OSWEGO — Five Star Urgent Care has formally opened a new walk-in medical clinic at 200 E. 1st St. in Oswego, adding to its growing list of upstate New York locations.

The new office serves patients daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The company says its staff treats patients on a walk-in basis with most insurance accepted. Patients may view up-to-date wait times at the facility on the urgent care provider’s website. 

The facility is “equipped to offer treatment for non-life-threatening ailments, such as bronchitis, sprains, strains and gastrointestinal ailments, as well as providing onsite x-rays, lab testing and diagnostics,” Five Star said in a news release.

Launched in 2012, Five Star Urgent Care opened its first clinic in Big Flats. The company continues to expand its footprint and plans to open additional offices throughout the state in 2018. Its other current locations are in Cicero, Fairmount, Fayetteville, Geneva, Greece, Ithaca, Jamestown, Lancaster, Liverpool, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, and Vestal.

MANLIUS — By July, the 23-year old Craftsman Inn & Conference Center in the town of Manlius will have a new look and the inn’s Limestone Grille may have a new name.

Phase one of the two-phase renovation plan has begun, explains Robert Richie, director of sales and marketing at the Craftsman, located on East Genesee Street. The 69-room inn, on the west side of the property, is undergoing renovation. Part of the work involved selling furniture that would not be needed after the renovation.

However, Richie tells CNYBJ, that the Craftsman Inn will continue to feature Stickley furniture, a signature of the inn since it opened in 1995.

On a recent morning, workers could be seen tossing items into a dumpster in front of the main building while printed signs directed visitors to the temporary registration desk in the building on the east side of the property. Work is being carried out by crews from DeWitt–based Widewaters Group, Richie says. Widewaters purchased the property to become part of its Widewaters Hotels in 2016.

Phase one of the renovation involves updates to the rooms and the lobby of the inn section. It should be done in April, Richie says.

Phase two will involve renovating the east-side building, including 21 suites, meeting rooms and the Limestone Grille, he says.

The work will require the restaurant to close from March 4 until sometime in July, Richie says. When it returns, much will be changed.

“The restaurant is going to have a brand new concept that Syracuse has never seen,” he says, declining to offer more details on the concept.

Architect renderings of the renovations show added space under cover matching the craftsman style of the existing buildings. Part of the new space created, a covered patio with infrared heat, is meant to allow diners to extend the al fresco season, Richie says. Changes may even include a new name for the Limestone Grille, though that isn’t settled yet, he says.

Richie says the independent hotel is stressing that it is a “community hotel,” a place where families can mark life’s major milestones with wedding receptions, baby showers and even post-funeral gatherings. “We get to know who everybody is,” he says of the hotel located on the Fayetteville village line.

“We work with local vendors and give back to the community,” he adds, noting upcoming charitable fundraisers. “People know we are a community hotel,” he says. That is reflected in who uses the hotel on weekends, he adds. People check in for events at Syracuse University or Cazenovia College, as well as to attend local weddings.

More than 100 meetings of various kinds are hosted at the hotel and conference center each year. With 4,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, Richie says the Craftsman Inn can accommodate up to 200 people in a single room for an event. 

According to the Widewaters website, the company has 21 hotels, including three being renovated or under construction. 

CANASTOTA — The Village of Canastota will use a nearly $1.7 million Restore NY grant to help pay for the construction of a facility that will be the new home for Dutchland Plastics’ New York operations.

“We are very excited to welcome Dutchland Plastics to the Village of Canastota. This Restore NY project is a great example of remediating and revitalizing an abandoned industrial site and bringing it back to life as a value-added economic property in our community,” Carla DeShaw, mayor of the Village of Canastota, said in a news release that the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued Jan. 22. 

The expansion will facilitate the creation of at least 42 new full-time jobs over the next two years in addition to the 23 positions that will be retained. The state expects construction on the new facility to finish by the end of 2019.

In order to encourage Oostburg, Wisconsin–based Dutchland Plastics to expand in Central New York, Empire State Development (ESD) has offered up to $475,000 in performance-based tax credits through its Excelsior Jobs program, which are tied to job-creation commitments, Cuomo’s office said. 

Additionally, ESD has reallocated a nearly $1.7 million Restore NY grant to the Village of Canastota that will assist with construction of the new building. 

The company will invest $2.6 million for capital equipment and to customize the new facility, which will sit along the Erie Canal, Cuomo’s office said.

Dutchland is the third largest contract rotational molder in the U.S., Cuomo’s office said. It described the firm as “country’s leading contract plastics rotomolded product manufacturer.” 

“We are very excited about this expansion,” Randy Herman, CEO of Dutchland Plastics, said in Cuomo’s release. “This is a tremendous opportunity and I want to thank Gov. Cuomo, Madison County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director Kipp Hicks, and especially Canastota Mayor Carla DeShaw, who will be assigning resources to help the company recruit and train requisite new hires from the local community.”

As a custom plastics-products manufacturer, Dutchland Plastics services recreational, commercial, outdoor, food and beverage, furniture, and marine industries. The company manufactures products like Yeti coolers and NuCanoe boats, according to Cuomo’s office.

SYRACUSE — The Redhouse performing-arts center is getting ready to move to its new home inside the building at 400 S. Salina St. in Syracuse now known as City Center.

City Center was named to “reflect its place in the business and cultural center of Syracuse,” according to a news release from Cornerstone Real Estate Opportunities of Syracuse.

In its history, the structure was once home to Sibley’s department store before it closed in the late 1980s.

“We’re hoping to move in by mid-February,” says William Hider, president of the board of trustees of the Redhouse, a nonprofit arts organization. “And we’re hoping to have our first production here in mid-March.” Hider spoke with CNYBJ inside City Center on Jan. 19.

The Redhouse will be a primary tenant in the building that’s under redevelopment to make it a mixed-use facility. The intention was to expand the Redhouse, according to Hider.

“[We] have a place to stay, a bigger place, and have some income coming in for an endowment so we don’t have to raise … as much money all the time,” says Hider. “This does both for us.”

The Redhouse has occupied its current location at 201 S. West St. in Syracuse since the mid-1980s, according to Hider.

Besides being a tenant, the Redhouse is also a part owner in the building to which it is moving. The Redhouse, along with Gary and Jeremy Thurston, co-own the nearly 250,000-square-foot structure at 400 S. Salina St.

The Thurstons, known locally for leading the Hayner Hoyt Corporation of Syracuse, are the majority owners in the partnership, says Hider. 

Interior work

The work on the project started in the spring of 2017. The project is roughly $30 million “for everything,” according to Hider.

Its finish date “depends on when the tenants come,” he notes.

“The Redhouse portion and the garage portion will be done shortly. The building and the office part may be a year away,” says Hider.

Hayner Hoyt is the general contractor on the project, and Schopfer Architects LLP, also based in Syracuse, is handling the project design work.

The Redhouse plans to borrow money from a consortium of area banks including Pathfinder Bank (NASDAQ: PBHC), M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB), and NBT Bank (NASDAQ: NBTB) to help finance the project, according to Hider.

The Redhouse is using a $1.3 million grant from the Central New York regional economic-development council (REDC) for the renovation of its space in the building. The REDC also awarded grants of $1.6 million for the renovation work on the building’s parking garage and $2.5 million for the renovation work throughout the rest of the building beyond the space that the Redhouse will occupy, he adds.

“And we hope that this area … that this will spur the rest of Salina Street … down to the hotel … for future development,” says Hider. 

Pursuit of tenants

Besides the Redhouse, the pursuit of tenants, such as a restaurant, continues, says Brian Rossi, who described himself as a project manager with Cornerstone Real Estate Opportunities. Rossi is also the chief operating officer of Bell Tenant Champions at 120 Walton St., a sister company to Cornerstone.

“[We’re] looking at colleges, obviously any of the SUNY programs are targets for us, local schools that have music, arts, [and] culinary institutes that have a shared ability to share some of the services and space that Redhouse has to offer,” says Rossi.

The tenants will also include a credit union or a bank, and another anchor tenant for the upper floor of the City Center.

Building history

City Center was the site of a famed Vaudeville theatre and opera house from 1920 until 1967, according to the Cornerstone news release. 

Known for its Vaudeville acts and musical performances, RKO Keith’s was designed by Thomas Lamb who built the Syracuse Loew’s State Movie House right across the street, which is now known as the Landmark Theatre.

The Vaudeville theatre and most of the 400 block was demolished in 1967 to make way for the Sibley’s department store. Sibley’s occupied the space until closing its doors in 1988, according to the news release. 

Since that time, various call centers and offices occupied the building, including National Government Services and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.

Excellus moved out in 2013 and the building has been vacant since then.