Innovare’s quantum workshop nurtured connectivity

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ROME — The Innovare Advancement Center at Griffiss Business and Technology Park recently hosted the fourth annual Quantum Information Science Workshop (Q4I), an initiative to foster connectivity between government, academic, and industry collaborators in the field of quantum innovation. The event took place over three days — July 12-14. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) […]

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Skydome indoor drone-testing facility to transform Rome UAS test site

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Subscriber Only, Technology

ROME — As they took flight at the end of the ceremony, two drones stretched out a ribbon that officials would cut to formally open the $13 million Skydome at Griffiss International Airport in Rome. Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. and Hope Knight, president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development, handled the ribbon

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ROME — As they took flight at the end of the ceremony, two drones stretched out a ribbon that officials would cut to formally open the $13 million Skydome at Griffiss International Airport in Rome.

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. and Hope Knight, president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development, handled the ribbon cutting.

Skydome is located in a former airplane hangar and is described as the “largest indoor drone test facility in the nation,” the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a July 14 release. The office also described Skydome as a “transformational investment” in New York’s unmanned aircraft systems [UAS] test site at Oneida County.”

Skydome will support collaborative efforts between the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (Rome Lab) and the New York UAS test site, leveraging the region’s high tech commercial and academic ecosystem supporting the development of technologies for small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) to operate safely and securely in the national air space, per Hochul’s release.

“It will support collaborative-research efforts between the test site and the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome,” Picente said in his remarks during the July 14 ceremony. “As a one-of-a-kind facility, we know the demand for this facility is strong with customers from all over the world.”

Oneida County created and developed the $13 million project, which includes $4 million in county funding. In addition, the state provided a $4.5 million grant from the CNY Rising Upstate Revitalization Initiative and $4.5 million grant from the Mohawk Valley Upstate Revitalization Initiative.

New York State Senator Joseph Griffo (R–Rome) also secured a $950,000 grant for the facility.

“The advancements that are taking place here are further cementing the region’s status as a hub for innovation and they will help grow the regional ecosystem for emerging … technology,” ESD’s Knight said in her remarks at the event. “Drone technology is truly cutting-edge technology with a growing list of uses and applications from e-commerce to public safety. The Skydome will be a game changer for this region and for the industry and it represents another win in the Mohawk Valley and for this region to be recognized as a global power.”

Picente also provided this observation in Hochul’s announcement about the Skydome project.

“Like the Wolfspeed chip fab, and the soon-to-be completed MVHS Wynn Hospital and Nexus Center sports complex, the opening of Skydome is another transformational project that will spur new jobs and investment in Oneida County, and further demonstrates why we have one of the most robust and diverse economies in the Northeast,” Picente contended. “From its inception, this ambitious county project set out to solidify Oneida County and New York State as the global epicenter for drone research and development and with today’s Skydome opening, we have done just that.”

With the completion of Skydome, New York state is now home to the largest indoor anechoic chambered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) experimentation facility in the U.S., Hochul’s office said. It will provide year-round, indoor testing of advanced drone technologies, including artificial intelligence-based flight controls and “autonomous swarms” of small drones.

Oneida County works in partnership with Syracuse–based NUAIR, which oversees the 50-mile drone corridor between Rome and Syracuse, Picente noted. The drone corridor is helping to find ways to safely integrate drones into the nation’s airspace.

“NUAIR has been managing the New York UAS Test Site since the [Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-designation] over 10 years ago and we continue to have a great collaborative partnership with the State, Oneida County and surrounding organizations,” Ken Stewart, CEO of NUAIR said. “With our 50-mile drone corridor, bespoke private 5G test range, and [now the] addition of Skydome, Central New York continues to be the leading destination for UAS and Advanced Air Mobility companies to land and expand their operations.”

In her remarks at the grand-opening event, Rome Mayor Jacqueline Izzo said the region’s been working to “solidify our relationship” with the Air Force Research Laboratory and “strengthen its ties to our community.”

“And we make sure that the Air Force and the [U.S.] Department of Defense understand this lab’s relevance to the overall mission. And I think today, with the opening of this facility; the commitment of our state, county, local governments … it was drawn on paper, but to see it come to life now is truly amazing and it is a unique facility. And it will allow the lab to come over and do classified and non-classified testing here. It’ll allow other people to come from around the country to this FAA test site to do things that are unique to the unmanned aerial systems,” Izzo said.

Tech Barn to serve as gateway to Marcy Nanocenter campus

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Subscriber Only, Technology

MARCY — Planning is moving forward on the Tech Barn mixed-use project that will serve as the entrance point to the Marcy SUNY Parkway corridor and set the tone for the Marcy Nanocenter campus beyond it. Park Grove Realty LLC of Rochester landed the developer’s contract for the project late last year and has been

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Park Grove Realty LLC of Rochester landed the developer’s contract for the project late last year and has been busy this year designing a project worth of Mohawk Valley EDGE’s vision, says Andrew Crossed, co-founder and managing partner at Park Grove.

“This project will potentially be the first thing everybody sees when they drive into SUNY,” he says, so it needs to be state-of-the-art and high-level with high- tech businesses Wolfspeed and Danfoss Silicon Power just a little further up the road.

The mixed-use development project is centered around a main building that includes 20,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space with apartments above. The entire project includes a secondary commercial building, two additional apartment buildings, a parking garage for tenants, and townhomes. In all, the project includes 42,000 square feet of commercial space and 232 apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms on approximately 25 acres.

“The apartments would be very high-end, market-rate apartments, which we feel is very needed in the marketplace,” Crossed says. Commercial tenants could include professional services that support the Nanocenter campus or convenience businesses.

“We’ve been working with Wolfspeed with what they need to attract people,” he says. Wolfspeed’s silicon-carbide chip fabrication facility opened in April and already employs more than 300 people. When fully operational, it will have 600 or more employees.

The Tech Barn apartments will feature a number of amenities including a pool, fitness center, fire pit and seating area, wine lounge, private wine lockers, and a dog park, Crossed says. “It’ll be very connected to the rest of the campus.”

Crossed says he’s very excited to be working with Mohawk Valley EDGE on the project. “We just think that what they have done on this campus has been great for the community as a whole,” he says.

Park Grove will spend the next several months putting its design before the necessary planning boards for approval. “We anticipate that going through the summer into the fall,” Crossed says. He is hopeful the project will break ground in the first quarter of 2023, but that will be impacted by external factors include construction labor shortages and increasing construction costs.

Construction costs have already increased about 35 percent since the beginning of this year, he says, and that can have a big impact on the project with a total price tag exceeding $60 million.

Park Grove did receive $1 million in Consolidated Funding Application funds from the state for infrastructure improvements on the site, and that will help move the project along, Crossed says.

In the meantime, the company is fine tuning the design with in-ARCHITECTS, a Syracuse–based architecture firm. Additionally, Endwell–based Delta Engineers, Architects, & Surveyors is the project’s civil-engineering firm.

Once Park Grove breaks ground, Crossed expects the first building to take about 14 months to construct.

Founded in 2015 by Crossed and Andrew Bodewes, Park Grove Realty is a real-estate development and management company based at 46 Prince St. in Rochester. The company focuses on multi-family residential, mixed-use, and commercial projects.

NBT provides financing for transformative Mohawk Valley projects

Banks & Credit Unions, Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Subscriber Only

UTICA — NBT Bank officials say they are pumped about the economic and development transformation taking place in the Mohawk Valley and their role in helping to procure financing for some of the projects. “It’s a great story what’s going on in the Mohawk Valley,” John H. Watt, Jr., president and CEO of parent company

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“It’s a great story what’s going on in the Mohawk Valley,” John H. Watt, Jr., president and CEO of parent company NBT Bancorp (NASDAQ: NBTB), says. “It’s an exciting business opportunity for us in a market we know well.”

NBT Bank has about 100 employees and 10 branch offices in the Mohawk Valley region.

David Kavney, NBT Bank’s regional president for both the Mohawk Valley and Central New York regions, share’s Watt’s enthusiasm about the Utica–Rome area.

“There’s a lot going on and it’s exciting to be a part of it,” he says. Both Watt and Kavney sat down with CNYBJ on July 7 at the banking company’s Syracuse office.

The Mohawk Valley projects NBT has participated in include the following pair.

Olbiston Apartments

Formerly a “grand example of stunning Utica architecture,” the 124-year-old Olbiston Apartments building at 1431 Genesee St. in Utica had fallen into disrepair and had been deemed unsafe in July 2021, the bank notes. As a result, nearly 60 tenants were displaced.

In late 2021, NBT Bank worked with borrower the City of Utica to provide the initial funding that allowed for the purchase of the property from the absentee landlords, enabling initial repairs to be made protecting the property through winter from further damage, NBT says. In conjunction with and support from New York State Homes and Community Renewal, Housing Trust Fund Corporation, and the New York Governor’s office, this also helped “jump start the process” toward obtaining construction and permanent financing with low-income housing and historic tax credits.

Following a full gut-renovation/restoration, the historic property, built in 1898, will provide affordable and workforce housing for 153 households, including 32 studios, 92 one-bedroom units, and 29 two-bedroom units for affordable-housing tenants, NBT says. The total project cost is estimated at more than $55 million.

Utica Harbor Point

The Utica Harbor is a historical landmark on the Erie Canal. It is a vestige of the great NYS Canal System during the “Barge Canal” industrial period and boasts “a proud history,” NBT notes. The goal of the Harbor Point Redevelopment Project is to revitalize the 148 acres of Utica Harbor waterfront area into a 500,000-square-foot mixed use area with “vibrant business and recreational destination for the City of Utica and surrounding areas.”

In 2018, NBT provided the bridge financing for the site-preparation work and the repair of the Canal bulkhead, supported by a $6 million Empire State Development grant issued in 2013. This financing enabled the project to advance the overall property development in conjunction with the City of Utica Master Plan,” NBT says. Today, this work is about 95 percent complete with final work underway to be able to sell the properties.

“Both of these projects presented our team an opportunity to do what they do best — partner with amazing businesses and organizations to support the exciting and ongoing transformation of our community,” Kavney says. “I can’t stress enough how exciting, I mean truly thrilling, it is to be able to roll up our sleeves and help make sure these two important projects are a success. Both transactions involved unique structures due to the complexity of the funding sources and number of partners involved. But it all comes down to collaboration, open communication and having a shared vision.”

NBT Bank offers personal banking, business banking, and wealth-management services from offices in seven states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut. NBT Bank and NBT Bancorp are both headquartered in Norwich. NBT Bancorp had assets of $12.1 billion, as of the end of the first quarter.

Briggs & Stratton, Sherrill Manufacturing boost business activity in Sherrill

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Subscriber Only

SHERRILL — The city of Sherrill has two employers that are known for driving economic activity in the community — Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Sherrill Manufacturing, Inc. Whether it’s hiring, manufacturing, or online sales, both companies and their employees generate economic activity for Sherrill’s downtown area, according to Brandon Lovett, city manager in Sherrill.

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SHERRILL — The city of Sherrill has two employers that are known for driving economic activity in the community — Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Sherrill Manufacturing, Inc.

Whether it’s hiring, manufacturing, or online sales, both companies and their employees generate economic activity for Sherrill’s downtown area, according to Brandon Lovett, city manager in Sherrill.

“From what I can see, there are more cars downtown. There are more people downtown, so there’s more activity,” says Lovett. “It’s certainly not to the level it was when Oneida Limited was here … but we have certainly seen the uptick of pedestrian traffic, of vehicle traffic, of commercial traffic.”

He also credited the Oneida Indian Nation, which built its first Maple Leaf Market here about three years ago. Lovett called the project a “significant investment” in the community.

Briggs & Stratton

The Sherrill location of Briggs & Stratton (NYSE: BGG), as of July 14, had an hourly employee count of 680 and was “working to hire a significant number of people,” Lauren Vagnini, director of communications at Briggs & Stratton, tells CNYBJ in an email.

As of July 14, the firm had 50 hourly positions open, including manufacturing operations such as assembly, weld, and material handling. Briggs & Stratton also has salaried positions available in engineering and operations.

The number of positions available is due to “continued growth” within the Sherrill facility related to “strong product demand” and the company’s recent announcement to contract manufacture STIHL’s new line of zero-turn mowers, Vagnini says.

On-site hiring events are scheduled each Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Sherrill plant, which is located at 100 E. Seneca St.

Briggs & Stratton opened its $10 million, 552,000-square-foot commercial-products manufacturing facility in Sherrill in September 2019.

With the company’s commercial-market growth, Briggs & Stratton needed a larger facility for production of its Ferris and Snapper Pro brand mowers, originally manufactured in Munnsville in Madison County.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based Briggs & Stratton is the world’s largest producer of engines for outdoor power equipment, and a designer, manufacturer and marketer of lithium-ion battery, standby generator, energy storage system, lawn and garden, turf care, and job site products, per the company’s LinkedIn profile.

Sherrill Manufacturing

In addition to the business activity at Briggs & Stratton, Sherrill Manufacturing is also boosting the economy of the city of Sherrill.

The co-owner of Sherrill Manufacturing says its internet business more than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its business with the U.S. government through the General Services Agency (GSA) has also improved following enactment of the Support Procurement of our Nation’s Stainless Steel Act (or SPOONSS Act) in early 2020.

That’s according to Matt Roberts, co-owner, president and COO of Sherrill Manufacturing, who spoke with CNYBJ on July 11.

Sherrill Manufacturing, situated at 102 E. Seneca St. in Sherrill, is the last remaining flatware manufacturer in the U.S. Both Roberts and Greg Owens founded the company in 2005, when the firm acquired substantially all of the flatware manufacturing assets from Oneida Limited, per the Sherrill Manufacturing website. The company currently has about 76 employees.

Sherrill Manufacturing is known for its Liberty Tabletop brand, which is a division of the business.

SPOONSS Act impact

As Roberts explained it, the GSA (the purchasing arm for the federal government) a number of years ago decentralized its purchasing process. Sherrill Manufacturing would send all of its government flatware to two main warehouses in Burlington, New Jersey and French Camp, California.

When GSA decentralized, a lot of the purchasing was made in the form of micro-purchases and Sherrill Manufacturing lost a lot of that business, according to Roberts.

In addition, some of the other distributors that served the GSA were selling products that were touted as “made in the USA” but they weren’t, he added.

He went on to say that U.S. Representative Claudia Tenney (R–New Hartford) first introduced the SPOONSS Act in 2017 and former U.S. Representative Anthony Brindisi (D–Utica) also supported the measure after he took office in 2019.

SPOONSS Act is legislation to require the military to purchase American-made flatware, like the kind produced at Sherrill Manufacturing. The measure was included in the final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which President Donald Trump signed into law.

The law is starting to give the company a lift.

“What we’re seeing with that is that it’s slowly ramping up our GSA business,” says Roberts. “What we’re starting to see is that our GSA [business] is growing. Not super-fast, but it’s growing. It’s very noticeable.”

Besides its GSA activity, Roberts notes that Sherrill Manufacturing’s internet business has “grown like 250 percent” and it’s become the “biggest part of our business” due to the pandemic as people stayed home and bought online.

“This year, [it’s] not up as much as it had been in the past. I think inflation has a lot to do with that,” he adds.

Little Falls focuses on city’s DRI projects

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

LITTLE FALLS — Officials in Little Falls have been busy since the state selected the city last December to receive $10 million in funding during the fifth round of the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI). For the only city in Herkimer County, the funding presents an opportunity to develop projects to help connect isolated parts

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For the only city in Herkimer County, the funding presents an opportunity to develop projects to help connect isolated parts of the city and create a single downtown waterfront district that joins the Main Street area to the Canal Place area along the Erie Canal.

“Little Falls receiving the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant is perfect timing as we build on recent progress in the city,” Mayor Mark Blask contends. “From considerable private investment — Feldmeier Equipment’s recent $8 million expansion to the construction of Rock City Centre – to the money received from New York Power Authority Reimagine the Canal program, we had considerable momentum before the DRI award. Add in this $10 million and it truly becomes transformative. The projects put forward will improve the quality of life for existing residents and make Little Falls an attractive place for those looking to relocate.”

The city had 25 proposed projects requesting a total of $31.2 million in DRI funding. Planned projects include upgrading existing buildings such as the public library by adding an elevator and renovating a canal-side powerhouse to create space for science, technology, education, arts, math (STEAM)-oriented business tenants to making streetscape improvements along Main Street, building a pedestrian overpass to connect downtown to the Canal Place area, installing citywide Wi-Fi, and building public restrooms for the downtown and waterfront districts.

On July 12, Little Falls announced the following projects will move forward with DRI funding:

• Downtown enhancement grant fund – $600,000
• Dairyman building conversion to 75-unit apartment building – $3 million
• Youth and Family Center improvements – $870,000
• Improvements to facilities around the city to house childcare services – $390,000
• City Hall renovations – $500,000
• Public-library elevator – $500,000
• Elks Lodge improvements – $230,000
• Powerhouse renovations – $640,000
• Main Street streetscape – $1.6 million
• Seeley Street promenade installation – $1.8 million
• Sterzinar Park improvements – $2 million
• Dog park – $100,000
• Public restrooms – $650,000
• Wayfinding signage and maps – $250,000

Complete information about all proposed projects is available online at reconnectlittlefalls.com.

With the DRI funding, the city created a strategic investment plan to identify the list of potential projects. The focus was on increasing housing opportunities, expanding pedestrian and bike connectivity, and increasing pedestrian and bike safety.

During the process, the city reached out to residents for input, Blask says.

“We have had three separate public forums, an online survey, and multiple opportunities for the people who live in Little Falls to tell us what was important to them,” he says. “We also were sure to include the young people who live here. We went to Little Falls High School on two separate occasions and also participated in an idea-gathering exercise at Little Falls Middle School.”

The city also received input from community groups and provided opportunities for feedback during local planning committee meetings.

“From day one, we put a premium on public input and, as they always do, the people who live in this city did not disappoint,” Blask says.

The city hopes to move forward quickly with the selected projects.

“The state is looking for ‘shovel-ready’ projects which generally means those that are ready for construction,” he says. “The completion date would depend on the size of the project. Ideally, all projects would be completed in 18 to 24 months.”

First launched in 2016, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative aims to accelerate and expand the revitalization of downtowns across the state so they serve as centers of activity and catalysts for further investment. To date, the state has awarded $600 million in DRI funding, with each selected community receiving at least $10 million.

The New York State Department of State heads up the initiative, which also provides support from private-sector experts and staff from the Department of State, Empire State Development, and Homes and Community Renewal.

Air Force Research Lab in Rome names new protocol chief

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, New York News, Nonprofits, People on the Move, Regional News, Technology

ROME, N.Y. — The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate has announced the recent appointment of Veronica Cothard as its new protocol chief. Cothard

Velocity Clinical Research Syracuse formally opens DeWitt location

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Technology

DeWITT, N.Y. — Velocity Clinical Research Syracuse on Wednesday formally opened a new location at 5000 Brittonfield Parkway in DeWitt. Velocity Clinical Research Syracuse —

Oneida County offers incentives for municipal consolidation

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Nonprofits, Regional News

UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County has launched a new incentive program to improve the efficiencies of municipal government. Called the Consolidation Challenge, the program will

Tioga Opportunities’ Abbott elected NYSCAA board president

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, New York News, Nonprofits, People on the Move, Regional News

OWEGO, N.Y. — The New York State Community Action Agency (NYSCAA) recently elected Tioga Opportunities, Inc. executive director Maureen Abbott as president of the NYSCAA

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