Owego seeks Downtown Revitalization Initiative project proposals

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OWEGO, N.Y. — The Tioga County Industrial Development Agency (TCIDA) announced it is accepting requests for proposals (RFP) from property owners within the village of Owego’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) boundary for its multi-site projects fund. Property owners are encouraged to submit project proposals that support façade revitalization or business development. New York State awarded […]

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Lockheed Martin’s Salina plant awarded $19M Navy contract modification

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only, Technology

SALINA, N.Y. — Lockheed Martin Corp.’s (NYSE: LMT) plant in suburban Syracuse has won a $19 million adjustment to a previously awarded contract from the U.S. Navy. The cost-plus-incentive-fee modification is to a previously awarded delivery order under a contract for design and qualification testing of submarine electronic-warfare equipment, according to a Feb. 13 contract

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NYSDOT appoints new I-81 project leader after Frechette retirement

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The state’s effort on the Interstate 81 (I-81) viaduct-replacement project has a new leader following the retirement of the man who has overseen the work for the last decade. Elizabeth (Betsy) Parmley joined the I-81 project team in 2021 as a project manager. She worked with the now-retired Mark Frechette on the project

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SYRACUSE — The state’s effort on the Interstate 81 (I-81) viaduct-replacement project has a new leader following the retirement of the man who has overseen the work for the last decade.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Parmley joined the I-81 project team in 2021 as a project manager. She worked with the now-retired Mark Frechette on the project over the past two years, the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) said in its Feb. 8 announcement.

Parmley brings a “wealth of experience and knowledge” to her new position as project director for I-81, the DOT said.

She began her career with DOT in 2005 as a junior engineer and worked her way up to lead DOT’s Central New York Traffic Safety & Mobility Group, before officially joining the I-81 viaduct project team.

“I feel very fortunate to have worked alongside Mark and the I-81 team for the past two years,” Parmley said. “I look forward to taking this project into the final design and construction phases and continuing to build on the accomplishments Mark and the team have led.”

Frechette has been a “key member” of NYSDOT in both Central New York and the North Country for more than 35 years, NYSDOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said Feb. 8 in announcing Frechette’s retirement.

For the past 10 years, Frechette has served as project director of the Interstate 81 (I-81) viaduct-replacement project. He worked in coordination with the community to lead the project from its initial conception and design through the record of decision and first contract award on Jan.12, the NYSDOT said.

In the past few years, Frechette has joined Dominguez for the major announcements in Syracuse on the I-81 project’s progress, replacement options, and official approval from the federal government.

“I have immensely enjoyed my career at DOT dating back to 1985 in both Central New York and the North Country and will fondly reflect on all the wonderful people, co-workers and friends I had the opportunity to work with over the years,” Frechette said. “As I turn over my responsibilities on the I-81 Viaduct Project to Betsy, I know I am leaving it in good hands. I have every confidence in her abilities to work with the community to kick off and complete this transformative project.”

MVHS, Utica partner on plan for St. Elizabeth campus

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Health Care, Regional News, Subscriber Only

UTICA, N.Y. — The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) and the City of Utica are working together to develop a master re-use plan for the campus of St. Elizabeth Medical Center. Utica, through its Industrial Development Agency (IDA), and MVHS have agreed to share the cost of hiring a consultant team, a per a Jan.

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UTICA, N.Y. — The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) and the City of Utica are working together to develop a master re-use plan for the campus of St. Elizabeth Medical Center.

Utica, through its Industrial Development Agency (IDA), and MVHS have agreed to share the cost of hiring a consultant team, a per a Jan. 27 joint announcement.

The focus on redeveloping the property comes as the Wynn Hospital prepares to open this October, meaning MVHS will be vacating large portions of the St. Elizabeth campus.

MVHS is an affiliation of Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center, both of Utica. The two organizations teamed up in March 2014.

The City of Utica, through its Industrial Development Agency (IDA), and MVHS have agreed to share the cost of hiring a consultant team.

The consultant team will have experience in the fields of urban planning, landscape architecture, market analysis, civil engineering, and environmental remediation, per the joint announcement.

Through the partnership, the consultant team will help Utica and MVHS in identifying a variety of re-use scenarios, getting the public involved in reviewing and selecting preferred scenarios, and detailing the steps necessary to “implement the new vision” for the nearly 23-acre campus.

MVHS had previously sought developers interested in purchasing the campus in its current condition, a process that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizations said.

The plan will include anticipated costs and will recommend “creative options” for public financing. The City of Utica and MVHS will have the consultant team develop cost estimates on the demolition of the various campus buildings, “should state or federal funding become available.”

Through the development of the plan, the city and MVHS say they want land uses and development that’s “appropriate for the south Utica neighborhood.” As part of their agreement, the partners have laid out several principals for the re-use.

They include providing for a “mixture of uses consistent” with the Genesee Street corridor as it exists within that section of South Utica; for the balance of the property, providing for upscale, single-family residential development with a mix of ownership styles (attached and detached); and scale, style, and architecture reflective of the surrounding neighborhoods and commercial districts.

“The Wynn Hospital project has been a transformational project in the City of Utica and we need to make sure that positive transformation extends to the properties being vacated, particularly St. Elizabeth,” Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri said in a statement. “While redeveloping this campus will be a challenge, it’s also an opportunity to ensure our city and its neighborhoods continue to grow and thrive. I’m happy that MVHS has committed to our shared goal of making sure that there’s something wonderful in store for South Utica and our entire city.”

With assistance from Mohawk Valley EDGE, the partners developed and issued a request for proposals, which required responses due by the afternoon of Feb. 16.

Food Bank of Southern Tier leader leaving for WSKG CEO post

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, New York News, Nonprofits, People on the Move, Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

ELMIRA, N.Y. — The president and CEO of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier plans to step down March 17 to move to a new job. Natasha Thompson will become the new president and CEO of WSKG, the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio) member station in Binghamton. The Food Bank

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Berkshire Bank’s parent company to pay dividend of 18 cents a share in early March

Banks & Credit Unions, Regional News, Subscriber Only

Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE: BHLB) — parent company of Berkshire Bank, which has a major presence in the Mohawk Valley region — recently announced that its board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of 18 cents per common share. The dividend will be payable on March 2, to shareholders of record as

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New CEO of St. Joseph’s Health /SPHP begins duties

Health Care, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — He had been serving as COO for the merged entity of St. Joseph’s Health of Syracuse and St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP) of Albany since last June. With the start of 2023, Dr. Steven Hanks became president and CEO of the regional health organization. Both St. Joseph’s Health and SPHP are part of

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SYRACUSE — He had been serving as COO for the merged entity of St. Joseph’s Health of Syracuse and St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP) of Albany since last June.

With the start of 2023, Dr. Steven Hanks became president and CEO of the regional health organization.

Both St. Joseph’s Health and SPHP are part of Livonia, Michigan–based Trinity Health. It was in late June of last year that Trinity Health announced that the entities were merging operations to deal with the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, but the incredible team of nearly 15,000 colleagues in Albany and Syracuse have been steadfast in their support as we embrace this new era for St. Joseph’s Health and St. Peter’s Health Partners,” Dr. Hanks said in the Feb. 8 announcement. “I am honored to serve as the President and CEO of this comprehensive, regional health system that is so widely known for its high-quality facilities, programs, and services, and for our ability to deliver the compassionate care our communities deserve.”

Dr. Hanks succeeds Leslie Luke as the top official at St. Joseph’s Health. As part of the restructuring effort, Luke was set to voluntarily leave the organization after a transition period, per a Trinity Health memo that CNYBJ obtained back in June.

St. Joseph’s Health tells CNYBJ that Luke is no longer with the organization. He had been the president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health since 2017.

After a year of planning, Dr. Hanks assumed the CEO role following the retirement of Dr. James Reed at the end of 2022. Dr. Reed served for more than a decade in executive leadership at St. Peter’s.

Hanks joined SPHP in 2016 as VP and chief medical officer of Acute Care Albany, “taking on increasingly more demanding leadership roles.” He served as SPHP’s chief clinical officer beginning in 2018 and added the COO title for SPHP in October 2021.

In 2022, he served for five months as interim president and CEO while Dr. Reed was on a medical leave of absence and, during that time, was a principal architect of the plan to bring Trinity Health’s ministries in Albany and Syracuse together.

St. Joseph’s Health describes Hanks as an “experienced” physician executive with 30 years of progressive responsibility in a variety of health-care organizations.

Before coming to SPHP, he spent time at the Cerner Corporation, a global health care information-technology company in Kansas City, Missouri.

Prior to that, Hanks worked for more than a decade at Hartford HealthCare in Connecticut. During his tenure in Hartford, Hanks also held the position of assistant dean for graduate medical education at the University of Connecticut.

Hanks holds a bachelor’s degree in neurosciences from the University of Rochester, where he also received his medical degree with Distinction in Research. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital.

Hanks lives in Latham, near Albany. He is splitting his time between Albany and Syracuse as the new regional leader of both organizations, per the announcement.

NBT Bank to move CNY regional HQ to The Post later this year

Banks & Credit Unions, Construction, Design & Real Estate, Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Insurance & Financial Services, Regional News, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — NBT Bank says it is planning to move its Central New York regional headquarters to The Post building later this year. The Post is the rebranded name of the building that was formerly home to The Post-Standard newspaper, which VIP Development Associates, the development arm of VIP Structures, is renovating into its

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — NBT Bank says it is planning to move its Central New York regional headquarters to The Post building later this year.

The Post is the rebranded name of the building that was formerly home to The Post-Standard newspaper, which VIP Development Associates, the development arm of VIP Structures, is renovating into its new headquarters in downtown Syracuse across from Clinton Square. The building will also provide space for other businesses. ChaseDesign, a design and business-consulting firm, has already opened an office as a tenant in The Post.

Norwich–based NBT Bank has had its CNY regional headquarters, which it calls its Syracuse Financial Center, in the Equitable Tower II (previously called AXA Tower) at 120 Madison St. for almost 20 years. Its lease was coming to an end so the bank assessed its options and landed on The Post for a couple of reasons. The first was proximity.

“We do have a branch directly across the street from The Post over at 100 Clinton Square. One of my primary goals was to get in closer proximity to that branch to make it more convenient for our customers to business with us,” David Kavney, Central New York and Mohawk Valley regional president at NBT Bank, tells CNYBJ.

NBT’s regional office includes a commercial lending team, wealth management staff, and insurance representatives. “It’ll make that interaction between our departments and our branch team much easier when it’s directly across the street,” Kavney notes. For example, a commercial-lending client who also wants to open a checking or other account with the bank will be able to do so more easily with the branch nearby.

Secondly, the layout of the new space will cater to the shift in working environment the bank has seen of late.

“The second reason is that over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a shift in our workforce. We’ve embraced the hybrid work model. We definitely feel we work better in closer proximity — better together, if you will,” Kavney says. “The new space is wide open. It’s going to allow for some hybrid work areas, offices, and workstations for those who want the flexibility. And we’ve got some great gathering space. We’ll have a spot for us to get together and collaborate in a little better fashion than we are right now.”

NBT’s Syracuse Financial Center employs about 30-35 people total, including those who work from home. “That number should remain fairly constant as we transition over to The Post,” says Kavney.

The working space at NBT’s new office will be about the same size as the bank had in the Equitable Tower but with a different, more open layout.

NBT Bank is working with VIP on the buildout and is on track to move into its new leased office at The Post in the third quarter of this year, a bank spokesperson tells CNYBJ.

NUAIR’s Stewart reelected president of the Commercial Drone Alliance

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, People on the Move, Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only, Technology

Ken Stewart, president and CEO of NUAIR, will also continue serving as president of the nonprofit Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA). NUAIR (Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance Inc.) is a Syracuse–based nonprofit that provides expertise in uncrewed-aircraft systems (UAS). NUAIR manages New York’s 50-mile UAS corridor between Syracuse and Griffiss International Airport in Rome. A UAS

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Four CNY localities to prep projects for DRI, NY Forward

Construction, Design & Real Estate, New York News, Nonprofits, Regional News, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

HOMER, N.Y. — The Village of Homer in Cortland County, Village of Moravia in Cayuga County, Village of Phoenix in Oswego County, and Village of Hamilton in Madison County are preparing to organize plans for spending state funding to improve their communities. New York State has awarded Homer $10 million as the Central New York

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New York State has awarded Homer $10 million as the Central New York winner of the sixth round of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI).

At the same time, the state announced funding for Phoenix, Moravia, and Hamilton as the Central New York region winners in the first round of the NY Forward program.

The Village of Phoenix receives $4.5 million, and the villages of Moravia and Hamilton each get $2.25 million, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an announcement.

New York Secretary of State Robert Rodriguez announced the funding awards during a Feb. 14 appearance at the Center for the Arts in the village of Homer.

Building on the DRI, the $100 million NY Forward program adopts the same “Plan-then-Act” strategy as the DRI to “support a more equitable downtown recovery” for New York’s smaller and rural communities, Hochul’s office said. As part of NY Forward’s first round, the state will announce two to three awards for smaller communities in each of the state’s 10 economic-development regions to support development and implementation of a revitalization plan for their downtowns.

Each NY Forward community will develop a strategic investment plan to “revitalize” its downtown through a “slate of readily implementable projects.” Projects may include building renovation and redevelopment, new construction or creation of new or improved public spaces and other projects that elevate specific cultural, historical qualities that enhance the feeling of small-town charm.

Homer DRI award

Homer has been awarded $10 million in state funding and investments to revitalize its downtown neighborhood and generate new opportunities for long-term growth following the local planning process, Hochul’s office said. Homer joins the cities of Oswego, Cortland, Auburn, Fulton, Oneida and Syracuse, which were Central New York’s winners in the first five DRI rounds.

Homer will begin the process of developing a strategic investment plan to revitalize its downtown with up to $300,000 in planning funds from the $10 million DRI grant. A local planning committee made up of municipal representatives, community leaders, and other stakeholders will lead the effort, supported by a team of private-sector experts and state planners.

The plan will guide the investment of DRI grant funds in revitalization projects that will advance the community’s vision for its downtown and that can leverage and expand upon the state’s $10 million investment, Hochul’s office said.

“This funding will ensure our beautiful, friendly, historic village remains prosperous and accessible for future generations. Some of the region’s most important historic structures will be preserved thanks to these monies, as well as creating new business and economic development opportunities for our current residents,” Village of Homer Mayor Hal McCabe said in a statement. “As we prepare as a region for the arrival of Micron, the DRI will also aid local projects which will position Homer as one of the premier communities the anticipated new employees and their families will call home.”

For DRI round 6, each of the state’s 10 economic-development regions are being awarded $10 million, to make for a total state commitment of $100 million in funding and investments to help communities boost their economies by transforming downtowns into vibrant neighborhoods, the state says.

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