SWBR Architects names Lupiani CNY branch manager

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — SWBR Architects, a Rochester–based firm, recently announced it has appointed Matthew Lupiani to branch manager of its Central New York office. Lupiani

New York manufacturing index again tumbles into negative territory in May

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

After positive readings in both March and April, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index plunged 19 points to -9.0 in May. Declines in new orders and shipments among New York manufacturers led the downturn. The results of the May survey indicated that business activity “declined” for New York manufacturers, the Federal Reserve Bank

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The results of the May survey indicated that business activity “declined” for New York manufacturers, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in its survey report. A negative reading indicates a contraction in manufacturing activity, while a positive number on the index indicates expansion in the sector.

The May general business-conditions index level was much worse than economists were expecting. A MarketWatch.com poll of economists had forecast an index reading of 5.8.

The New York Fed said that 19 percent of New York manufacturers reported that conditions had improved over the latest month, while 28 percent said that conditions had worsened.

The new-orders index also turned negative, its 17-point drop to -5.5 signaling a decrease in orders.

The shipments index, down 12 points to -1.9, showed that shipments were “flat,” and the unfilled-orders index fell to -6.3, according to the New York Fed.

The delivery-time index, at -6.3, pointed to “shorter” delivery times, and the inventories index, at -7.3, suggested that inventory levels were “lower.”

The prices-paid index edged down three points to 16.7, an indication that input prices “continued to increase at a moderate pace.”

The prices-received index fell six points, to -3.1, as selling prices moved “slightly lower.”

Employment levels remained “fairly steady,” with the index for number of employees showing “little change” at 2.1, while the average-workweek index declined 10 points to -8.3, evidence that the average workweek was “shorter” this month, the New York Fed said.

Indexes for the six-month outlook generally suggested that firms were somewhat less optimistic about future conditions than they were in April.

The index for future business conditions was “little changed” at 28.5, while the index for future new orders fell 13 points to 22.4.

Future-employment indexes “conveyed an expectation” that employment levels and the average workweek would “rise modestly” over the next six months.

The capital-expenditures index fell 19 points to 3.1, its lowest level in more than two years, and the technology spending index fell to 6.3.

The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

The Agency board approves incentives for Century Sunrise project

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

JOHNSON CITY — The board of directors of the Agency has voted to approve financing incentives for the Century Sunrise redevelopment project in Johnson City. Directors approved the project inducements by a 7-2 vote, according to an Agency news release. The Agency is the rebranded name of the Broome County Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Its

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JOHNSON CITY — The board of directors of the Agency has voted to approve financing incentives for the Century Sunrise redevelopment project in Johnson City.

Directors approved the project inducements by a 7-2 vote, according to an Agency news release.

The Agency is the rebranded name of the Broome County Industrial Development Agency (IDA). Its board of directors oversees both the IDA and the Broome County Local Development Corporation (LDC).

The Broome County IDA will provide a 30-year payment in lieu of taxes (or PILOT) agreement to assist the project.

Larry Regan of Regan Development Corp. in Westchester County plans to redevelop two vacant, multi-story industrial buildings, which were part of the Endicott-Johnson Corporation industrial complex.

The Century Sunrise redevelopment project, located at 135-139 Baldwin St. in the village of Johnson City, is a mixed-income, mixed-use redevelopment project.

It includes 104 residential units ranging from one- to three-bedroom apartments and a 3,500-square-foot, multi-level restaurant with garden space.

The total estimated project cost is about $29 million, the Agency said.

Regan Development will finance the project using federal and state housing tax credits, historic tax credits, and CDBG disaster-relief funds. CDBG is short for community development block grant program.

The Southern Tier regional economic-development council also awarded Regan Development about $1.3 million in the most recent round of funding, the Agency said.

“This is a tremendous project for Johnson City,” Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of the Agency, contended in the release. “This development will be part of the significant transformation going on in the village. We’re thrilled to be part of such an innovative project”

Regan Development will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the development and operation of the project. The firm is a family-run business that has developed more than $384 million in residential and commercial real estate and affordable housing developments throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, according to the release.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com

NSF awards Upstate Medical nearly $200K in funding to fight Zika virus

Health Care, Subscriber Only

The National Science Foundation has awarded Upstate Medical University a grant of nearly $200,000 to “treat, prevent and understand” the Zika virus. Researchers plan to share final data and conclusions as “rapidly and widely” as possible, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) said in a May 11 news release that Schumer’s office

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The National Science Foundation has awarded Upstate Medical University a grant of nearly $200,000 to “treat, prevent and understand” the Zika virus.

Researchers plan to share final data and conclusions as “rapidly and widely” as possible, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) said in a May 11 news release that Schumer’s office issued to announce the grant funding.

Upstate Medical wants to provide results that will be “relevant to the Zika public-health emergency,” according to the news release.

Schumer had earlier visited the medical school on May 4 to call for $1.9 billion in emergency federal funding to fight the epidemic nationally and internationally.

The Democrat’s May 4 call represents his support of President Barack Obama’s emergency funding request of $1.9 billion, which would help prevent and treat the spread of the Zika epidemic.

Upstate’s researchers will use the NSF funding as they work on a project called “RAPID: In-situ Zika-vector-climate dynamics in a high burden region in Ecuador,” according to the lawmakers’ news release.

The effort will enable researchers to determine the prevalence of the Zika virus co-infections in humans and mosquitoes, in addition to any climatic factors that could be affecting disease transmission.

It will also look at ways in which other species of mosquitoes might be able to transmit Zika.

The study will look at the spread of Zika through a “naïve” population and ways to control the spread of Zika in other locales, including the continental U.S.

“With so many women and families across Central New York looking for action, it is critical we find ways to treat, prevent and better understand Zika virus — and fast.

This is an emerging global health crisis and, when it comes to fighting this epidemic, a stitch in time will save nine. This desperately needed federal funding will allow the global health leaders at SUNY Upstate, who are ready to assist, to look at ways we can stymie the spread of this tragic disease,” Schumer said in the release.

Zika and mosquitoes
Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites, according to the news release.

Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on a person who has already been infected by the virus.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito species, which have been found in Florida and Hawaii, have spread most of the cases, the lawmakers said.

The Asian Tiger mosquito is also known to transmit the virus; these types of mosquitoes have been found in New York and Chicago.

Thousands of infants in Brazil have already been born with microcephaly — a medical condition where the brain doesn’t develop properly and the child’s head is smaller than normal — since last spring.

More than 1,000 Americans have been infected with the Zika Virus, including about 100 pregnant women, in 44 states, Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories.

New York state has had at least 89 confirmed travel-related cases.

“The imminent threat of Zika to the [U.S.] is deeply troubling; this funding through the National Science Foundation would facilitate much needed resources to help advance SUNY Upstate Medical University’s research into how to prevent the spread of the Zika Virus,” Gillibrand said in the news release. “I am an original co-sponsor of legislation to provide an additional $1.9 billion federal investment in combating the Zika virus. I will continue to push for this emergency funding to support efforts in accelerating the development of screening, treatment, and prevention methods in order to combat the future spread of the virus.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Original Grain readies for opening in Pike Block space

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — A new restaurant called Original Grain will open in the former Tim Hortons space of the Pike Block building at 302 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. The eatery should open either in June or near July 4, says Matthew Godard, one of the principals involved in the venture. He spoke with CNYBJ at

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SYRACUSE — A new restaurant called Original Grain will open in the former Tim Hortons space of the Pike Block building at 302 S. Salina St. in Syracuse.

The eatery should open either in June or near July 4, says Matthew Godard, one of the principals involved in the venture. He spoke with CNYBJ at the Café Kubal office in Eastwood on May 23.

Godard is the founder of Café Kubal, a Syracuse–based coffee roaster and retailer.

Original Grain is described as “an eatery that makes you feel like a part of the food cycle, not just a consumer of it,” according to a news release that VIP Structures issued May 3.

Syracuse–based VIP Structures is the developer of the Pike Block building.

Original Grain will be similar to CoreLife Eatery at 7265 Buckley Road in the town of Clay, says Godard, calling it a “fair comparison.”

The new eatery will occupy a space of 2,500 square feet and won’t require the work of any contractor or architect.

“We don’t need to do any build-out at all,” says Godard.

Original Grain will have 20 employees, including 15 full-time and five part-time workers.

As of May 23, the hiring process was still continuing, he notes.

Besides Godard, Eric Hinman, tri-athlete and partner at Urban Life Athletics of Syracuse, and Chris Bily, founder and previous owner of Armory Square eatery Modern Malt, are the business partners involved in the venture.

Bily will serve as Original Grain’s managing partner, according to Godard. “He will be there daily.”

Hinman will be responsible for marketing the eatery. Godard will remain focused on Café Kubal.

Godard is investing $40,000 of his own money to help launch Original Grain. His two business partners are also chipping in $40,000 each, according to Godard.

“We’re just replacing the equipment,” says Godard, noting that Tim Hortons had removed its oven and equipment.

Godard indicated that his two businesses will have a partnership, as Original Grain items and finished food will be available in all Café Kubal stores.

When asked if he had a revenue projection for the eatery’s first year of operation, he replied, “I do, but I won’t say what.”

Pursuing the venture
Hinman and Bily were “drawn” to healthy, fast food in their travels to New York City and Los Angeles. They noticed a “gap” for the product in the Syracuse market.

That’s when they joined with Godard to pursue the venture.

The partners started thinking about Original Grain in October 2015 before Tim Hortons departed the space in the Pike Block building.

They had looked at other properties before the Pike Block space became available.

“I made the decision based on business trends that this was going to be the future of cafés in Central New York, healthy, fast-casual options for food,” says Godard.

Original Grain will use supplies from local farms, such as New Hope Mills in Auburn, Abbott Farms in Lysander, and Critz Farms in Cazenovia.

Conklin–based Maines Paper & Food Service, Inc. will also serve as a distributor for Original Grain.

“We’re hiring them as our truckers … They will pick up all of Abbott’s blackberries this summer and refrigerate them and then get them out to places like ours,” says Godard.

The concept and business name come from “century-old techniques” of harvesting.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Commonspace creates shared living, working opportunities in downtown Syracuse

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Happiness and positivity is something Troy Evans oozes. And as the owner and developer of Commonspace — a 30,000-square-foot multifunctional building located at 201 E. Jefferson St. — he strives to provide it for everyone who works or lives there. Evans says he read survey data showing high rates of happiness for people

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Evans says he read survey data showing high rates of happiness for people who co-work, which helped spark his ideas for providing co-living space, which combines private living spaces with common areas and shared services. Tenants live in a mix of dormitory and hotel-style elements in a rented apartment setting. Clean lines and modern amenities accompany shared gourmet kitchens and hangout spaces to create a community setting while maintaining residents’ sense of privacy.

“Ninety-nine percent of people working out of a cowork are happy,” Evans said in an April interview with CNYBJ. “A 99 percent happiness rate is ridiculous.” It’s the sharing of ideas that influences cohesive thought, he added. If sharing a workspace could be beneficial to thought processes and innovation, Evans — and his business partner John Talacario — says he saw no reason sharing a living space couldn’t encourage similar personal growth.

The Commonspace building has five 6,000-square-foot floors, each with a unique purpose. The ground level is home to several storefronts including a Subway, Liberty Tax, a clothing store named Vintage Love, and a tailor. Syracuse Coworks, a community workspace that opened in 2015 occupies the second floor, and the third floor is home to a handful of small law firms.

The fourth and fifth floors of the structure are what give Commonspace its name. The floors feature 21 micro-apartment units, fully furnished with their own raised platform bed, bathroom, television, and kitchenette.

The community space includes a dining area, a large media room, game room, reading room, laundry, free coffee stations, and a fully appointed chef’s kitchen featuring a six-burner cooktop, two ovens, and a large refrigerator.

Rents vary from $800 to $925 a month, depending on the unit size and lease options (yearly, six-month, or month-to-month basis). The tiny apartments offer an aesthetic designed to appeal to younger generations looking for a community vibe while holding on to an essence of personal space.

Commonspace is part of a growing trend of “dorms for grownups” or “millennial dorms” as described in in a Nov. 6, 2015, article in The Atlantic, which featured Commonspace and its founders Evans and Talarico.

Commonspace was also featured as one of the tour stops on the 2016 Downtown Living Tour put on by the Downtown Committee on May 21.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com

Downtown Living Tour showcases projects with available apartments

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — More than 3,250 people currently live in downtown Syracuse. That’s up 40 percent in the last 10 years. Factoring in projects currently underway and planned, the downtown area’s population will increase nearly 10 percent in the next two years. That’s according to the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc. which held its 10th annual

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SYRACUSE — More than 3,250 people currently live in downtown Syracuse. That’s up 40 percent in the last 10 years.

Factoring in projects currently underway and planned, the downtown area’s population will increase nearly 10 percent in the next two years.

That’s according to the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc. which held its 10th annual Downtown Living Tour on May 21.

The Downtown Living Tour seeks to raise awareness of the development happening in Syracuse’s city center, says Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc.

“Often times people are not seeing new buildings going up, so they may be completely unaware of what’s happening on the upper floors of these buildings,” she noted.

About 3,200 people participated in the Downtown Living Tour with guidance from nearly 100 volunteers, according to Treier, who spoke with CNYBJ on May 24.

“We are still finalizing our numbers, but this was easily our biggest year yet,” she says.

This year’s tour made a dozen stops and included 10 “brand new to the tour” stops, including the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, which doesn’t have apartments for rent.

“It’s been such a noteworthy development in downtown that we wanted to be able to include the hotel as a tour stop,” says Treier.

Tour goers were able to see the hotel’s lobby area and Persian Terrace.

The event also included two additional bonus stops: the 538 Erie building on Erie Boulevard West and Fayette Place at 712 East Fayette St. in Syracuse.

The buildings on the tour are “places that either do currently have apartments available or will within the next several months,” says Treier.

The Downtown Committee’s data indicates downtown apartments have a 99 percent occupancy rate, and when they become available, they’re snapped up quickly, she adds.

Young professionals and employees of the area’s hospitals and colleges are helping drive the increased interest in downtown living.

Residential development accounts for more than 70 percent of the $400 million invested in the downtown area since 2010, according to the Downtown Committee.

Even as interest in living downtown rises, potential residents still have concerns. Tour attendees have traditionally asked volunteers about downtown crime and parking availability, says Treier. CNYBJ asked about the possibility of a grocery store in the downtown area, a question the organization also hears frequently from people attending the tours.

Grocery-store operators have told the Downtown Committee that the city center will need a residential population of close to 5,000 for it to “make sense” to open a location.

That’s “one of the reasons that we promote residential development so heavily,” says Treier.

Tour stops
The May 21 Downtown Living Tour started on the ground floor of 110 Walton St., the tour headquarters and former home to the Hurbson Office Equipment Co. furniture warehouse and showroom. Crews are renovating the structure to include 14 one and two-bedroom apartments, along with a loft-style apartment and a penthouse for availability this July, the Downtown Committee said in a May 21 news release previewing the tour.

The tour then wound its way through occupied and available units throughout Armory, Clinton, and Cathedral Squares, along with South Salina Street, South Warren Street, and Hanover Square.

The stops included the 214 building, located at 214 W. Jefferson St., across from the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology and Salina Place at 205 S. Salina St.

In the convention district, the tour included a stop at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown and a glimpse at the facility’s interior before it opens to the public for a “retirement party” for the Hotel Syracuse name next month.

In addition, the tour included a stop at Icon Tower at 344 S. Warren St., which is currently undergoing renovation work. It will be the home of 89 apartments when it opens in April 2017, the Downtown Committee said.

Attendees also visited One Clinton Square, located in the iconic Syracuse Savings Bank and Bank of America Building, which is expected to have apartments available in July, according to the Downtown Committee.

The tour also included a preview of Herald Commons at 220 Herald Place, which will bring 27 new apartments to a new neighborhood known as Herald Square, the Downtown Committee said.

Other stops included The Amos at 208 W. Water St., the Grange Building at 203 E. Water St., and Commonspace at 201 E. Jefferson St. in Syracuse (see separate story on Commonspace on p. 10 in this special report).

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse will use the proceeds from the Downtown Living Tour’s ticket sales to support its programs targeting the downtown area, says Treier.

Established in 1975, the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc. is a private, nonprofit, downtown-management organization representing all property owners and tenants within the central business district.

The Downtown Committee “undertakes programs to improve downtown’s image, strengthen its economic base, increase its attractiveness, and assure that it’s clean, safe and accessible,” according to its website.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

City of Auburn installs safety netting at Falcon Park, home of the Doubledays

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

AUBURN, N.Y. — The City of Auburn has installed protective netting at the top of the first and third-base dugouts at Falcon Park where the

Carrols completes acquisition of six Detroit–area Burger King restaurants

Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TAST) on Thursday announced it has completed its acquisition of six Burger King restaurants in the Detroit

First-quarter U.S. GDP growth revised up to 0.8 percent

Opinion

ROMBEL ON BUSINESS U.S. economic growth slowed in the first three months of the year, but not quite as much as first reported a month

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