Hotels in Onondaga County had more guests this August 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 rose 5.1 percent to 73.6 percent in August from 70 percent a year prior, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. The increase broke a string of four straight months in which Onondaga County’s occupancy rate declined.

Revenue per available room (RevPar), a key industry gauge that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, jumped 6.1 percent to $80.02 this August from $75.43 in August 2016. RevPar in the county had also dropped in four consecutive months before this latest increase, per STR.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, edged up 0.9 percent $108.68 in August, compared to $107.71 a year earlier. 

However, year to date, Onondaga County’s occupancy rate is down 4.3 percent to 57.2 percent compared to the same period in 2016, RevPar is off 4.5 percent to $58.04, and ADR is down 0.3 percent to $101.40, according to STR.             

NEW HARTFORD — Like all things in life, facilities eventually reach their expiration date. Such is the case with an apartment complex in the Mohawk Valley.

“The Meadows Senior Apartments [located at 4310 Middle Settlement Road in New Hartford] had reached the end of their useful life,” says Mike Sweeney, president and CEO of Community Wellness Partners, an affiliation of LutheranCare in Clinton and Presbyterian Homes & Services in New Hartford. “The two-story buildings were built in 1974 and lacked elevators and handicap-accessibility. The units are heated by electricity, which is expensive. Some of the buildings were built in a flood plain, requiring us to occasionally find alternative residences until the flooded units could be refurbished.”

Meadows Apartments plan

So, the existing Meadows Senior Apartments complex had to go in order to be given new life.

“The plan is to demolish the existing structures and replace them with five, three-story buildings containing 151 one- and two-bedroom apartments,” explains Sweeney. “We will be installing efficient HVAC systems, elevators, handicap-accessible entrances and hallways, and mitigating any future flooding problems. The project is broken up into two phases: Phase one will include 93 apartments, and phase two another 58 apartments. We expect to file our application for phase two this fall. The Meadows at Middle Settlement Senior Apartments continues our commitment for at least the next 50 years to serving the area’s senior community with affordable housing.” 

While most of the units are classified as affordable, a few units in both phases are classified as market rate, meaning they are not income or rent-restricted.

CWP

Community Wellness Partners (CWP) was launched on July 1, 2016, following the signing of an agreement between the two faith-based, nonprofit organizations. While both parties to the agreement retain their separate identities and campuses, the affiliation currently is governed by a 16-member board of directors of whom four are practicing Lutherans and four practicing Presbyterians. “The affiliation creates the largest continuum of long-term-care services in Oneida County,” notes Sweeney. “The combined organizations allow us efficiencies in back-office operations and savings in consolidating our transportation and laundry departments. CWP is now in the process of consolidating other departments to maximize [our] efficiency. Thanks to a $2.65 million grant from the state, we are also upgrading and integrating our IT operations. 

“Both organizations have a shared mission of enabling the physical, intellectual, and social and spiritual wellness of older adults. Joining together is just a logical extension to maximize our assets to serve our populations better. There are also external factors that encourage our affiliation, such as the changes in Medicaid reimbursement. The system is shifting from a fee-for-service model to a value-based model. In the process of changing from the old model to the new, there is a great degree of uncertainty, more risk, and questions about the reimbursement formula and funding levels. “

Meadows Apartments collaboration

Building affordable housing is a complicated and convoluted process that usually requires finding developers to finance the deal, which typically runs 15 to 30 years, and to navigate the regulatory thicket. 

“To move ahead with the apartment revitalization, The Meadows at Middle Settlement, Inc. chose Omni Housing Development [headquartered in Albany] to partner with us,” explains Sweeney. “We worked with Duncan Barrett, the company’s COO, who is an affordable-housing expert. Duncan left Omni last summer and joined Beacon [Communities Development LLC, a privately owned real-estate firm]. Beacon is a large, multi-family developer based in Boston and has a strong record of developing and managing new construction, historic adaptive re-use, and renovation of existing housing.”

Barrett is the president of Beacon Communities Development, LLC–NY and heads up the office located in Albany. He is also recognized as the person who wrote the book on low-income housing credits in New York. 

“The New York arm of Beacon’s affordable-housing practice concentrates on the rehabilitation, re-capitalization, and re-positioning of occupied affordable housing stock in Upstate,” states Barrett. “Research and decades of experience in senior housing confirm that the nexus of health and housing improves residents’ lives, their health outcomes, and also drives down health-care costs.” 

He continues, “In phase-one, Beacon assumes the responsibility for financing, building, and managing 93 new apartments, which includes re-grading the property to add 2 feet in order to avoid flooding in the future, abating the asbestos problem, and tearing down the existing units.”

“We also coordinate with the Meadows to move the current residents to temporary housing until they can move into their new apartments. Once the apartments are open, Beacon will manage the property while contracting some services, such as maintenance, home-care, wellness, and housekeeping, from the Presbyterian Homes,” Barrett says. “CWP will continue to provide its Masterpiece Living services promoting wellness among the residents. The Meadows will pay Beacon a management fee for the life of the contract. Beacon owns the property, except for a CWP subsidiary which owns the land, until the contract expires in 15 years, at which time the Meadows plans to assume the title for a small payment and the assumption of the remaining liabilities.”

The projected cost of phase one is $16 million, which includes both hard and soft costs. “Like most affordable-housing development, the Meadows project has a lot of moving parts in order to finance the deal,” says Barrett. “We secured $10 million in grants from the federal and New York State governments through low-income housing programs and tax-exempt bond financing, which carried 4 percent in tax credits. U.S Bank bought the tax credits to write off against their profits and to satisfy the CRA (U.S. Community Reinvestment Act — 1977) requirements. (Beacon and U.S. Bank created Meadows Senior Living, LP, which owns phase-one of the project.) We also received a $7 million, community-development, block grant, which came from disaster-relief funds. This grant was the key to making the deal work. The New York State Housing Finance Agency provided $9.2 million of permanent debt, and NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research & Development Authority) added $223,000 in funding. Beacon’s investment will total approximately $1 million.”

Construction 

Beacon selected the Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corp. as the construction manager (CM) on the project. Gaetano has already begun to demolish some of the old buildings. “As the CM for both phases of construction, we are coordinating with Beacon and with the Meadows to maintain the entrances for the tenants still in the buildings,” explains William Gaetano, a company VP and principal. “We also need to coordinate our demolition with the site development as part of the flood-mitigation effort. In phase one, Gaetano is responsible for demolishing 14 of the 22 existing structures and replacing them with three, new buildings. All of the new, three-story buildings are wood-frame with panelized walls, each has an elevator, the apartments contain energy-star HVAC units, the walls and ceiling have spray-foam insulation, the corridors are double-loaded, and Gaetano will coordinate the installation of the gas, water, and electrical to all buildings. Each building will contain a small community room, laundry, and a Wi-Fi hub to provide internet access to all of the tenants. In phase-one, 84 of the 93 apartments will be one-bedroom and nine are planned as two-bedroom units. The timetable to complete phase-one is 22 months. The construction costs for phase-one are projected to total $16 million.”

Gaetano Construction, founded in the mid-1950s as a masonry contractor, is headquartered in Utica. Today, the company offers full-service general contracting, construction management, and design/build services. A second-generation family business, Gaetano serves a number of business sectors: commercial, office, educational, health-care, institutional, apartment, custom-homes, manufacturing, warehouse, and distribution. The company is also a Butler Building franchisee offering pre-engineered steel buildings in Oneida, Madison, Herkimer, and Onondaga counties.

CWP consolidated status

LutheranCare began in 1919 as the vision of a local woman concerned about care for the elderly. Today, the Clinton campus includes 185,212 square feet under roof set on 50 acres. The multi-faceted organization provides a broad spectrum of programs including residences for the elderly, skilled-nursing, special care for those with Alzheimer’s, adult-day, rehabilitation, palliative care, respiratory care, chaplaincy services, and bariatric accommodations. Presbyterian Homes & Services opened half a century ago as an 80-bed nursing home for the senior community. 

Today, the campus includes 521,071 square feet under roof sited on 64.5 acres. Its services have grown to include not only a nursing home but also home care, assisted-living, rehabilitation, affordable housing, and independent living. The CWP asset sheet reflects 706,283 square feet of structures set on 114.5 acres. The consolidated annual budget in fiscal (calendar) year 2016 was just under $60 million and showed an operating gain of $1.533 million. 

CWP employs more than 800 people and serves 1,367 residents and patients daily. Both LutheranCare and Presbyterian Homes & Services have independent foundations whose combined assets total $7 million.

Sweeney, as the president and CEO of CWP, is responsible for the direction of the entire organization on both campuses. He is a licensed, nursing-home administrator with more than 30 years of experience in the health-care field. He holds a bachelor’s degree in health-care administration from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in management science from Binghamton University. Prior to the affiliation in 2016, Sweeney was CEO of Presbyterian Homes & Services.

Barrett, a septuagenarian, earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1969. He was the executive director of the Troy Rehabilitation and Improvement Program, Inc. for eight years, did a short stint as Troy’s city manager, and then co-launched a private company called Taconic Capital Corp. Taconic focused primarily on offering consulting services to not-for-profit developers and to municipal-housing authorities. After 20 years with Taconic, he joined Omni and in 2016 accepted his current position with Beacon. Barrett, who resides in Troy, has managed the development of more than 6,000 units of affordable housing.

The timing of the CWP affiliation is important. The National Information Center points out that the retiring baby boomers are seeking senior housing in continuing-care retirement communities that offer a full-spectrum of housing options and supportive services. The CWP affiliation provides a number of benefits to both parties: Larger organizations typically manage population health better, manage their care across the spectrum, facilitate electronic-information exchange, accept added risk in value-based purchasing agreements, and realize economies of scale. The Meadows Apartments is just one of many future projects to come, which helps to position CWP as a health-care leader in the Mohawk Valley for the area’s growing senior population.               

Scenario 1 — You just got out of a meeting with your boss and the HR representative. Surprise, your job has been “eliminated.”

Scenario 2 — You retired early from your first career and still feel like working.

Scenario 3 — You hate your job and want to work for yourself.

In all three scenarios you have a choice to take — do you start your own business or try to get hired by an employer?

In my current position as a business advisor, I work with people who want to start a business. Some of them do end up starting a business, while some don’t. Even those who have started their own business may be better off financially by getting a job.

There are certainly pros and cons to each choice. Also, if some “red flags” exist, the choice becomes much easier to make. For example, if you do not have any money to start your own business, you will experience difficulty trying to borrow money from a bank or credit union. In that case, working for someone else and saving money to start your business later, may be the best choice.

Let’s look at some other pros and cons (and some myths) of starting your own business.

Pro — You are the boss. 

Con — You are the boss. No passing the buck now — you are responsible for every facet of your business, including securing financing, hiring and firing employees, and paying the bills.

Pro — Ability to work flexible hours.

Con — Working harder and longer than expected. Ask any small-business owner and most will agree that there are not enough hours in the day.

Pro — Make more of the profit as the owner.

Con — Not having enough profit to pay yourself, or worse, your employees or vendors. Cash flow is all on you now.

If you think you are going to work less and make more with your own business, you may be surprised to find out that it is exactly the opposite. There are many facets to running a business — it’s more than just starting a business. If you cannot do some of the things, such as bookkeeping or accounting, you will have to pay someone to do it for you. Also, sustainability is crucial to a startup business. If you have just enough assets to get it started, and not enough cash or inventory or help to sustain the business, you could be out of business quickly. Hopefully, before you start a business and spend any money at all, you seek advice from the SBDC, WISE, or SCORE. These entities are funded by the SBA and do not charge a fee for counseling. They help minimize risks to entrepreneurs by sharing best practices and provide business-plan development, financial-statement analysis, and market research.

Seeking a job from an employer is certainly a frustrating process and can be filled with anxiety. However, it is nice to know you will have a steady paycheck, benefits, and for the most part, stable work hours. You can concentrate on performing the things that you are good at, and most likely will have co-workers who can handle other tasks unrelated to your specific job. If you are fortunate to get any vacation time, you may want to take the job for that reason alone. There may be no vacation at all if you start a business. I tell all my clients: if you start a business, I guarantee you will have expenses. I can’t guarantee you will have income. Maybe getting a job doesn’t sound too bad after all.

Michael Cartini is a state-certified business advisor at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College. Contact him at m.j.cartini@sunyocc.edu 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently released the results of its 2016 Certified Organic Survey.

The results show that 14,217 certified organic farms in the U.S. sold a total of $7.6 billion in organic products last year, up 23 percent from $6.2 billion in 2015, according to a NASS news release.

New York ranked number 7 among the 50 states in organic sales. The Empire State had 1,059 certified organic farms that sold a total of $216 million in organic products in 2016, down 2 percent from $221 million in 2015, according to NASS.

Neighboring Pennsylvania, which was the number 2 ranked state in organic sales, had 803 certified organic farms that sold a total of $660 million in organic products in 2016. That was nearly double the $332 million sold in 2015.

The 2016 Certified Organic Survey is a census of all operations identified as having certified organic production. Certified organic farms must meet the standards set out by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP) and be certified compliant by an approved agent of NOP, the release stated. Survey results are available at www.nass.usda.gov/organics or the Quick Stats database at http://quickstats.nass.usda.gov.           

UTICA — Tim Reed recently announced that he is stepping down as president of Boilermaker Road Race Inc., after 10 years at the helm of the nonprofit. 

“It feels like it’s a great time for me to give someone else a chance to lead this fantastic organization,” Reed said in a news release issued by Boilermaker Road Race Sept. 11. “I’m excited to move on to the next big thing in my life and hand the reigns over to our new leader.”

The Boilermaker 15K race, one of the more popular road-running races in the U.S., is held annually the second Sunday in July in Utica. Total participation exceeds 21,000 runners, including the 5K race, kid’s run, and walk. It has more than 5,000 volunteers. The organization also engages in year-round community development efforts including promoting wellness.

 “We are indebted to Tim for both his vision and business sense he has brought the Boilermaker” said Fred Matt, chairman of the board of the Boilermaker. “He has left the organization in a very strong position from both a structural and financial perspective. The future for the organization is exceptional with the immense local heritage, support of the community, runners and sponsors.” 

The Boilermaker Road Race has selected M3 Placement & Partnership (www.m3placement.com) to lead the national search for its next president. Utica–based M3 says it specializes in executive searches and “attracting outstanding talent to the Central New York area.” Those interested in the position can read the full description and apply at http://m3bsn.com/job/president. The application deadline is Oct. 20.