ITHACA — Air travelers in the Southern Tier are getting new facilities and new options.

Bolstered by state money from the Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Competition, the Ithaca and Elmira–area airports are undergoing renovations.

A $60 million renovation is well underway at Elmira Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats. Director of Aviation Bill Hopper says the original $58 million plan for upgrades would have left the control tower, which sits in the middle of the airport, looking as it has for decades. The plan was updated to include modernizing the look of the tower, including large electric “ELM” signs on the front and back, announcing the airport’s three-letter code.

The new look for the airport is modern and airy, he explains. Those who pull up in front of the airport will be able to see all the way through to the 8,000-foot runway behind.

Work at Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport could start as soon as October, says Mike Hall, manager. Plans call for $24.5 million in renovations and expansion, including a 7,500-square-foot passenger-holding area, larger concession sections, and a 1,700-square-foot ticketing area.

In addition, the airport will be adding a federal customs facility to allow international travel through the airport. There is demand for this, Hall explains because “Global Cornell,” draws visitors from around the world — students, executives, recruiters, trustees, and others. Even before the facility, he says the draw of Cornell is such that hundreds of private planes arrive each year with visitors from overseas.

There is currently no scheduled commercial international service to the airport, but “they’ll fly from Beijing by Gulfstream.” The customs facility, he adds, will make Ithaca more accessible to international entities and act as a boon for economic development in Ithaca and the Southern Tier.

Less grand, perhaps, but of great service to business travelers, the renovations will include an upgrade for the Wi-Fi system and more charging stations.

Along with those improvements, travelers are getting new destinations direct from the Southern Tier.

On Oct. 4, United Airlines will begin service to Washington Dulles International Airport from Ithaca. At the same time, Ithaca will lose United service to Newark International Airport.

“Newark has a certain capacity based on airport layout,” Hall says. Squeezed for space, United dropped Newark as a destination from Ithaca but added Dulles.

“It’s just as good, and we’ve got a new destination,” Hall says of the change. Like Newark, Dulles has many national and international connections and, of course, it gives Ithaca a nonstop link to the nation’s capital.

In addition, Hall says Ithaca will be adding direct flights to Charlotte, North Carolina, on American Airlines starting in December. Charlotte Douglas International Airport is another hub with national and international connections. In addition, Hall says, Charlotte has a high on-time arrival performance, making it a good destination.

Those still wanting to fly to Newark can drive down the road to Big Flats where Elmira-Corning Regional Airport began United service to the New Jersey airport in April. It offers flights twice a day, says Hopper.

At Greater Binghamton Airport in the town of Maine, David Hinkling, commissioner of aviation for Broome County, is currently focused on developing the 300 acres around the airport. The goal is to attract businesses that will make use of the airport and add to the local economy.

Earlier this year, the airport added Evolution Jets, a private jet-chartering company. The firm is based in Texas, Hinkling says, and wants to have corporate jets positioned around the country so it can react quickly to customer demand. Right now Evolution has eight to 10 employees at the airport and it plans to expand to 20 in the next year or so, Hinkling says, using Binghamton as a maintenance base.

Hinkling says the airport chose not to go after terminal renovation grants because the terminal is in good shape. Built in 1950, it was updated in 2000 and freshened up with updated restrooms and other upgrades just six or seven years ago.

Instead, the Greater Binghamton Airport has landed a $68,000 Empire State Development grant to hire a company that specializes in developing airport business parks. Several companies work in that line of business, Hinkling says, and he expects they will respond to the airport’s request for proposals.

He adds that aircraft maintenance companies looking for a place to set up shop might want to know that the airport has landed planes as large as an Air Force C5 Galaxy, “the largest U.S. military plane,” and this spring served an Airbus 320 that was part of an Honor Flight for veterans visiting Washington.

The airport is very aggressively pursuing another destination — perhaps in the South, Hinkling says. He would say no more than, “we have an airline that’s interested.” 

Even as it does that, Hinkling says the Greater Binghamton Airport is also looking to see if Delta Airlines might add another daily flight to Detroit, the only scheduled destination currently served by the airport.       ν

BINGHAMTON — McFarland Johnson, Inc. (MJ) — a Binghamton–based planning, engineering and construction administration firm — announced that its Aviation and Bridge Design Group in Binghamton has grown with the recent addition of six employees in newly created positions.

The staff additions were needed to meet an increased volume of projects in the aviation and bridge sectors of MJ’s practice, Ruthanne C. Bulman, human resources manager at McFarland Johnson, tells CNYBJ. “This growth is a result of MJ’s innovative and dynamic approach to airport planning and application software development; accelerated bridge construction capabilities on bridge replacement projects; and proactive support to clients with grant application process, project planning and engineering design, all the way through to construction administration,” she contended in an email.

MJ, which was founded in 1946, has a total of 145 employees in nine office locations. In Binghamton, its Bridge Design Group currently has six employees, while the Aviation Group has grown to 15 workers, according to Bulman.

The new employees are:

Joshua Fletcher, airport engineer, a recent graduate of SUNY Polytechnic Institute with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology, and emphasis in structures. Fletcher previously worked as a transportation construction inspector with the New York State Department of Transportation and served in the Navy for five years. 

Zachary Gregg, airport engineer, comes to MJ from BME Associates in Rochester, where he worked since graduating from RIT in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology and a minor in mechanical engineering. Gregg is originally from Johnson City, where he now resides again.

Nathaniel Skelding, airport engineer, received his bachelor’s in civil engineering technology from RIT, and previously worked as a site development intern for Wegmans. Skelding recently moved to the Scranton, Pennsylvania area, where he is currently assisting MJ with inspection of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Taxiway project.

Salvatore (Sam) Paolini has joined the firm as a software developer. Paolini joins MJ’s growing IT/ software development applications and projects. A long-time resident of the Binghamton area, he graduated from Binghamton University.

Rileigh Genung, bridge engineer, is a recent graduate of Clarkson University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, and a concentration in structural, architectural & construction engineering management. Genung comes to MJ after having previously interned with Delaware Engineering, D.P.C. in Oneonta. 

Tammarra Kutz has joined as a project coordinator. Kutz comes to MJ from the Riordan Management Group (RMG) and will facilitate project-management support and assistance to MJ’s Airport and Facilities groups. 

Besides its Binghamton headquarters, McFarland Johnson has additional offices in upstate New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, according to its website. 

ITHACA — CFCU Community Credit Union plans to open its first office on the Ithaca Commons in the Bank Tower office building at 200–204 E. State St. in Ithaca early next year.

The Ithaca–based credit union is calling the location a “transformation center,” which will include additional space for its administrative offices, according to an Aug. 8 news release.

McPherson Builders Inc. of Ithaca will serve as the general contractor for the fit-out of CFCU’s first Commons office. The credit union will occupy the entire first floor and a portion of the second floor with retail-branch services and administrative offices. 

The new office is scheduled to open in the spring of 2019.

CFCU’s transformation center will include “the latest in banking technologies” to serve members. They include new service-delivery systems, such as “intelligent” teller machines. Employees can use those machines to teach members about depositing checks without getting in line, part of what CFCU calls the “electronic banking experience.” 

CFCU’s executive leadership team will be located at the Commons facility, along with commercial lenders, mortgage lenders, business-development officers, and wealth-management advisors.

“We’re excited to bring our brand of service and value to downtown Ithaca and offer a contemporary and efficient way of banking for our members,” Lisa Whitaker, president and CEO of CFCU Community Credit Union, said. “On any given day, over 5,000 people pass this location, so it’s a good place for us to be. Plus, the additional office space eases some of the space pressures we’re incurring at our administrative buildings at 1030 and 1050 Craft Road due to steady growth.”

CFCU has an administrative office at 1030 Craft Road in Lansing and a mortgage office at 1050 Craft Road, according to its website. It also operates a mortgage office at 140 Seneca Way in Ithaca, along with several branch and ATM locations in the Ithaca area.

Bank Tower was originally built in 1932 and is described by CFCU as “one of the most prominent buildings in downtown Ithaca.” 

The credit union contends that its new space will be modern, but the renovation work will maintain the building’s “original splendor in accordance with historic preservation standards.”

CFCU Community Credit Union was chartered in 1953 and currently has about 190 employees, over $1 billion in assets, more than 69,000 members. CFCU serves members in Tompkins, Cortland, Cayuga, Ontario, and Seneca counties and their family members, along with any business or organization located in these counties. 

They were not chosen, Falcone recounts, “but it did give us an opportunity to meet a lot of folks.” Among them were people from a Kentucky business called GenCanna.

Falcone was so impressed, he invested in the company and now serves on its board of directors. “In the last four years I got to see the business grow and flourish,” he says.

Falcone is applying GenCanna’s lesson to Southern Tier Hemp as the new company utilizes protocols and standards for growing and processing the crop. “Gencanna is a strategic partner,” he says.

The goal isn’t simply to grow the crop and then process it at harvest time, he explains. Southern Tier Hemp aims to stagger planting and harvesting so that the company has a “large and sustainable supply so we have CBD in the building at all times.”

Southern Tier Hemp is not alone in its interest, explains Kaelan Castetter. His company, Castetter Sustainability Group, consults with farmers and processors starting in the industry. The firm organized the Southern Tier Hemp Summit at the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator in downtown Binghamton. It drew 150 attendees, including experts, those already in the business, and local individuals looking to get their own businesses involved in the field. “It was not just hippies showing up saying, ‘I want to grow hemp!’” Castetter says.

While farmers are learning to grow hemp, processors are just now buying the equipment needed to process it. Falcone says they are starting small, having just planted the first plants in Endicott last year. “We don’t want to go out and spend money foolishly.”

Processes are similar, but not identical to handling other crops. The hemp will need to be dried, in a way similar to how tobacco is dried, Castetter says.

Extracting oil, Falcone says, will be similar to the way oils are processed from other plants, such as soybeans.

Falcone sees the industry growing rapidly in the Southern Tier and, with support from the state and local universities, being a hotbed of development. “We want this to be a center of excellence for the hemp industry.”

As for Southern Tier Hemp, “I see us in three to four years having up to 100 employees.”    

“FuzeHub is pleased to be working with our partners to educate New York state energy-technology entrepreneurs about manufacturing their products, and to help ensure that more of those innovations are ultimately produced here in the United States,” Elena Garuc, executive director of FuzeHub, said in a mid-June news release.

About NY MEP

FuzeHub is part of the New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP), a network of organizations that provide growth and innovation services to small and mid-sized manufacturers across the state. 

The 11 nonprofit organizations that comprise the New York MEP assist companies all over New York, providing affordable services in the areas of technology acceleration, product development and prototyping, process improvements, innovation strategies, quality control, manufacturing scale-up, supply chain assistance, and new market strategies.

NY MEP says it annually helps nearly 1,000 manufacturers “create and retain jobs, increase profits, and save time and money, by providing affordable services ranging from technology acceleration to product development to manufacturing scale-up.”

NY MEP is supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology & Innovation (NYSTAR).

“Utilizing the expertise and long-standing manufacturing networks of the NY MEP system, we can collectively address the [U.S.] Department of Energy’s goal of helping energy-technology innovators close the manufacturing-readiness gap,” Matt Watson, NYSTAR director, said in the FuzeHub release.

To provide the Build4Scale training to clean-tech hardware startups and “ensure that they receive support on their pathway to domestic manufacturing,” FuzeHub is working with its regional NY MEP counterparts, including the Alliance for Manufacturing & Technology, based at 5 South College Drive on the SUNY Broome campus in the town of Dickinson. 

Additionally, FuzeHub “frequently” partners with business incubators across New York. It’ll be collaborating with the Southern Tier Clean Energy Incubator, located at 12 Hawley St. in Binghamton, to identify young companies that can “benefit most from the training.”

OWEGO — As the owner of an independent insurance agency with many local individual and business customers, Jennifer Welch has her pulse on the area’s progress. And, she says right now is a tremendous time in Owego. 

“We have a lot of exciting things just in the village of Owego. We have the new Gateway Building being built. I’m seeing growth. It’s an exciting time right now,” says Welch, owner of the Tom Ash Agency, based at 185 Main St.

The nearly $3 million Gateway Building project is transforming a hole in Owego’s historic downtown business district on Front Street into a mixed-use structure of apartments on the upper floors and commercial space on ground level.

Welch also points to the growth in new housing in the Owego area. “I’ve been writing new homeowners’ insurance policies. People are buying new homes. I am seeing growth and activity.”

It’s also an exciting time for Welch’s business. The Tom Ash Agency recently expanded into Broome County with a new office in the hamlet of Endwell.

The business held a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 15 to formally open the new office at 519 Hooper Road in Endwell (town of Union).

Welch tells CNYBJ that she decided to open a second office because “we were ready to expand. And we do have current clients this way.” It was the first time the agency had opened an additional location.

She says the Endwell office first opened to customers in late April and adds that the ribbon cutting had to wait until she secured a new sign for the storefront.

“This is a great location here, nice central location… Sits in a nice shopping plaza here,” Welch says. She leases her space from Fishs Eddy IV, LLC, which owns the plaza. She wasn’t sure of her square footage. The one-story shopping center, which was built in 1970, encompasses more than 6,400 square feet on 2.4 acres of land, according to Broome County’s online property records. 

Welch adds that there was also a “bit of nostalgia” behind her decision to select the Hooper Road site for her insurance office. “I grew up on the north side of Endicott, not too far from here. Across the street now is a Best Bagels in Town. But it was a Carvel ice cream shop when I was a kid and my dad would take me there a lot,” 

The Tom Ash Agency has operated at 185 Main St. in Owego since 1975. Tom Ash started the insurance agency in the early 1970s, at first from his home, and led the business until retiring at the end of 2014. Welch says she worked for Ash for 12 years as a licensed agent before buying the agency’s book of business and Owego building upon Ash’s retirement.

When asked why she decided to buy the business, Welch says, “I loved the way Mr. Ash treated customers. I loved being in that office… Mr. Ash treated clients as family. We knew their names. Many of the customers would come into the office just to have a cup of coffee and hang out… I loved his sense of community… It was the right move for me.”

The Tom Ash Agency has one employee in Endwell and two employees in Owego, for a total of three staff members for the business, including Welch. Two of the employees are licensed insurance agents, she says.

Welch says she spends three days a week in the Endwell office and the other two days in Owego.

The Tom Ash Agency offers home, auto, and business insurance. It also provides specialty lines of insurance, including personal umbrella, boat, ATV, motorcycle, snowmobile, travel trailer, golf cart, and workers’ compensation. The insurance carriers whose products it offers include Progressive, Travelers, Utica Mutual, and Eastern Mutual.       

Dallas, Texas–based Skyven Technologies, the 2017 winner of the 76West competition, has completed the first shipment of what the company calls an intelligent mirror array.

The product was manufactured in Horseheads and described as “one of the world’s first solar solutions for industrial steam,” the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) said in a July 30 news release.

Skyven, has been working with Cameron Manufacturing & Design in Horseheads to finalize the technology and manufacturing specifications. The first order of panels has been completed, according to NYSERDA. 

Skyven is also working with the Radiant Store, based in Troy, to install the system at Copses Farms in Valley Falls in Rensselaer County. “Due in part” to Skyven’s technology order, Cameron has expanded its operations, the authority said. 

Skyven works with its customer to reduce its carbon footprint and save it money, Arun Gupta, founder and CEO of Skyven, contended in the NYSERDA release.

“We’re extremely happy to see our first commercial production and deployment take place in upstate New York and look forward to continuing our work with our partners in the Southern Tier to install many more systems throughout the state,” said Gupta.

Cameron is “always looking” for growth opportunities and partners, as the firm has been “manufacturing the future” since 1983, Michael Chevalier, account executive at Cameron Manufacturing & Design, said in the release. 

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Skyven Technologies on their unique renewable system that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and provide a healthier environment for industrial buildings,” said Chevalier. 

“This is ground-breaking technology that focuses on a market that is currently under-served. This system has a lot of potential to create opportunities for both manufacturers and installers and I look forward to helping Skyven integrate its technology in New York State,” Terry Moag, owner of the Radiant Store, added.

Skyven says its mirror-array technology is a “unique,” renewable product for industrial steam that a customer can use to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from industrial boilers. It uses panels — which are similar to solar panels — that magnify the sun’s heat by concentrating sunlight, which can then be used to provide energy to industrial buildings at reduced costs.

Skyven Technologies captured the $1 million grand prize in last year’s 76West competition in Binghamton. 

As a condition of the award, companies must either move to the Southern Tier or establish a direct connection with the Southern Tier, like a supply chain, job development with Southern Tier companies, or other “strategic” relationships with Southern Tier entities that increase wealth creation and create jobs, according to NYSERDA. 

BINGHAMTON — Renovation work is underway on the Ansco Camera Factory building in Binghamton in a nearly $30 million, mixed-use development project that started in early July.

The project will redevelop the former factory into 100 market-rate lofts, including 85,000 square feet of commercial space.

Hueber-Breuer Construction Co. Inc. of Syracuse is the construction manager on the project, says Matthew Paulus, president of Syracuse–based Paulus Development. 

Paulus Development is “very comfortable” with historic preservation and looked for “underutilized assets” in Binghamton.

“… and preserving their history, preserving the actual structural and architectural integrity of the building and using those to be catalysts for change in the community,” says Paulus.

Dalpos Architects & Integrators of Syracuse is the designer on the project. Paulus owns the building under the entity Freewheelin Ansco, LLC.

“[Broome County] had owned the building and they were marketing the building for sale,” he added. He spoke from Syracuse in a phone interview conducted July 27.

Paulus Development acquired the building for $350,000 and the purchase closed at the end of June.

Empire State Development (ESD) on June 14 announced its support for the project, providing up to $2 million for the building’s adaptive reuse through the “Southern Tier Soaring” Upstate Revitalization Initiative. 

The Syracuse office of the Community Preservation Corp. (CPC) provided the construction loan for the project. On its website, the CPC describes itself as a “consistent source of capital to underserved housing markets throughout New York City and in communities across the state.”

“Eighty percent of the hard construction costs were financed through the [close to $20 million] construction loan. The remainder was financed through private equity,” says Paulus. The project is also eligible for historic tax credits, he adds.

“Anchor development”

The nearly $30 million project will serve as the “anchor development” for the first-ward district in the city of Binghamton, ESD said. It’ll connect the central business district, Westside, and Southern Tier Health Sciences and Innovation Park in Johnson City.

The state expects crews to complete the project in late spring 2019, ESD said.

The four-story factory, located along Emma St. in Binghamton, is “historically associated” with the cigar-manufacturing trade and the camera and film industry, “two of Binghamton’s most important industries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” ESD said.

The building was originally designed and built in 1927 for the General Cigar Company. However, it was the “nationally prominent” Ansco Camera and Film Company that ran its manufacturing operations in the building from 1937 until the company closed its doors in 1977. 

The building is a “significant” landmark in Binghamton with its prominent water tower a “long-time feature of the skyline,” ESD said.

Commercial tenants in the Ansco Camera Factory include E&M Power, a power-electronics technology company that designs and manufactures AC and DC advanced power emulators and custom power electronic products; Glowa Manufacturing Inc., a manufacturer of cable assemblies; Crystal-lyn Chemical Company, which develops and manufactures “custom, specialized high value fine chemicals,” its website says; and All Phase Electric & Maintenance Inc., an electrical contractor.

“We have our commitments for the commercial space [in] the project,” says Paulus. 

In addition to the Ansco Camera Factory, Paulus Development similarly repurposed the former R.E. Dietz Lantern Factory in Syracuse, a project that features loft style market-rate apartments and commercial space. 

The Preservation League of New York State selected the Dietz rehabilitation project for its “Excellence in Historic Preservation” award, ESD said. The Preservation League presented the award in a ceremony held in New York City last month.

Paulus Development started operations in October 2015 and has four employees as of Aug. 3. Its office is located at 225 Wilkinson St. in Syracuse in the Dietz Lantern Factory.