SYRACUSE — The owner of a local event-planning company and her husband have acquired a building in downtown Syracuse and have plans to launch an additional, separate venture.

Nicole Samolis, president of The Events Company at 230 Harrison St., and her husband, Kevin Samolis, the firm’s chief of staff, have acquired the Wells & Coverly building on South Salina Street.

The Samolises purchased the building for $350,000 from its previous owner, Michael Ades.

They will serve as landlords for the retail stores operating on the building’s first floor, including Downtown Jewelry, Payless ShoeSource, and Bergan’s Men’s Clothing.

The Samolises are planning a $3 million construction project to convert the structure’s 10,000-square-foot second and third floors into space for hosting events like weddings, the couple says.

The new venture is called SKY Armory, but they emphasize that nothing is changing at their original business.

“This is 100 percent separate from The Events Company,” says Kevin Samolis, vice president of SKY Armory.

Since its inception in 1996, The Events Company has evolved into an event-planning and production company, says Nicole Samolis, who also serves as president of SKY Armory.

“And so this really becomes a natural transition into another opportunity for us to continue growing,” she says.

Founded in March, SKY Armory will have 47 employees, including 15 full-time workers.

The Samolises declined to provide a revenue projection for 2014, but if they’re able to open in December as planned, they’d like to host 10 to 20 events before the end of the current year and a total of 80 events in its first full year of operation.

Pursuing a space for events

The Samolises have been watching what others in the event-planning industry have done around the country “in taking non-traditional spaces and creating them into event spaces,” Nicole Samolis says, noting that Syracuse has limited ballroom space for those organizing events for 250 to 300 people.

About five years ago, they started wondering about the possibility of having their own venue. Their goal was to remain in a downtown setting, and find a space that would be, as she described it, an “urban, chic, refabbed, repurposed, kind of industrial space.”   

Nicole Samolis learned about the building’s availability while attending the annual State of the City address in 2012, where she spoke with Richard DeVito and Robert Doucette of Paramount Realty Group.

“At that time, we were looking actually to lease a floor in a building,” she says. 

Paramount’s leasing director, Steve Case, showed the Samolises some spaces with available floors, including the Wells & Coverly building.

They weren’t interested at first, but eventually decided to pursue the buying the entire structure.

The building wasn’t on the market for sale, but Case approached Ades about the potential transaction.

“We were able to make the sale happen,” Nicole Samolis says. 

The Samolises were searching for a place with the capacity for holding big events, along with the necessary parking.

The upper floors of the Wells & Coverly building have that space and the parking availability.   

“This particular building has a parking garage that has a pedestrian bridge that attached right to its second floor,” she says.

The structure currently has three addresses on the South Salina Street for the retail locations operating on the first floor. But the Samolises are hoping for an address on the South Clinton Street side.

Kevin Samolis on May 20 submitted an application to the Onondaga County Planning Commission for a new address because they plan to build a new entrance on the Armory Square side of the structure.

“It’s not atypical for a building to have separate mailing addresses,” Kevin Samolis says.

Acquisition, construction plans

In the acquisition transaction, The Wladis Law Firm of DeWitt represented the Samolises in the deal, and attorney James Messenger, Jr. represented Michael Ades, the couple says.

The acquisition closed on April 30, according to Kevin Samolis. The couple used a loan from M&T Bank to fund the acquisition, he adds.

They’re anticipating the construction project will cost about $3 million. Zausmer-Frisch Scruton & Aggarwal, a design-build firm in Syracuse, is handling the construction project. 

Besides developing the building’s second and third floors, the construction will include building an addition that will serve as the entrance with a “grand stair case and elevator,” according to Nicole Samolis.

Construction crews will “gut” each floor, exposing the structure’s original brick, she adds.

“The second floor has hardwood floors that we can salvage, so we’re going to refinish those,” she says.

The third floor will have some exposed brick and columns which will require some treatment. The work will also target the ceiling rafters, exposing the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, which will be replaced.

“Each floor will have a catering kitchen on it,” she says.

In a May 16 blog post on their website (www.skyarmory.com), the Samolises wrote: “We think bridal couples are going to love SKY Armory for weddings. Our first potential bride is coming in tomorrow for a sneak peak at our plans.” 

The building also needs a new roof, Kevin Samolis adds.

The Samolises plan to attach the name “Wells” to the second-floor ball room, and “Coverly” to the ball room on the third floor to keep the building connected to its retail history.

“If you’re from Syracuse or you’re of a certain age, people have fond memories of Wells & Coverly,” Nicole Samolis says.

Prior to its closure in the early 1980s, Wells & Coverly was an upscale men’s department store, which would make suits “from scratch,” according to Kevin Samolis.

M&T Bank, KeyBank, and others will be among the banks serving as lenders for the construction project. The Samolises are also pursuing a 504 loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

An SBA 504 loan may be used for the financing of fixed assets like real estate or equipment, according to the SBA’s website.  Certified-development corporations administer that program, including the Greater Syracuse Business Development Corp.

The hope to have the financing secured in early June, Kevin Samolis says.

“We’re trying to run this whole project like an event,” Nicole Samolis says, snapping her finger and adding, “Specific deadlines.”

  The Samolises will use mostly bank loans and some of their own personal assets to help pay for the project. They don’t plan to use any finances from The Events Company to help pay for the project.

And even though the two ventures, The Events Company and SKY Armory, are separate, the Samolises will have shared offices for both entities, the couple says.

When asked about the name, the Samolises say they’ve been working with Cowley Associates, a website design, marketing and advertising agency in Syracuse, to handle their marketing.

They chose SKY Armory because “the sky has no limits,” Nicole Samolis says.

“And at our venue, there are no limits,” she adds.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

SALINA — SWK Technologies, Inc., a Livingston, N.J.–based business-software reseller with an office in Salina, is working to add to its presence in the Central New York market.

But the firm isn’t yet to ready to divulge all the details.

“We are actively looking and we have one we’re actively starting negotiations with in the greater Syracuse area to take over their client base,” says Crandall (Chip) Melvin, CFO of SWK Technologies, Inc.

The targeted firm in question has about 125 clients, he adds.

Growth through acquisition is how SWK Technologies has expanded in upstate New York.  

SWK entered the Central New York market by acquiring Melvin’s company, AMP-Best Consulting, Inc. in 2006. The firm grew its presence with the acquisition of certain clients from
DM Systems, Inc. of Syracuse the following year.

SWK is a reseller of accounting, human-resources, and customer-relationship-management applications from Sage Software of Irvine, Calif. 

SWK, a subsidiary of SilverSun Technologies, Inc. (OCTBB: SSNT), is also a certified developer for Sage, meaning it can modify and customize Sage applications and even create new programs based on Sage code. 

The software-reselling industry has gone through a series of consolidations over the years, Melvin says. 

The SWK business model is to “go out and acquire smaller resellers that either … don’t have the resources to take it to the next level … don’t have the expertise to take it to next level, or … maybe [are] looking at retiring and sun-setting their practice,” Melvin says. 

About SWK Technologies

The firm focuses on business-to-business transactions and has about 250 clients in the Syracuse area. 

“Our specialization is in light, specialty manufacturing,” Melvin says. 

SWK’s clients are mainly mid-market companies, which it defines as ranging in size from $5 million in annual revenue to more than $150 million.

Over the past 15 to 20 years, the Central New York economy is moving toward specialized manufacturing, Melvin contends. The smaller firms are replacing the big manufacturing companies, such as New Venture Gear, Chrysler, and General Motors, he says. 

 “This is also a transportation and distribution hub,” he says, noting the Syracuse’s location at the intersection of two Interstate highways, 81 and 690. “Our software fits very, very well into that sweet spot of light manufacturing and wholesale distribution,” he says.

Many SWK clients also have operations in Rochester, Buffalo, and Albany, so the company refers to the upstate New York markets as the “Thruway Corridor.” 

“We view the Syracuse market as being kind of all of Upstate,” he says.

SWK Technologies, Inc. operates a local office in a cobblestone house at 6834 Buckley Road in Salina. Melvin owns the approximately 10,000-square-foot home, he says.

Jeffrey Roth serves as CEO of the software reseller.

The firm employs about 75 full-time workers, including nine in the Salina office. The employees include two sales executives, two field consultants who provide on-site visits for clients, three people who serve in administrative roles, and an employee who handles telephone support, according to Melvin.

SWK anticipates increasing its employee count to more than 100 by the end of the year, including five additional employees in the Salina office, Melvin says.

The Salina office is the center of the firm’s accounting and administrative functions, Melvin says. SWK Technologies operates in 18 states and has clients in all 50 states and in foreign countries, including Canada and nations in Latin America, Melvin says. 

SWK generated more than $13 million in revenue in 2012, and Melvin projects the firm will produce revenue of $17 million in 2013.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

SYRACUSE — Just half a year after opening, Syracuse Coworks has filled about half the available slots it has for entrepreneur tenants and celebrated recently with a free coworking day and reception on May 10.

Syracuse Coworks, a venture by Syracuse–based young professionals group 40 Below with support from law firm Harris Beach, opened in downtown Syracuse’s Tech Garden last October. The Syracuse Coworks space provides a low-cost professional office environment for entrepreneurs.

“The response has been so enthusiastic,” says Jamie White, community manager for Syracuse Coworks. While praise has been lavished on the amenities of the 1,500-square-foot space, which includes wireless Internet access, printing services, and conference rooms, quite a bit of the buzz about Syracuse Coworks has been about the vibe of the space, White says.

Syracuse Coworks is more than just a place to meet with a client or to get some work done, White says. A typical entrepreneur starting a business most likely starts the business at home and often meets with clients at their business or at places like coffee shops, he says. That arrangement can work well in terms of getting business done, but there is something lacking in that arrangement — coworkers.

That’s where Syracuse Coworks really shines, he says, by creating a sense of community between its members and making them, in a sense, coworkers. It’s about connecting with other businesspeople, sharing the entrepreneurial spirit, and maybe even collaborating, White contends.

“You miss a lot of that human interaction you get from the traditional workspace,” he says. Syracuse Coworks helps fill that void.

That has certainly been the case for Troy Evans, a member who has been using the space for several months now. Evans is the owner of his own real-estate investment business, Hometown Communities, Inc., which he was running from his home. But he missed that office environment and thought Syracuse Coworks sounded like a great solution.

Evans describes the coworking space as great, but adds “I go there because there are really smart people there from all different backgrounds.”

“It was a great move for me,” Evans says. In addition to connecting with other entrepreneurs as he brainstorms ideas for another new business venture, joining Syracuse Coworks has already led to another opportunity for Evans, who will volunteer for the summer at the StartFast Venture Accelerator, also located in Tech Garden. Evans will help run the program, which gives participants guidance and opportunity to bring a business idea to fruition.

“It’s a nice little story of networking,” Evans says of how joining Syracuse Coworks led to the opportunity.

Currently, Evans is one of 10 members or tenants utilizing the space, White says. Other members come from a variety of industries including film, health care, social media marketing, web development, and even a coffee shop.

Depending on the needs of members, the space has room for between 20 and 25 members. Syracuse Coworks offers several levels of membership with varying amenities, he notes. For $225 per month, a member can be a full tenant with a designated personal desk and priority access to conference rooms. Syracuse Coworks offers two mid-level memberships — for $150 per month, members have around-the-clock access to the space but do not have their own desk and cannot leave items there, and for $100 per month, members can access the space Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Syracuse Coworks also has a $15 per-day drop-in rate.

White says he’s working to keep spreading the word about the space to attract more members, who also benefit from networking opportunities and workshops organized by Syracuse Coworkers.

“Eventually, the goal is to get these businesses get to a point where they say they’re too big for the coworking space,” White says. Those businesses will then move on, leaving room for a new fledgling company to join the coworking movement.

40 Below, which spent more than a year developing the idea and launching Syracuse Coworks, has more than 3,500 members and focuses on civic engagement, regional marketing and branding, and public arts. The organization partners with other groups such as SKYLO (Skaneateles Young Leaders Organization), the New York State Urban Council, and Ignite Syracuse to catalyze growth.

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com