Consumer sentiment in upstate New York slid 0.6 points to 71.1 in August, according to the latest monthly survey from the Siena (College) Research Institute
SYRACUSE — Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse chain, today opened a restaurant at Destiny USA — its 30th location. The new 8,000-square-foot eatery
The Upstate Venture Association of New York (UVANY) today announced a series of webinar meetings targeting the business-incubator community across New York. The first presentation,
The New York Power Authority (NYPA) today announced it has issued an annual report tracking its first three years of implementing a sustainability-action plan. Unveiled
BINGHAMTON — Galaxy Brewing Company formally opened its new brewpub in downtown Binghamton today. Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and New York Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo joined
The Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) associations of Northern New York are asking farmers to report any findings of leek moth, a pest that prefers onions, garlic, chives, shallots, leeks, and other similar crops. Cornell University and CCE researchers — working with a Northern New York Agricultural Development Program grant to trap the pest to
The Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) associations of Northern New York are asking farmers to report any findings of leek moth, a pest that prefers onions, garlic, chives, shallots, leeks, and other similar crops.
Cornell University and CCE researchers — working with a Northern New York Agricultural Development Program grant to trap the pest to identify its range — say that if the leek moth takes hold in the major onion-production areas of New York, the economic damage could be significant to the $54 million industry.
“The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) grant will help us determine where leek moth is, how fast it is spreading, and will help growers properly time control treatments,” Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County Executive Director Amy Ivy, a horticulture specialist, said in a news release.
Masanori Seto, with the Cornell University Department of Entomology at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, says the current distribution of leek moth includes Clinton, Essex, Jefferson, and St. Lawrence counties as well as one county in Vermont.
A nocturnal pest, the leek-moth adult is rarely seen unless trapped, according to researchers. Leek moth was first spotted in the U.S. in Northern New York in 2009 in garlic and onions in a home garden in Plattsburgh (Clinton County.) The pest was identified in St. Lawrence County, near Canton, in 2010. Commercial growers in Essex and Jefferson counties reported finding leek moth in their fields in 2012, the news release said.
The adult leek moth is speckled brown, black and white with a white spot halfway down its outer pair of wings, researchers say. The adult survives the winters in northern New York and becomes active in the spring. The larva feeds mainly on plant leaves, from inside. It sometimes bores downward into the plant bulb and leaves feeding damage, according to researchers.
Leek-moth damage stunts plant growth, introduces rot, reduces the storage life of onions and garlic, and hurts the marketability of the crops, according to the news release. Cornell University entomologist A. M. Shelton is evaluating insecticidal treatments in his Ithaca campus lab. He is developing a growing day-degree model to help growers target the right times to apply insecticides to crops, the release noted.
As part of the NNYADP-funded grant, Shelton is also investigating ways to use biological-control agents effective in controlling leek moth.
“Eradication is not realistic, so we are learning to properly time treatments to reduce leek moth populations and the associated crop damage,” Ivy said in the release.
Two insecticidal products are currently approved for use on organic crops and three for use in conventional farming, the release noted.
Ivy encourages growers to implement the cultural practices currently available to growers to prevent leek-moth infestation. Those practices, the release explained, include the use of row covers right after planting to prevent adults from laying eggs on host crops, crop rotation, delayed planting, good field and harvest hygiene, scouting and destruction of leek moth pupae or larvae, and early harvesting before the final seasonal flight occurs.
The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program says it funds on-farm research, technical assistance, and outreach projects to support the productivity and economic viability of farms across New York state’s six northernmost counties.
LAFAYETTE — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, Inc., a destination for apple-picking Central New Yorkers for more than a century, is opening its 2013 season with a new look and a newly branded product. Beak & Skiff, with offices located at 4472 Cherry Valley Turnpike (U.S. Route 20) in the town of LaFayette, has
LAFAYETTE — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, Inc., a destination for apple-picking Central New Yorkers for more than a century, is opening its 2013 season with a new look and a newly branded product.
Beak & Skiff, with offices located at 4472 Cherry Valley Turnpike (U.S. Route 20) in the town of LaFayette, has added a new small-craft distillery, a wholly owned subsidiary that it’s now branding as “1911 Spirits.”
Beak & Skiff also expanded its nearby Apple Hill campus along Lords Hill Road (County Route 80) to include a café, a wine-tasting room, and a larger apple barn, says Danielle Fleckenstein, spokesperson for Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards.
Fleckenstein’s husband, Peter, is Beak & Skiff’s apple-orchard manager, she says.
The business also renovated its retail store on the Apple Hill campus.
The expansion project “was always part of the plan,” Fleckenstein says.
“The difficult year last year reinforced to us the need to diversify and have other sources of revenue [involved in] the business, so that when we do have a tough year in one aspect of the business, we can make up for it in other spots,” she adds.
Beak & Skiff dealt with one of its “toughest” years in 2012 as the spring frost “destroyed” much of the apple crop, according to Fleckenstein.
The difficult year was “part of the reason” Beak & Skiff expanded the Apple Hill campus and “put so much energy and effort” into its spirits business, figuring the added product line can “help us in tougher years … over the long term,” she says.
1911 Spirits
Beak & Skiff in 2009 started making apple wines, which Fleckenstein described as a “way to get our feet wet in the alcohol side of the business.”
The company produced apple wines and ciders, which were under the name Beak & Skiff.
A few years later, Steve Morse, the company’s master distiller, figured out a way to make vodka from the apples, she says. After refining the process, Beak & Skiff eventually launched a vodka product.
From “tree to bottle,” the process and ingredients are controlled in-house to produce handcrafted, small-batch spirits and artisanal-hard ciders, Fleckenstein says.
The company in February renamed its vodka and spirit products “1911 Spirits,” she adds.
Beak & Skiff had been introducing its vodka to customers prior to its official public announcement of the 1911 Spirits name on Aug. 5.
The name 1911 Spirits is taken from the year that Andrew Beak & George Skiff founded the apple orchards. The Beak and Skiff families remain the owners of the orchard to this day, says Fleckenstein.
In addition to its own wine-tasting room, 1911 Spirits is selling its small-batch vodka in the shops on board Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Norwegian Cruise Lines, Fleckenstein says.
Expanding Apple Hill campus
Beak & Skiff began working with Woodford Bros., Inc. of Apulia Station on design concepts for the tasting room and café last fall. Construction on the tasting room and café started in the spring and “moved pretty rapidly” to finish the work ahead of the opening on Aug. 23.
The new 7,500-square-foot addition bears the name “1911” on its roof.
“Although this is new construction, the entire interior is made out of reclaimed wood from several barns in Pennsylvania that are of the same vintage of our general-store building,” Fleckenstein says.
Just down the hill, D Featherstone Construction, LLC of Tully handled the “complete remodel” of the 3,000-square-foot general-store building on the Apple Hill campus, she says.
The work on the exterior included a new roof, siding, and a new coat of paint. The interior work opened the space for more product sales and easier customer movement.
The retail store sells apple-based products, including butter, salsa, jam, along with local cheeses, apple cider, honey, and fudge, Fleckenstein says.
Beak & Skiff also expanded its bakery area in the same store to offer more products, she adds.
In between the retail store and the 1911 barn with the tasting room and café, Beak & Skiff also “quadrupled” the size of the apple barn from about 500 square feet to about 2,000 square feet.
The expanded space allows for more cold-storage capacity for apples and a smaller apple-sorting line, she says.
Beak & Skiff declined to disclose the cost of the expansion or how the company financed the project, according to Fleckenstein.
About Beak & Skiff
Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards covers more than 700 acres of land off the Cherry Valley Turnpike (Route 20), including 400 farmable acres, Fleckenstein says.
“This spring, alone, we planted 15,000 new trees on some of that land. The rest of the acreage is made up of storage facilities, coolers, offices, packing lines, and other buildings that serve our business,” Fleckenstein says.
The trees planted in 2013 are part of a “big investment” in Beak & Skiff’s orchard. The business also intends to plant 10,000 new trees next year.
“Some of that is to increase the amount of farmable acres that we have. Some of it is to replace older trees that have … reached the end of their life cycle that we can put new, more productive trees in their place,” she says.
The 2013 apple crop is looking “great” following “limited” weather issues this past spring, according to Fleckenstein.
During its peak season in late summer and autumn, Beak & Skiff employs a mix of about 150 full- and part-time people across all areas of its business, including the Apple Hill campus, the packing line, cider mill, and orchard operations. It employs about 40 full-time workers the remainder of the year, according to Fleckenstein.
With the expansion of the 1911 Spirits business and the new tasting room and café, Beak & Skiff has increased the number of full-time, year-round positions.
“We’ve hired a full-time food manager / chef, a full-time tasting-room employee, and some sales representatives for 1911 Spirits,” she says.
Beak & Skiff has also added a junior distiller, who serves in a full-time capacity, she adds.
Beak & Skiff’s customer base includes the apple-picking general public, and area grocery-store chains through its wholesale business.
“Our customer base is expanding to those people that have really started to follow our spirits line and have an appreciation for premium vodka and gin, as well as hard cider,” she says.
Fleckenstein declined to specifically name the local customers of its wholesale business but they include “all the major local grocery chains, as well as some small, independent grocers carry our products throughout the Syracuse area,” she says.
SYRACUSE — Onondaga Commons, LLC, the owner of the blue-colored, “L”-shaped building along West Onondaga St., has plans to expand the facility and has acquired two adjacent properties as part of the effort. The overall project is referred to as the “Onondaga Commons Comprehensive Expansion,” says W. Michael Short, founder and CEO of Short
SYRACUSE — Onondaga Commons, LLC, the owner of the blue-colored, “L”-shaped building along West Onondaga St., has plans to expand the facility and has acquired two adjacent properties as part of the effort.
The overall project is referred to as the “Onondaga Commons Comprehensive Expansion,” says W. Michael Short, founder and CEO of Short Enterprises of Syracuse and the project’s lead developer.
“The project is building on the existing footprint of Onondaga Commons and adding two additional properties,” Short says.
Altogether, the redevelopment and renovation project, which has been in the planning stages since 2011, could total in excess of $4 million, he adds.
Martin Yenawine, then president of Eastern Ambulance in Syracuse, originally developed Onondaga Commons in 1988 as a home for health and human-service organizations.
Yenawine is now a principal with Onondaga Commons, LLC.
Current tenants at Onondaga Commons include the local office of Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Rural/Metro Corp., an ambulance-service company, along with Family Planning Services, Lean On Me Day Care Center, the office of Onondaga Commons, LLC, and the Dr. William A. Harris Health Center.
The expansion project includes plans to develop two adjacent, vacant properties, including the former Triple-A building at 506 W. Onondaga St. and the GAR Building at 414-416 W. Onondaga St.
It also includes what Short called “the largest green-infrastructure project privately pursued” under Onondaga County’s “Save the Rain” program with $1 million in funding from the county.
GAR Building
Onondaga Commons, LLC acquired the 18,000-square-foot GAR Building at 414-416 W. Onondaga St. from the Second Olivet Missionary Baptist Church at the beginning of 2012, Short says. The church wasn’t able to financially maintain the building.
“The power was turned off and it became vacant,” Short says, noting that vandals had stripped it of copper and “trashed” the interior.
Short estimates the GAR Building needs about $250,000 in asbestos and environmental remediation and abatement work. That work is necessary to complete the next step in the thought process.
“How do we redevelop this property in an efficient way that allows us to keep leases low, so that we can provide opportunities for small businesses and nonprofits to locate here without having exorbitant rents?,” Short wonders.
AECC Environmental Consulting of DeWitt will handle the environmental remediation. Onondaga Commons is finalizing a schedule for the asbestos abatement and demolition work.
It concludes a year of efforts in developing plans for the building and pursuing a grant for up to $247,000 from National Grid’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program for the abatement project, Short says.
The total redevelopment of the GAR Building will cost more than $2 million, and once completed, the GAR Building will be part of Onondaga Commons, he adds.
Over the last year, Onondaga Commons has been in negotiations with a number of potential tenants.
“Considering the state of the building, it’s hard to have them come in to the building and be able to see a vision for it,” Short says.
Plans call for reconfiguring a portion of the existing Onondaga Commons building and “opening up” the campus to face a nearby school. The improvement work will also involve some improvements at the Lean on Me Day Care with a new playground outside, Short says.
Former Triple-A building
Onondaga Commons, LLC acquired the former Triple-A building at 506 W. Onondaga St., a 15,000 square-foot structure from the city of Syracuse, which had seized the building for the $50,000 back taxes it owed.
Onondaga Commons acquired the building earlier this summer, Short says.
Attorneys for Onondaga Commons worked to make certain the IRS liens and other liens were settled so the title for the property was clear of any issues, Short says.
The city of Syracuse is “not allowed to sell the property for any less than the assessed value at that time,” Short says. That value matched the amount of taxes that were owed on the structure, he added.
Plans call for developing the building for entrepreneurs-in-residence.
“We’ll have three or four of them,” Short says.
It’ll provide shared co-working incubator space on the first floor and basement.
Improvement work at the former Triple-A building will include AECC performing asbestos-remediation work, but the overall structure is in “good shape,” according to Short.
The redevelopment cost is about $250,000, he adds, which includes the site development and parking spaces.
The remediation work will begin once the project budget finalized in early September, he says. Onondaga Commons is hoping to have the building ready for occupancy by the spring or summer 2014.
Short would also like to include a business incubator in the former Triple-A building at 506 W. Onondaga St., which could also expand into the GAR Building, he says.
The improvement work could also impact the property’s most publicly visible tenant.
Even though Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Rural/Metro Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection, Onondaga Commons is planning on having the ambulance-service provider as a tenant for a while to come.
“There has been talk of some additional redevelopment of this structure to expand their square footage to 36,000 square feet here in Building 1 of Onondaga Commons,” Short says.
That would be a more than $1 million redevelopment project.
The green-infrastructure work at 422 through 428 W. Onondaga St. begins during the first week of September and includes a portion of Slocum Avenue lots on the perimeter of the property.
It’ll involve repaving with porous material, new plantings, and rain gardens, Short says. When completely installed, the improvements will result in the harvesting six to 10 million gallons of water annually.
The Onondaga County’s Save the Rain program is a “stormwater-management plan intended to reduce pollution to Onondaga Lake and its tributaries,” according to its website.
Financing, partners
Onondaga Commons is in discussions with Watertown Savings Bank to secure a loan for the expansion project.
“They are willing to come to the table on the GAR building, once it’s free and clear of any contamination,” Short says.
Aubertine and Currier Architects, Engineers & Land Surveyors, PLLC of Watertown is serving as the architect on the project. Manny Barbas, who spent 36 years organizing and administering capital projects for Onondaga County, is serving as an independent consultant on the project.
Short refers to Barbas as “an all star.”
He also credits the work of Kyle Thomas of Natural Systems Engineering, PLLC of Syracuse, calling him a “critical partner.”
Thomas worked with Short and Onondaga County to develop a plan to redirect six to 10 million gallons of water away from the combined sewer system.
Daly Co., Inc. of Sackets Harbor is helping with the green-infrastructure installations.
“They’re handling the construction of that,” Short says, noting they’ll be using local subcontractors for the project.
A contractor for the construction work beyond the green-infrastructure project has “yet to be identified,” Short says.
When asked why a bank and architecture firm from Watertown and a contractor from Sacketts Harbor are involved, Short noted that Martin Yenawine lives on Wellesley Island in the Thousand Islands region.
Lifelong friends
Short has known Yenawine since age 5, calling him a “mentor” and a close family friend.
“He helped me write my graduation speech for high school,” he says.
Short Enterprises is currently located in the Lincoln Building at 109 Otisco St. in Syracuse, but Short intends to move the business into Onondaga Commons at some point in the future.
Besides Short, the firm’s lone full-time employee, Short Enterprises also employs two part-time workers and two contract employees.
Founded in 2011, Short Enterprises is an economic strategy and development firm specializing in strategic planning, site selection, community assessments, and organization building.
Short previously served as deputy director of the Near Westside Initiative at Syracuse University.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
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