SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has agreed to establish a pre-check enrollment center at Syracuse Hancock International Airport, giving local air travelers more access to the TSA’s “expedited” security-screening program.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) made the announcement in a news release issued Thursday. The Democrat’s office tells BJNN in an email that it isn’t sure when the TSA will start operating the new pre-check center.

Establishing the enrollment center at Hancock will make it “easier” for residents of Syracuse and the surrounding towns to sign up for the pre-check program, Schumer contends.

The program provides faster security screenings for low-risk travelers. Those who are approved for the program no longer need to remove their shoes, laptop from their bag, light jacket, or belt, according to the TSA.

 In March, Schumer wrote to TSA Acting Administrator Melvin Carraway, urging the TSA to establish a pre-check center at Hancock.

Schumer noted that both Rochester and Albany have local pre-check enrollment centers, and “Syracuse should have one too.”

“With this new enrollment center, Syracuse travelers will no longer have to travel 40 minutes up the road to register for the TSA Pre-Check program. This center will allow more travelers to sign up for the program, shorten security lines, and make traveler’s days a lot less stressful,” Schumer said in the release. “Syracuse Hancock International Airport is a major hub for business and leisure travelers alike. Putting an enrollment center within the confines of the airport would make a really big difference.”

Local travelers previously had to drive 40 minutes north to Oswego to register for the program, Schumer said. That office is only open from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

Schumer said the “long drive and difficult hours made it hard” for frequent travelers from Syracuse to sign up.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

CAZENOVIA — David Katleski is targeting the end of 2015 to have Empire Brewing Company’s Farmstead Brewery “up and operating and in business.”

Katleski, president and founder of Empire Brewing Company, made the remark as his company on May 8 broke ground on the expansion project at 33 Rippleton Road in Cazenovia.

The Empire Farmstead Brewery, a new manufacturing and agri-tourism facility, is a division of Empire Brewing, a brewer of handcrafted ales and lagers.

Empire Brewing is headquartered at 120 Walton St. in Syracuse’s Armory Square area.

Katleski anticipated the actual construction work would begin during the week of May 10.

Empire Brewing is building the 28,000-square-foot facility on a 22-acre property, according to its website.

The company is investing $5.9 million in the Cazenovia project, which will create 52 new jobs, according to a news release about the project from Empire State Development (ESD).

Oneida Savings Bank, New York Jobs Development Authority, Greater Syracuse Business Development Corporation, Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, and Madison County’s revolving-loan program are providing financing for the project, according to an Empire Brewing fact sheet on the project.

“We are literally and figuratively indebted to you,” Katleski said, drawing light laughter from those assembled for the formal opening.

ESD, National Grid, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cazenovia Area Community Development Association, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority are providing additional grant funding.

Feldmeier Equipment, Inc. is manufacturing the brewery’s equipment, Empire Brewing said. The company plans to use “locally grown” feedstock, such as hops and grains, in the brewing process.

Kurt Ofer of Cooperstown–based Altonview Architects is designing the brewery. 

Ashley Freund Interiors of Geddes is designing the brewery’s tasting room, retail space, restaurant, cellar, and office, according to the fact sheet.

When completed, the Farmstead Brewery will be “the largest farm brewery of-its-kind in New York,” ESD said in its news release.

START-UP NY

Empire Brewing Company is expanding its operations under the START-UP NY program.

Under the program, businesses sponsored by participating colleges and universities that create net new jobs will operate 100 percent tax-free for 10 years, paying no state income tax, business or corporate state or local taxes, sales tax, property tax, or franchise fees, according to the ESD news release.

Morrisville State College is sponsoring the tax-free area under which the Empire Farmstead Brewery will operate.

Empire Brewing is the first START-UP NY company in Central New York to break ground on an expansion project, according to the ESD news release.

ESD is New York’s primary economic-development agency.

“Without the assistance of New York state, I will tell you right now this project would not have happened,” Katleski noted.

Morrisville State College is implementing a new Brewing Studies program. As the brewery’s academic sponsor for START-UP NY, the school will work with Empire Brewing to help manage the facility and educate students on production brewing.

Employees will package the beer manufactured at the brewery in kegs, bottles, and cans for regional and international distribution.

Empire Brewing in 2010 began distributing its beer off-premise to wholesalers and retailers throughout New York state, but has reached its production capacity, according to the ESD news release.

In order to meet “increasing” demand, the business decided to expand its operations with Empire Farmstead Brewery, or “Brewstead,” which will provide both production and educational services.

The new facility will expand production from 4,500 barrels per year to 17,000 barrels in year one, and 20,000 barrels by year three, ESD said.

CAZENOVIA — The START-UP NY program not only “caters” to startup companies but also to those firms that want to expand or grow.  

Leslie Whatley, executive vice president of START-UP NY, spoke during the May 8 ceremony in which Empire Brewing Company formally started construction on its Empire Farmstead Brewery. 

“We are trying to harvest empty space, empty land that does not currently have any economic activity on it and we want to bring jobs to that empty space and to that empty land,” said Whatley.

Whatley most recently served as global head of corporate real estate at Morgan Stanley. Prior to that, she was the global head of corporate real estate at JPMorgan Chase, and she held several leadership positions in General Motors real-estate staff earlier in her career, according to an Oct. 21, 2013 news release from the governor’s office. Cuomo announced her appointment in that same news release.

In more than a year of existence, the START-UP NY program has attracted about 110 companies; 52 of them are new companies, 30 are expansions of existing New York companies, 11 are from out of the country, and 16 are from out of state, she said in her remarks. 

The space Whatley referred to has to be associated with a college or university. The affected company and school need to have a “meaningful affiliation” for the company to qualify under the program, she said.

Under the START-UP NY program, if a company creates net new jobs and a meaningful affiliation with a university or college, they can locate in the tax-free area and enjoy tax-free status for 10 years. 

“That means no income taxes for the company or its employees; no sales tax; no property tax; no franchise tax; no transfer tax,” said Whatley.

New York graduates about 40,000 students with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) annually and “export most of them,” she said.

“The attempt here is to create the jobs in the community so one… while they’re at school, they can get an experiential learning opportunity, and two when they graduate, they can stay in the community and have employment opportunities at places that have jobs that complement what they studied while they’re in school,” said Whatley.

Program criticism

Whatley then acknowledged that people may have read articles about the program that “aren’t so nice.”

She made the comment just days before New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli provided the most recent critique of the program.

DiNapoli’s office on May 11 released an audit of ESD and concluded that the $211 million spent on advertising the START-UP NY program had produced “no tangible results.” 

A month earlier, Assemblyman Christopher Friend (R–Big Flats) in a statement called on Gov. Cuomo to end the START-UP NY program following the release of a government report citing low job-creation numbers from the program. 

The report released in early April stated that in 2014, the program’s first year, a total of 30 companies located to and began operating in START-UP NY zones and created 76 jobs.

 “START-UP NY has been an expensive failure,” Friend said. “This program illustrates everything wrong with the argument that government creates jobs, and that, somehow, centralized economic planning will work this time. This is a failed ideology. Instead of solving the whole issue of high taxes and burdensome regulations, Gov. Cuomo attempted to pick winners and losers. Instead of helping the small businesses that continue to struggle against an ever-increasing stream of regulations and taxes, he spent millions on out-of-state advertisement. Businesses aren’t made in Albany — they’re made in basements and garages and end up on Main Street. We need to get out of their way, and we need to do it now,” Friend said.

As she continued her remarks, Whatley addressed the concern.

“Thoughtful economic development does not happen overnight. Thoughtful economic development creates a sustainable economic future in the community.”

In its first year, Empire State Development had to “do a lot of work to build the foundation” for the program, she said.

The work included developing regulations that people could “understand” to learn the processes and procedures for involvement in the program.

It also included making sure the colleges and universities were aware of and understood the program.

“Because the businesses have to apply to the schools to get in the program, so by definition, we had to have the schools buy in first,” said Whatley.

START-UP NY currently has 69 participating colleges and universities, she added.