DeWITT  — General Super Plating Company of DeWitt closed March 31, bookending a month that saw all 95 of its employees lose their jobs.

The job cuts began at the end of February and continued throughout March, according to Michael Rusinek, a staff representative with the IUE-CWA labor union, which represented all of the company’s factory workers (about 84 employees, according to Rusinek). By the time the doors of the plant, located at 5762 Celi Drive, closed on March 31, he says, just  one employee remained.

Proper notice of the job cuts in accordance with the state Department of Labor’s WARN Act was not given to the workers, Rusinek contends. The act requires that employees be given 60 days’ notice prior to cuts. The WARN notice for General Super Plating was dated April 20, nearly three weeks after the plant closed, and more than seven weeks after job cuts began on Feb. 27.

Rusinek also says that the employees did not receive the 401(k) funds, or vacation and personal pay that are owed them. He was scheduled to meet with representatives of American Industrial Acquisition Corp. (AIAC) of Greenwich, Connecticut on Thursday, May 7 to negotiate the receipt of those funds. AIAC is the venture-capital firm that purchased General Super Plating last year, according to Rusinek.

General Super Plating specialized in applying finishing coats to products made of plastics and other materials. The firm served the appliance, automotive, electrical, electronics, marine, medical, military, personal care, and plumbing industries, according to its website. The DeWitt plant encompassed 77,000 square feet.

General Super Plating was founded in 1932, and had been family-owned for decades, according to Rusinek, until it was sold to a different venture-capital firm a couple of years ago.

About six months after the first sale, says Rusinek, General Super Plating was sold again, this time to AIAC. Not long after, two of the company’s largest clients took their business elsewhere. Prior to those losses, says Rusinek, business at General Super Plating had been steady.

Representatives of General Super Plating and AIAC could not be reached for comment by press time.        

First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG), parent of First Niagara Bank, grew commercial loans by nearly $30 million and added $20 million in commercial deposits in its Central New York market in the first quarter, Gregory Norwood, CFO, tells CNYBJ.

“That market for us had a very good quarter,” Norwood says. “It really shows what market opportunities are there.”

Buffalo–based First Niagara on April 24 reported net income of $43.8 million, or 12 cents a share in the first quarter, down from $52.7 million, or 15 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain non-operating restructuring expenses incurred in the first quarter, First Niagara produced operating net income of 

$54.7 million, or 15 cents a share, compared to $61 million, or 17 cents, in the year-ago quarter.

First Niagara has been focused on cutting expenses in the last year or so.

Total operating expenses declined 2 percent in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. Salary and benefit expenses also fell 5 percent from the year-ago quarter, driven by a 7 percent decline in the number of employees.

The banking company closed 17 branches in the first quarter of 2015, spread across its four-state geographic footprint, and has also reduced management layers and simplified its organizational structure, according to Norwood.

“Banks typically have more management layers than many other commercial companies. That’s one of the things we were focused on [reducing],” he says. 

First Niagara is a multi-state, community-oriented bank with about 390 branches, $39 billion in assets, $28 billion in deposits, and about 5,300 employees across New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 

First Niagara Bank ranked fourth in deposit market share in the 16-county Central New York market, according to June 30, 2014, FDIC statistics, the latest available. The bank had $2.2 million in deposits, good for an 8.4 percent share of the CNY market’s total deposits.                    

Beer is made by men, wine by God. 

— Martin Luther

I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.   — W.C. Fields. 

HAMMONDSPORT — The popularity of grapes precedes recorded history. The sap of the grapevines was used to cure skin and eye disease, the leaves were used to stop bleeding and even the inflammation caused by hemorrhoids, unripened grapes soothed sore throats, and raisins were administered to treat consumption and constipation. Ripe grapes were thought effective in treating cancer, cholera, smallpox, nausea, and kidney and liver disease. The most popular use of grapes, however, was in the making of wine. In 1996, 7,000-year-old wine-storage jars were discovered in northern Iran. Hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia portray vineyards and the skills of winemakers. The first written account of grapes and wine appears in the Epic ofGilgamesh, a Sumerian text from the third century B.C.E.

In the mythology of Mycenean Greeks, Dionysus, also known as Bacchus, was recognized as the god of the grape harvest, winemaking, and wine. The son of Zeus, he purportedly wandered the world teaching people the cultivation and wonders of wine. The Johnny Appleseed of ancient Greece is often depicted promoting the pleasure of drinking wine while riding in a chariot drawn by panthers and preceded by wild female followers and bearded satyrs or surrounded by a choir of nymphs. Assuredly, Dionysus would be pleased that wine is cultivated today on every continent except Antarctica. 

Winemaking came to North America in the 17th century, brought by European colonists. The first winery in the Finger Lakes didn’t appear until the mid-19th century. “Charles [Davenport] Champlin established what is now the oldest winery in the Finger Lakes,” says Michael J. Doyle, the owner of the Doyle Acquisition Corp. and president of both the Pleasant Valley Wine Company and the Great Western Winery. “In 1860,” Doyle continues, “Champlin and 12 other investors … [put up] $10,000 to create the Pleasant Valley Wine Co. near Hammondsport, which was designated as ‘Bonded Winery No. 1’ in its state and federal districts. The first recorded shipment of 100 gallons of wine occurred in [August] 1862. Under the direction of the company’s two French winemakers, the Masson brothers, the winery produced 20,000 bottles of Sparkling Catawba in 1865 … Two years later, it was the first American sparkling wine to win a medal at a European Exposition.”

After nearly a century of ownership through Prohibition and two World Wars, the Champlin family lost control of the company in 1955 when it was sold to Marne Obernauer, a businessman from New Jersey. The Taylor Wine Co., the next-door neighbor of the Pleasant Valley Wine Co., bought the operation in 1962. The Coca-Cola Co. acquired the combined business (Great Western and Taylor) in 1977 and sold it in 1983 to Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. In 1987, Seagram’s sold the Taylor, Gold Seal, Great Western, Lake Country, Pleasant Valley, Taylor California Cellars, and Paul Masson brands to Vintners International Co, Inc. In 1993, Vintners sold all of its brands to the Canandaigua Wine Co. (now Constellation Brands) but retained its East Coast wineries, which Vintners subsequently closed. The ownership merry-go-round stopped in October 1995 when Doyle struck a deal with the owner of the Mercury Corp., a Hammondsport contract-manufacturer and assembler of metal, plastic, and electronic-components solutions, which agreed to purchase the sprawling complex. Mercury then occupied the former Taylor offices and its bottling and packaging facility, and Doyle leased the Pleasant Valley Winery with an option to buy. 

“My friends and colleagues thought I was crazy,” muses Doyle, who first joined Pleasant Valley in 1976 as the Taylor Corporation’s general counsel. He was appointed president in 1980. “I came to Hammondsport from Rochester, where I had practiced labor and corporate law at Nixon, Hargrave, Devans, and Doyle (now Nixon, Peabody, LLP). What can I say? I fell in love with the place and the people. I left the winery late in 1989 after buying all of Vintners’ East Coast vineyards, which I then leased to the Canandaigua Wine Co. … It broke my heart to see the winery close. That’s when I partnered with Mercury to acquire the Pleasant Valley/Great Western property. I exercised my option to buy the Great Western Winery from Mercury in 2002.”

Thriving winery 

Now, 13 years later, the business is thriving. Pleasant Valley Wine Co. employs 50 people and occupies 30 buildings encompassing 445,000 square feet. Its site at 8260 Pleasant Valley Road near Hammondsport (town of Urbana) is complemented by two additional retail locations — the Seneca Harbor Wine Center in Watkins Glen and the Caywood Vineyards in the town of Lodi, on the east side of Seneca Lake. Doyle owns about 1,500 acres, of which about 500 acres are planted with grapes. Doyle recently sold 185 acres at Caywood to his son Matthew, who manages the vineyards. The winery bottled more than 500,000 cases last year and has a storage capacity of 15 million gallons. Pleasant Valley Wine Co. generates between $5 million and $10 million in annual revenue. Doyle is the sole stockholder. 

Doyle’s strategy hasn’t changed since he bought Pleasant Valley Wine Co. and the Great Western Winery: Leverage and enhance the existing, unique assets. “This business has four different revenue streams,” he notes. “each representing about a quarter of our sales: direct sales of our brands and sales through wholesalers and our own retail stores; bulk storage of wine and juice for other wineries; warehouse storage of customers’ bottled wines; and contract pressing, winemaking, and bottling. The last category is the fastest-growing part of our business, necessitating a $4 million investment in a new line that will fill, cap, and label 400 bottles a minute. The plan is to have the line operational in late 2015. I also plan next year to convert an old boiler room into a distillery, which opens up a whole, new line of possibilities for the company. I’m just a[n inveterate] dreamer: a guy with big ideas and [unfortunately] a small checkbook.”

Doyle is also considering converting unused space in the eight stone buildings listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, five of which were built in the 1860s. The structures resemble an old-world abbey with caves dug into the hillside. “It’s an architectural masterpiece done in Italian Renaissance style,” Doyle says, “nestled right here in the Finger Lakes. We also have a visitor’s center that includes a large museum that tells the story of winemaking in our region …. There is a lot of unused office space that could be converted into an inn or conference center, preserving the architecture while generating additional revenue. After all, the Finger Lakes is now a destination for [hundreds of thousands of] visitors who not only tour the more than 200 area wineries but also support its restaurants, hotels, and B&Bs. This region offers something for everybody, whether it’s boating, fishing, hiking, cycling, shopping, spas, museums, or weddings.” The Finger Lakes was recently ranked as the fourth-best wine destination in the country by TripAdvisor.

Growing wine consumption

Pleasant Valley Wine Co. is riding a national wave of increasing wine consumption. According to Liz Thach, a professor of management and wine business at Sonoma State University in California, wine consumption in the U.S. has increased every year since 2000. Statistics for 2014 include: 375 million cases of wine shipped (nearly 900 million gallons), revenues estimated at $35 billion to $38 billion, the number of wineries rose to 8,287, and wine consumption per-capita increased to 3.14 gallons per year. Sparkling wine nationwide, long a tradition at Great Western, was up 7 percent and is projected to grow in 2015. In Thach’s words: “Sparkling wine is hot.” Mark Twain put it more elegantly: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right.”

New York state is certainly part of the wine-consumption wave. As of April 11, Jim Trezise published in the weekly newsletter from the New York Wine & Grape Foundation that the state now boasts 400 wineries located in 59 of its 62 counties, 37 percent of which were added in just the past four years. He also reminded his readers that last year New York was number three in wine production, behind California and Washington, ranked number four in the number of wineries, and generated a total economic impact (grapes, grape juice, wine) of just under $5 billion. (The Wine and Grape Foundation claims that the industry attracted more than 5 million visitors in 2014 and supported 25,000 full-time jobs.) Wine Enthusiast magazine recently designated New York as the “2014 Wine Region of the Year.” It appears that New York consumers have adopted Louis Pasteur’s scientific aphorism: “Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.”

The Finger Lakes has traditionally relied on Catawba, Delaware, and Niagara grapes, which tend to be sweet. The focus on vinifera grapes, beginning in the 1980s, has consistently raised consumer demand for chardonnay, Riesling, cabernet franc, merlot, and pinot noir grapes, which command a higher price. That was the motivation for Doyle to plant vinifera vines at Caywood Vineyards on Seneca Lake, as well as having a retail location on the Seneca Wine Trail, the most popular destination of the Finger Lakes wine tours. 

“While there is a lot of attention on the European-style wines, I see a resurgence of consumption of sweeter wines,” observes Doyle. “These are the customers we have traditionally served. Our Gold Seal Catawba Pink and Concord; Widmer Lake Niagara; Brickstone Cellars Extra-Dry; Autumn Frost, Peach Chardonnay, Strawberry White Zinfandel, and Blackberry Merlot; Brickstone Cellars Vidal Ice Wine; and Chocolate Lab: All of our brands are selling well.” 

Thach says 75 percent of all wine sold in the U.S. in 2014 was priced under $9 a bottle. That is Doyle’s sweet spot.

Doyle attributes his success to his employees. “There is a long tradition of winemaking at Pleasant Valley. After I reopened the plant, a number of veterans returned to continue the area’s history. There is no issue recruiting employees.” Doyle has also relied on outside professional companies to support his company. Visions Federal Credit Union furnishes financial services, William B. Joint of Bath provides legal advice, and Mengel, Metzger, Barr & Co., LLP handles the wine company’s accounting.

Doyle, 73, has been a leader in the New York wine industry for four decades. A native of Clinton, he graduated from Williams College in 1964, earned an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1966, and his law degree from Syracuse University in 1972. He practiced law for four years in the Rochester area before moving to Hammondsport. His wife and partner of 40 years — Jana — died in 2007. Doyle’s three children and eight grandchildren all live in Upstate. Doyle lives in downtown Hammondsport.

This interview was conducted at the winery under the painting of the founder, Charles Champlin, who looked approvingly over Doyle’s shoulder. It’s not likely that the current president will promote the 155-year Pleasant Valley tradition in the Bacchanalian fashion by parading down Hammondsport’s main street in a chariot drawn by panthers and surrounded by admiring females and satyrs. But, in his own quiet way Mike Doyle is preserving the long history of Finger Lakes winemaking and the first bonded winery. The next generation is preparing to ensure the continuation of that tradition.        

NORWICH — Norwich Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s management and employees, representatives of the parent company — Alvogen, regional elected officials, and the media assembled on April 28 for a groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion at the Norwich plant. Speaking to an audience of several hundred, Charlie Andrews, Norwich Pharma’s vice president of operations, noted that “[t]his is the first addition since the facility was built in 1976.”

The $26 million expansion to the north end of the existing structure will add 26,000 square feet to allow for the acquisition and installation of new processing equipment and to enhance the existing infrastructure. Andrews laid an ambitious timeline to complete the construction and installation — he expects the new addition to be completed in September 2016. A March 12 news release from Alvogen said “[t]his investment will allow us to acquire equipment upon which many of the newer drug products are being manufactured and sets us up to capture future business opportunities …”

Norwich Pharmaceuticals is a full-service contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), with the capacity to produce tablets, capsules, liquids, and semi-solids. It follows a strategy of developing and producing product for selected, third-party customers as well as for Alvogen. As the generic-pharmaceutical industry has become more of a commodity-based business, the Norwich CDMO is countering pressures on its operating costs by developing a more efficient and flexible operation.

Norwich Pharmaceuticals has positioned itself as a single-source provider from phase-1 product development through pilot-scale, clinical production, scale-up, registration, clinical services, and manufacturing. The company has two dedicated, approved areas in the plant for development and pilot-scale batch manufacturing that allow a direct transfer from the pilot plant to commercial operations, enabling customers a fast transition to the marketplace. With its focus on complex, solid oral-dosage and a flexible production environment, Norwich Pharma has carved out niches in the market that the proposed, new equipment will support. The firm’s competitive position is also enhanced by its designation as a foreign trade zone, which eliminates many of the hurdles in clearing a product through the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and Customs.

The company began in 1887 as Norwich Pharmacal Company. It introduced national favorites such as Unguentine, an antiseptic, surgical dressing, in 1893; Pepto-Bismol in 1901; and aspirin in 1907. In 1939, Norwich was listed on the NYSE. Procter & Gamble bought the company in 1982 before selling it to Outsourcing Service Group in 2001. AFI Partners, LLC, a private-equity firm and the holding company for Alvogen, acquired Norwich in 2007 and rebranded it as Norwich Pharma Services in 2013.

The current Norwich facility encompasses 359,000 square feet. With its addition, it will comprise 385,000 square feet. Sited on 400 acres just north of the city, the plant employs 277 people with an annual payroll of $25 million. CNYBJ estimates the company’s annual revenue at $80 million to $100 million.

Norwich Pharma is targeting a number of therapeutic areas for its growth: cardiovascular, central nervous-system, dermatology, oncology, endocrinology, infectious diseases, nutrition, and respiratory.

Alvogen, which has more than 350 generic products on the market and more than 200 development projects in the pipeline, is a multi-national pharmaceuticals company with commercial operations in 34 countries. The company has five manufacturing plants; Norwich is the only American facility. Alvogen, which employs 2,300, is focused on developing, manufacturing, and distributing generic, brand medicines, biosimilars, and over-the-counter products. Chris Young, Alvogen’s executive vice president, global-supply chain, who also spoke at the groundbreaking, said, “… [Our] aim is to become a top-10 [industry] player. Our vision is to become the pharmaceutical company of tomorrow, setting a new standard by combining our collective experiences and understanding our customers’ needs … This means creating a lean, flexible, multi-national operation. Our success is dependent on three things: recruiting outstanding talent, building on our U.S. platform, and continuing to develop a complex portfolio.”

AFI Partners is a private-equity firm that makes control and non-control investments in small and middle-market companies undergoing change. On its website, the company touts its flexible capital and experience with special operations to source proprietary deal flow and to help businesses with leading product- and service-offerings to manage growth and to turn around underperformance. AFI prefers to invest in U.S.–based businesses with under $250 million in revenue, focusing on New York and the Midwest. The equity-firm targets the following industries for investment: automotive, metals, chemicals, paper, transportation, building products, pharmaceuticals, aerospace/defense, mining, plastics/packaging, and energy/power.

Andrews, who has been at Norwich Pharma eight months, has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Norwich Pharma, he worked at Abbott Laboratories, Cardinal Health, and Endo Pharmaceuticals. In addition to Andrews, the leadership team at Norwich Pharma includes Ric Festarini, vice president of human resources; Dr. Kristin Arnold, Ph.D., vice president, product development and technical services; Christina Siniscalchi, site director U.S. quality; Tami Watson, director supply chain; Michael Kriever, controller; and John Bender, vice president commercial operations.        

SYRACUSE — The properties targeted in the Salina Crossing development project include 823 N. Townsend St, described as “historic” and constructed in 1887.

The structure, first built as an Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge, later became the Ernie Davis Center for adolescent boys. The Sunrise Community Center occupied the structure from 1981 to 1991, but by 2000, the building stood vacant.

The Salina Crossing development includes plans to renovate the building into a 9-unit apartment complex, according to a brochure about the project.

The full project is a mixed-used development that will create 49 housing units for low-income households and nearly 6,000 square feet of commercial space.

Housing Visions Consultants, Inc. and New York State Homes & Community Renewal (HCR) have started their work on Salina Crossing.

The two organizations on May 1 held a ceremony at 900 North McBride St., where the Otisca Building, which once housed a brewery, previously stood.

They also distributed a news release with project details later in the day.

The new construction at 900 North McBride St. will include 20 one-bedroom units and nearly 4,700 square feet of commercial space, according to the brochure. 

The $14.8 million project will serve the residents of two “distinct” neighborhoods that Salina Street, a street that spans the Northside and Southside of Syracuse, connects, the release stated.

The development will “substantially” rehabilitate four existing buildings and construct six new buildings to “remove blight and catalyze further investment” in Syracuse’s Northside and Southside neighborhoods, the organizations said. 

Besides 900 North McBride and 823 N. Townsend, the Northside properties include a second on North McBride Street property, another on North Townsend Street, and one on Hawley Avenue.

The Southside properties include three on McLennan Avenue and two on South Salina Street, according to a fact sheet on the project.

“We’re able to take on several vacant buildings on the South Side, tax delinquent, demolish them. We’re going to replace … with some high quality housing, as well as some mixed use commercial space,” Benjamin Lockwood, vice president of business development at Housing Visions, said in his remarks at the event.

The plans also include a new, mixed-use building at 2223 S. Salina St. with apartments and 1,200 square feet of commercial space, a leasing office, and resident community room. 

Altogether, the project seeks to turn 10 “dilapidated” properties and vacant lots into 49 housing units and 5,895 square feet of commercial space, according to the release.

The completed development will provide a mix of 27 one-bedroom, 11 two-bedroom, 6 three-bedroom, and 5 four-bedroom units. 

Five units will accommodate persons with mobility impairments, and two additional units will be adapted for those with hearing and/or vision impairment. 

People with traumatic brain injury (TBI) will have access through priority leasing to eight units in Salina Crossing, the organizations said. 

Holmes King Kallquist & Associates, Architects has designed the development to meet Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) and NYSERDA Energy Star certification.

NYSERDA is short for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Housing Visions Consultants, Inc. will serve as the general contractor on the project.

New York State Homes & Community Renewal in 2014 awarded the Salina Crossing development $900,000 in annual low-income housing tax credits as part of 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $1 billion House NY initiative “to build and preserve affordable housing and revitalize communities.” 

The City of Syracuse also provided $800,000 to help fund Salina Crossing. 

Other funding partners include New York Housing Trust Fund Corporation and the Community Investment Fund, both of which are part of HCR; Chicago, Ill.–based National Equity Fund, Inc.; and Cleveland, Ohio–based KeyBank, which ranks third in deposit market share in Central New York.