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.”