report that they have actually done so.              

SCHENECTADY — MVP Health Care on April 29 announced the appointment of Dr. Bruce Himelstein as chief medical officer. 

Himelstein will lead MVP’s medical-management strategy by “implementing policies and programs to improve outcomes for MVP’s members and continue to build healthy communities,” the health insurer said in a news release.

“Bruce is bringing the highest caliber of expertise to MVP through his experience as a chief medical officer and a physician,” Denise Gonick, MVP’s CEO and director, contended. “His vision and passion to improve the lives of our members is unparalleled and we look forward to the positive impact he will have at MVP.”

Schenectady–based MVP Health Care operates Central New York regional offices at 333 W. Washington St. in Syracuse; at 3360 George F Highway in Endwell; and at 421 Broad St. in Utica, per its website. 

Himelstein joins MVP Heath Care with more than 25 years of leadership in clinical medicine, education, research, and strategic program design. He most recently served as the senior executive medical director for government solutions at the Health Care Service Corporation, a privately held, nonprofit Blue Cross plan in Chicago.

He began his career as a pediatric oncologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and after years of clinical practice and research, he made a career change to executive roles in various managed-care organizations.

Himelstein earned his doctor of medicine degree from New York University School of Medicine. He earlier received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and his executive MBA degree from the University of South Florida.

“Bruce is a highly accomplished, forward-thinking health care executive with a dynamic track record,” Christopher Del Vecchio, MVP’s president and COO, added in the news release. “He is an innovator who will build upon our clinical strategies and programs to cultivate positive results.”

SYRACUSE — The YMCA of Greater Syracuse announced that Erin Grayson recently joined the organization as VP of human resources & development. 

Grayson is a longtime YMCA professional in the areas of human resources, leadership development, coaching, and a wide range of program development. 

Grayson most recently was the leadership development and human resources director at the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA. While her husband Tim was pursuing his education, she spent a short period of time with the YMCA of Greater Syracuse at the East Area YMCA, working with youth and teens, according to an organization news release.

Prior to Syracuse, Grayson worked at the Silver Bay YMCA, serving in many different roles for more than a decade. She grew up in Norwich, and spent most of her time at the Norwich Family YMCA. 

Grayson has a bachelor’s degree in youth development, with a minor in YMCA professional studies, and master of education degree in recreation management from Springfield College. She holds her organizational leader certification from YMCA of the USA, as well as certifications from the Center for Creative Leadership and The Bigger Game Company, per the release.