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SU alums start $18M student-housing project near campus
SYRACUSE — When Jared Hutter and Michael Edelman were housemates while students at Syracuse University (SU), they had talked about the possibility of one day returning to campus as developers. “We said we should come back and do a project here,” Hutter said. Hutter is a 2006 graduate of SU’s Martin J. Whitman […]
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SYRACUSE — When Jared Hutter and Michael Edelman were housemates while students at Syracuse University (SU), they had talked about the possibility of one day returning to campus as developers.
“We said we should come back and do a project here,” Hutter said.
Hutter is a 2006 graduate of SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Edelman graduated from the Whitman School in 2005, according to his LinkedIn page.
Hutter and Edelman, who are now business partners, and Brian Rosen, principal of the Rosen Property Group, are all SU graduates.
Rosen graduated in 2001, according to Hutter. Rosen’s brother also lived with Hutter and Edelman, Hutter added.
Those discussions Hutter and Edelman had about a project are now a reality.
Construction crews have started work on #BLVD404 at 404 University Ave., a student-housing project near the SU campus.
Hutter spoke with reporters in advance of a short ceremony July 30 to formally break ground on the project at the construction site.
#BLVD404 is a joint-venture development between New York City–based BLVD Equities and New Jersey–headquartered Rosen Property Group.
A vacated medical building previously occupied the property before crews demolished that in early July, Hutter said.
Crews are currently working on the new building’s foundation on the property.
The principals found the property “about a year ago,” he adds.
Hutter, managing principal of BLVD Equities, said he expects crews to have the structure ready for student living in the fall of 2016.
The project cost for the 75,000-square-foot structure is about $18 million.
The principals are using a construction loan from M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB) “and the rest came from equity that we put together,” Hutter said.
The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency provided a grant that is connected to the mortgage-recording tax and some exemption on the sales tax for construction materials.
“It’s small in comparison to the overall project cost,” he said regarding the incentives.
Hutter formed BLVD Equities in 2014 after following the student-housing market “for a number of years,” according to a news release that the Hueber-Breuer Construction Co. Inc. issued.
Hueber-Breuer is leading the construction and design team on the project.
The group also includes Albany–based CHA Companies, which has an office in the Galleries of Syracuse at 441 S. Salina St. in Syracuse; Buffalo–based Lauer-Manguso & Associates Architects; and Salina–based Palucci Engineering PC, according to the Hueber-Breuer news release.
When completed, the structure will house 163 undergraduate students (juniors and seniors) in 54 apartments. The complex will include a fitness facility, a student lounge, and on-site management.
“The building will be very technologically advanced, [with] wireless Internet [availability] all over the place,” Hutter said.
He anticipates most occupants will be Syracuse University students but says it’s open to students from any area college or university.
Hutter and his business partners are “still evaluating” the rental rates for #BLVD404. “The rents will be in line with the rest of the market,” he said.
Cuomo: statewide task force to combat worker exploitation in N.Y.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on July 16 announced what he calls a “first-of-its-kind,” statewide task force to “root out” worker-exploitation issues in several industries in New
Employers face an average 5.9 percent rise in workers’ comp loss-cost rate
DeWITT — The New York State Department of Financial Services has approved an average 5.9 percent increase in the workers’ compensation loss-cost rate for new and renewal business at fully-insured companies, which will take effect on Oct.1. That’s according to a July 17 bulletin posted at the website of the New York Compensation Insurance
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DeWITT — The New York State Department of Financial Services has approved an average 5.9 percent increase in the workers’ compensation loss-cost rate for new and renewal business at fully-insured companies, which will take effect on Oct.1.
That’s according to a July 17 bulletin posted at the website of the New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board (NYCIRB).
KBM Management, Inc., a DeWitt–based employee benefit and risk-management company for self-insured companies, posted a portion of the Insurance Journal’sreport on the increase to a blog on its website.
Ziv Kimmel, vice president and chief actuary at the NYCIRB, had told the Insurance Journal that the loss-cost increase is necessary to “keep pace with increasing indemnity and medical costs” in the state, according to the KBM Management blog.
“All employers … that [are] required to carry workers’-compensation insurance will be affected by this rate, if they are fully insured,” says AnneMarie Latocha, senior consultant on self-insured workers’ compensation at KBM Management.
Latocha spoke with CNYBJ on July 31.
Even though Latocha works on self-insured workers’ compensation, she provided CNYBJ an explanation of how the loss-cost rate affects fully insured firms.
The state Department of Financial Services establishes the loss-cost rate, says Latocha.
The rate represents part of the equation that insurance companies use to calculate the workers’-compensation insurance premium, she adds.
Besides the loss-cost rate, individual insurance companies apply for a loss-cost multiplier, which is determined based on their internal expenses for handling the workers’-compensation insurance.
“The [state] Department of Financial Services would [then] approve the loss-cost multiplier, so then you take the loss-cost rate times the multiplier to come up with a final rate,” says Latocha.
The rate applies to different classification codes and is used to determine the overall premium for the employer, she adds.
Workers’-compensation coverage is a requirement for New York employers, says Mary Lou Karins, account manager in KBM’s quality assurance audit department. Karins also spoke with CNYBJ in the same interview on July 31.
CNYBJ also asked about the increasing indemnity and medical costs that Kimmel had cited as the reasons for the increase in the loss-cost rate.
Indemnity refers to the lost wages that an insurance carrier or third-party administrator pays to an injured worker, says Karins.
“So when you are injured at work and you lose time from work and you’re not being reimbursed by your employer, the insurance carrier of the third-party administrator … will pay lost wages or indemnity benefits to the injured worker, typically every two weeks,” she adds.
All of the expenses associated with the benefit have increased, says Latocha, noting that the insurance companies need to increase premiums “to catch up.”
KBM Management works with employers to help control costs associated with their employee benefits, including health and workers’-compensation plans, according to Karins.
Its clients include school districts, private employers, municipalities, and national associations, she said.
Andrew Miller is the firm’s president, and Patrick Cowburn is the company’s vice president, according to its website.
State approves average rate increase of nearly 10 percent for small-group carriers
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) on July 31 announced an average health-insurance rate increase of 9.8 percent by insurance carriers in the small-group market. The DFS-approved rate increase was 32 percent below the insurance carriers’ average rate-increase request of more than 14 percent, DFS said. Overall, DFS cut insurers’
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The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) on July 31 announced an average health-insurance rate increase of 9.8 percent by insurance carriers in the small-group market.
The DFS-approved rate increase was 32 percent below the insurance carriers’ average rate-increase request of more than 14 percent, DFS said.
Overall, DFS cut insurers’ requested 2016 rates by more than 30 percent, or $430 million, in both the individual and small-group markets, according to a July 31 news release posted at the DFS website.
Rochester–based Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, the largest health insurer in Central New York, had requested a rate increase of 13.9 percent in its small-group plan, according to the data provided in the release. DFS reduced the Excellus increase to 10 percent.
Schenectady–based MVP Health Care had requested a rate rise of nearly 7.3 percent, which DFS reduced to 6.3 percent.
New York City–based Emblem Health, which operates a customer and support-services center in DeWitt, asked for an increase of nearly 30 percent in its small-group plan, and DFS approved the request.
Hartford, Connecticut–based Aetna Life had requested a nearly 24 percent rate increase, which DFS reduced to nearly 21.5 percent.
Individual market
The state announcement also listed insurance-rate increases for plans in the NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan marketplace or exchange.
On average, insurers requested a 10.4 percent rate increase in the individual market. DFS reduced the average increase by more than 30 percent, to 7.1 percent, which is below the average increase in health-care costs of about 8 percent, the state says.
DFS cites reductions in a federal reinsurance program as a factor for about half of the rate increase.
Premiums for individuals remain “nearly 50 percent lower” than prior to the establishment of the state’s health-benefit exchange in 2014, even before adjusting for inflation or federal financial assistance that is available to many consumers purchasing insurance, the agency contends.
To be sure, New York state had a tiny, almost non-existent individual health-insurance market with high rates before the state health exchange arrived.
For the coming plan year, Excellus had requested a nearly 13 percent rate increase in the individual market, which DFS reduced to nearly 6 percent.
MVP Health Care sought a rate hike of nearly 13.5 percent, but DFS approved an increase of about 10 percent.
The next NY State of Health open-enrollment period begins on Nov. 1 for coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2016, according to DFS.
Explanation
DFS says it “closely analyzed” each health insurer’s request and cut rates that it contends were “excessive or unreasonable,” Anthony Albanese, acting superintendent of financial services, said in the DFS news release.
He said, “… underlying increases in medical costs continue to be the primary factor contributing to the cost of insurance. We are working closely with the [New York State] Department of Health on reforms to the health-care payment and delivery system, including efforts to shift away from the costly ‘fee-for-service’ model. It is vital that we continue to attack the underlying factors driving up health-insurance premiums in order to bring better care to patients at lower costs.”
Imagine Trump in the White House
Donald Trump’s situation reminds me of a funny short story I read many years ago. The story is about an aviation hero. He flew beat-up planes during the swashbuckling early days of flying. You have read of aviation heroes of that era. First guy to fly solo from New York to Tuscaloosa. First
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Donald Trump’s situation reminds me of a funny short story I read many years ago.
The story is about an aviation hero. He flew beat-up planes during the swashbuckling early days of flying.
You have read of aviation heroes of that era. First guy to fly solo from New York to Tuscaloosa. First man to fly to Alaska. First woman to fly alone to Wabash. First one to do it naked. You get the idea.
There were dozens of these adventure-lovers. They put various cities on the map. To crown such flying achievements, the newly mapped cities welcomed these aviators with open arms, receptions, and keys to the city. They staged tickertape parades. The heroes waved from beribboned convertibles stuffed with politicians and adorned with local beauties. They were hosted at civic luncheons, ribbon cuttings, and tours of new sewer systems. Their photos were snapped with local celebs. Like Miss Sheboygan. And the Barley Snifter Banjo Pickers. You can imagine.
The short story is about a barnstormer who does something no other aviator has ever done. (That was the ticket to fame, of course.) He flew coast-to-coast backward. In a plane he patched together in his garage. Or something like that.
Well, he had to be welcomed by the potentates of the city where he landed. Right? Small problem. He was a slob. No pizzazz of Eddie Rickenbacker. No suaveness of Lindbergh. No spunk and pug nose of Amelia Earhart. This guy had no front teeth. He stunk. He spat in public. He hated babies and was allergic to apple pie. He got drunk and pinched ladies’ bums. He singed curtains with his bad breath. Asphyxiated one woman’s Pomeranian in two breaths. And he wore suits as loud as trombones. He snapped off filthy jokes, from behind the microphone. He propositioned wives of city big wigs and cadged money off mayors.
But, he was a genuine American hero! Therefore, he had to be feted. Cities felt obliged to roll out red carpets for him. On which he tracked mud and ground out cigars.
The powers of the universe conferred. They agreed on a remedy for the situation: a fancy city cocktail party on an outdoor patio on the top floor of the city’s new hotel.
A group of city officials chatted affably with this barnstormer. They suffered his jokes and insults. While he snarfed scotch. And asked about neighborhood hookers. They gently maneuvered him toward the railing at the edge. Then they tumbled his ingrate ass over the side. Splattered him sunny-side up on Main Street. Taught him to never again insult an alderman in this city, by god.
The elite among the Republicans are itching to do the same with presidential candidate Donald Trump. The anointed ones simply cannot abide him.
First, his hair. Unacceptable. His is no more presidential hair than a Mohawk on Hillary Clinton would be.
Trump dons purple shirts. Wears pink and green ties. “Tailor-made,” the elites sniff. “Have to be. Because nobody else would buy them.”
And he owns casinos. How gauche. And he names everything he owns after himself. The Trump Urinals in the Trump Men’s Room at the Trump Casino on Trump Boulevard.
The elites clear their throats. They tug their Brooks Brothers collars and murmur “We cannot have Trump Tissues in the rest rooms of the White House, can we?” Good god, no. Insufferable. Not done.
We cannot stand by and let that man turn the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll into: Check Out The Trumpette’s Bun Buns.
And let us not forget the outrageous things he says. Imagine a regal state dinner. The toast — with Trump Atlantic City Boardwalk Champagne. By the President of the United States. He grins. He fluffs his coiffure. He leers down the cleavage of the Swiss Ambassador’s wife. He adjusts his neon bow-tie. He raises a gold flute.
“Don’t I make great champagne? Better than what you Froggies turn out, eh? And you Italians. Don’t get me started on that bilge water in your fancy bottles.
Meanwhile, you Mexicans, I wouldn’t wash my car with your…”
Pssst. If you know any Trump insiders you might do The Donald a favor. Tell him to avoid cocktail parties on terraces higher than the first floor. Maybe avoid the cocktails. Especially anything made with tequila.
Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home near Oneonta, in addition to his radio shows. Contact him at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com or visit: http://www.tomasinmorgan.com
Greater Utica Chamber names Fraser as new executive director
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Pathfinder Q2 revenue jumps 13 percent, profit rises 2 percent
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Community Bank Wealth Management opens Plattsburgh office
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Pinnacle Investments opens new office in Marcellus, hires Carlson as financial advisor
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Utica Coffee Roasting Company to open second store in Clinton
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Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.