SALINA — Insurance agency Haylor, Freyer & Coon is looking ahead to the late spring or early summer when it plans to move its headquarters to One Park Place at 300 S. State St. in downtown Syracuse.

The firm currently operates at 231 Salina Meadows Parkway in the Salina Meadows Office Park off Buckley Road in the town of Salina.

It’s the “largest corporate move into downtown Syracuse since 2016,” the firm said in its Jan. 4 announcement, citing information from the City of Syracuse. 

Haylor, Freyer & Coon will take over the space that Barclay Damon, LLP vacated in 2016 before moving to Onondaga Tower in downtown Syracuse, which now bears the law firm’s name.

The insurance agency started its real-estate search process two years ago, says James Freyer, chairman and CEO of Haylor, Freyer & Coon. The firm’s lease at the Salina Meadows location ends this October, he notes. 

The firm has operated in its Salina Meadows location for 30 years and says it remains “very happy with the property.” But downtown Syracuse’s revitalization represents an opportunity for the insurance agency.

 “I really believe downtown is very vibrant, is coming back for both business and retail and also for individuals who want to live in the city. It offers Haylor, Freyer & Coon the [chance] to build out a brand-new, different space. It allows us the opportunity to bring 130 employees to the downtown area,” says Freyer, who spoke with CNYBJ on Jan. 4. 

The agency has a total employee count of 185, according to Freyer, who believes that One Park Place will help the firm in recruiting future employees.

“I think our new office environment and location in the city will offer us a competitive opportunity to hire those that would like to join our team,” says Freyer. 

The One Park Place location will also provide the insurance agency additional space and “increased visibility in the market.”

Freyer credited the assistance of brokers John Clark and Michael Kalet of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company in helping Haylor, Freyer & Coon find the space.

Haylor, Freyer will occupy nearly 40,000 square feet on the top two floors of the building. It is working with the building owner — Zamir Equities and its founder, Asher Zamir, an investor from New York City — as well as with design firms, Dalpos Architects and King + King Architects to “create an office design that meets the current and future working needs of its team.” 

Haylor, Freyer & Coon will pay employee-parking fees under the terms of its lease. The company has also secured exterior lighting naming rights to the building on all four sides.

Before moving to Salina Meadows Office Park in 1989, the insurance agency previously operated at 750 James St. in Syracuse beginning in 1979; 429 James St. starting in the mid-1950s; and the University Building at 120 E. Washington St. in downtown Syracuse beginning in 1947.

Besides its local headquarters, Haylor, Freyer & Coon operates additional offices in Johnson City, Ithaca, Watertown, Rochester, and Schenectady.

SYRACUSE — Even though Paul Nojaim had to close his family’s supermarket location at 307 Gifford St. in September 2017, he still felt the building could help serve the neighborhood and the Near Westside.

Onondaga County’s WIC office and clinic have relocated to the former Nojaim Brothers supermarket at 307 Gifford St.

“The first discussions were literally a year ago,” says Nojaim.

WIC, which is short for women, infants and children, previously operated at 375 W. Onondaga St. in Syracuse.

WIC is leasing about 7,000 square feet in the 24,000-square-foot structure that formerly housed the Nojaim Brothers market.

Nojaim says he had heard that WIC had to move from its previous location because the building owner had to expand its space for another tenant. So, he called the office of Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh.

“We’re sitting empty here. Maybe this makes sense to have a discussion. That was the origin,” says Nojaim.

He spoke with CNYBJ following a Jan. 3 ceremony announcing WIC’s move to the new location.

When asked about the grocery store’s closure, Nojaim says he’s “fully aware” of the impact the closure has had on the neighborhood.

He says the opening of the Price Rite location on South Ave., along with “many factors” resulted in a decline in his store’s sales and profitability.

“There was nothing on the horizon that I thought would turn that around and [we] could just not afford to hemorrhage cash flow that way,” says Nojaim.

New WIC location

WIC is a program of the New York State Department of Health funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Onondaga County Health Department administers WIC under a contract with the state Health Department.

Onondaga County Executive J. Ryan McMahon, II and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh joined Dr. Indu Gupta, Onondaga County Health Commissioner, at a Jan. 3 ceremony for the new WIC office.

In speaking about the former Nojaim Brothers market, McMahon noted that “as times change, the purposes change.”

“What better message to send to the neighborhood than we’re still going to be helping provide healthy food and healthy opportunities in this building,” he said.

In his remarks, Walsh credited Nojaim for thinking about future possibilities for the location after the store closed. “He immediately started looking for other opportunities to help the neighborhood,” said Walsh

Nojaim had called Walsh about the WIC relocation about a year ago, the Syracuse mayor recalled. 

Local WIC services 

Besides the new WIC clinic at 307 Gifford St., WIC clinics also operate at various locations throughout Onondaga County, per a news release about the WIC relocation that McMahon’s office issued Thursday. 

WIC is available for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and children under the age of five who meet income requirements. WIC provides eWIC cards (EBT) every month to buy healthy WIC foods and provides ideas on preparing healthy meals for families. WIC can also connect families with “other health care they may need,” per the news release. Onondaga County serves more than 9,000 WIC participants.

ROCHESTER — The Bonadio Group — which operates an office in Syracuse and describes itself as upstate New York’s largest independent provider of accounting, consulting, and financial services — celebrated its 40th anniversary with a Dec. 14 gala event at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center.

More than 1,000 employees and guests from across the region attended the gala event with entertainment provided by Gap Mangione, DJ Naps, and Kool & The Gang. In addition to cocktails and dinner, the evening concluded with garbage plates and Abbott’s Frozen Custard.

“This 40th anniversary milestone reflects the dedication and professionalism of our entire team, along with their trust and commitment to our culture,” Tom Bonadio, CEO of Rochester–based Bonadio Group, said in a news release. “It is a great source of pride for me to reach four decades of service in the communities we serve and have the opportunity to share this with our team members.”

Founded in 1978, Bonadio Group now operates in 10 markets including its new office in Dallas and expanded presence in New York City. The firm is now up to 785 employees. In addition, Bonadio said it was expected to post $120 million in revenue in 2018. 

Bruce Zicari will assume the CEO role in May, following the completion of a three-year transition plan. “Tom Bonadio will remain with the firm as a senior council, helping the firm grow and meet its new strategic plan,” the release stated.

The accounting firm’s other six offices are in Albany, Batavia, Buffalo, East Aurora, Utica, and Rutland, Vermont.  

SYRACUSE — The U.S. Air Force has awarded a Syracuse University professor more than $427,000 for her work in developing a method for preventing bleeding deaths.

Mary Beth Browning Monroe, a professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, is developing a first-aid, biocompatible foam that results in rapid blood clotting in large wounds.

The Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program provided the project funding.

Despite advances in medical technology, millions of people around the world still bleed to death after a gunshot wound or “other traumatic injuries,” Syracuse said in a news release. Many of those deaths occur before the victims ever reach a hospital.

“Professor Duncan Maitland first developed this technology at Texas A&M 20 years ago as an aneurysm treatment,” Monroe said in the release. “While working in his lab, my job was to think of new applications for the foam. I was shocked by the number of people who still die from bleeding, so my focus became customizing the foam to treat large wounds, such as [those resulting from] gun shots.”

Monroe’s foam is a shape memory polymer, meaning it can take different shapes when heated, cooled or “manipulated.” Similar in appearance to the sponge in your kitchen sink, Monroe’s foam can be compressed and inserted into “deep, tunneling” wounds. Once implanted, it heats up to body temperature and expands to fill the injury. Its combination of chemistry and porous structure results in rapid clotting and stops the bleeding, Syracuse said.

“I dream that this will become a part of the average first-aid kit — inexpensive, easy-to-use and widely available,” said Monroe. “It could be made available to everyone, no matter where you are or who you are, and prevent a lot of deaths.”

Alternatives similar to Monroe’s solution are available, but “they tend to rely on applying pressure in the wound,” Syracuse said. Her foam not only patches the injury, but also “promotes healing as soon as it is inserted.” 

Monroe is also working on adding other functions for the foam such as a honey-based antimicrobial component to ward off infections and making the foam biodegradable so that it never needs to be removed.

“My goal now is to get the basic formulation out there as quickly as possible,” Monroe said. “I’m gathering the data I need to show that it is safe and effective, including FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approval. From there, I’ll continue to work on additional capabilities in future generations of the technology.”

Once approved for use, the technology would have “clear” military and commercial applications, Syracuse contends.