New York milk production rises nearly 2 percent

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New York dairy farms produced nearly 1.27 billion pounds of milk in September, up almost 1.8 percent from more than 1.24 billion pounds in the year-prior month, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported. Milk production per cow in the state averaged 2,015 pounds in September, up 1.5 percent from 1,985 pounds in […]

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New York egg production dips more than 1 percent

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Manufacturing & Engineering, New York News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

New York farms produced 144.2 million eggs in September, down 1.1 percent from 145.8 million eggs in the year-prior period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported. The number of layers in the Empire State averaged 5.71 million in September, a decline of 1.2 percent from nearly 5.78 million in the same month

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Broome County hotel occupancy rises nearly 22 percent in September

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Broome County hotels continued to see a rebound in business in September with an increase in guests, according to a recent report. The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county jumped 21.8 percent to 61 percent in September, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data

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Binghamton University adds to health-sciences campus with Decker College

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

JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. — Binghamton University’s new Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences building represents just one component of the school’s health-sciences campus in Johnson City. It’s located in the former “blighted” Corliss Avenue neighborhood in the village, which is just south of the village’s Main Street business district. That’s according to the office

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JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. — Binghamton University’s new Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences building represents just one component of the school’s health-sciences campus in Johnson City.

It’s located in the former “blighted” Corliss Avenue neighborhood in the village, which is just south of the village’s Main Street business district.

That’s according to the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who spoke at the school’s ceremony to formally open the facility on Oct. 25.

The Decker College welcomed its first students to Johnson City in 2021. The now-completed, six-story, 112,000-square-foot facility is located inside of the repurposed Endicott Johnson shoe box factory. Once a 97,000-square-foot structure, the project included the construction of a 15,000-square-foot addition to the original building.

The state has spent a total of $287 million to complete the 13-acre health-sciences campus in downtown Johnson City, which includes Decker College, and STEM-education initiatives at Binghamton University, per the governor’s office.

New York State’s provision of $287 million includes funding from both SUNY and Empire State Development, Hochul’s office added.

The project also includes the Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, which graduated its first class this past spring.

The school is also currently partnering with Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton to construct a nearby elder-care facility that will serve the community and allow students to receive hands-on clinical experience.

“Our Health Sciences Initiative and the Johnson City campus did not simply materialize overnight but resulted from our Road Map strategic-planning process. We knew we had significant strengths in the health sciences and there exists a local, regional and nationwide workforce problem that we could help alleviate,” Harvey Stenger, president of Binghamton University, said. “After years of planning and support from all corners of our University community and beyond, we successfully designed programs for our School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and built additional curriculum and programs around our Decker School of Nursing, which has evolved into the Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences. We are thrilled to also be transforming the urban core of Johnson City. Our strategy of targeting downtown communities for our expansion efforts paid off in Binghamton and now is having similar, positive impacts in the village.”

More than 130 faculty and staff are employed across Decker College, which has over 700 students, both undergraduate and graduate, per Hochul’s office.

New York home sales slip nearly 5 percent in September

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

The drop ends a streak of 12 straight monthly gains ALBANY — New York realtors sold 13,274 previously owned homes in September, down 4.6 percent from 13,907 homes sold in September 2020. The data comes from the New York State Association of Realtors’ (NYSAR) September housing-market report issued Oct. 21. The decline broke a string

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The drop ends a streak of 12 straight monthly gains

ALBANY — New York realtors sold 13,274 previously owned homes in September, down 4.6 percent from 13,907 homes sold in September 2020.

The data comes from the New York State Association of Realtors’ (NYSAR) September housing-market report issued Oct. 21.

The decline broke a string of 12 consecutive months of rising closed sales. However, pending sales in September fell by a greater amount, nearly 13 percent, pointing to further declines in closed sales in forthcoming months.

New York sales data

Pending sales totaled 13,588 in September, down 12.9 percent from 15,607 pending sales in the same month in 2020, according to the NYSAR data.

Home prices continued to jump amid tight inventory and rising prices in the broader economy.

The September 2021 statewide median sales price was $378,000, up 18.5 percent from the September 2020 median sales price of $319,000. The New York state housing market has seen 17 straight months of median sales-price increases in year-over-year comparisons.

The months’ supply of homes for sale at the end of September stood at 3.2 months, down 35 percent from 4.9 months at the end of September 2020.

A 6 month to 6.5-month supply is considered to be a balanced market, NYSAR says.

The number of homes for sale totaled 42,849 in September, down nearly 22 percent from 54,863 homes in September 2020. The inventory of homes for sale has declined for 23 straight months in year-over-year comparisons, according to NYSAR.

Central New York data

Realtors in Onondaga County sold 487 previously owned homes in August, down 4.7 percent from the 511 homes sold in the same month in 2020. The median sales price rose 2.8 percent to $185,000, from $180,000 a year ago, according to the NYSAR report.

The association also reports that realtors sold 193 homes in Oneida County in September, down 5.9 percent from the 205 homes sold in September 2020. The median sales price increased 13 percent to $170,000 from $150,500 a year prior.

Realtors in Broome County sold 179 existing homes in September, down 8.7 percent from 196 a year earlier, according to the NYSAR report. The median sales price rose 18.4 percent to $159,900 from $135,000 a year ago.

In Jefferson County, realtors closed on 148 homes in September, up less than 1 percent from 147 a year before, and the median sales price of $204,700 was up 26 percent from $162,500 in September 2020, according to the NYSAR data.

All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York state, and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.

Upstate, statewide consumer sentiment plummet in Q3

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Upstate New Yorkers became less confident about economic conditions in the third quarter of 2021. Consumer sentiment in Upstate was measured at 63.4 in the third quarter, down 13.2 points from the last reading of 76.6 in this year’s second quarter. The latest reading represents Upstate’s lowest overall index score since 2011. That’s according to

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Upstate New Yorkers became less confident about economic conditions in the third quarter of 2021.

Consumer sentiment in Upstate was measured at 63.4 in the third quarter, down 13.2 points from the last reading of 76.6 in this year’s second quarter. The latest reading represents Upstate’s lowest overall index score since 2011.

That’s according to the latest quarterly survey of Upstate and statewide consumer sentiment that the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) released Oct. 14.

Upstate’s overall sentiment of 63.4 was 8.5 points below the statewide consumer-sentiment level of 71.9, which fell 11.8 points from the second quarter.

The statewide figure was 0.9 points lower than the third-quarter reading of 72.8 for the entire nation, which was down 12.7 points from the second-quarter figure, as measured by the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index.

The overall, current, and future indexes for New York all decreased this quarter and are below the breakeven point at which optimism and pessimism balance. The overall, current, and future national indexes also decreased. New Yorkers, while not as confident as before, are still more optimistic about future economic conditions than the nation as a whole, SRI noted.

“A lingering pandemic, inflation, supply chain concerns and little good news out of Washington pulled the plug on consumer sentiment as summer turned to fall. With virtually every number down, most future numbers by double digits, consumers’ willingness to spend even as the holiday season approaches, hit a statewide low since June 2020 and a low not seen since 2011 among Upstaters,” Doug Lonnstrom, professor of statistics and finance at Siena College and SRI founding director, said in the SRI report. “Plans to purchase major consumer goods all fell with major home improvements down by 10 percentage points. And as gasoline prices have left $3.00 in the rearview mirror, over half of New Yorkers are again sighing at the pump and worse yet, food prices have two-thirds [of respondents], highest since 2015, crying at the grocery checkout lines.”

In the third quarter of 2021, buying plans fell 3.4 percentage points from the second-quarter measure to 19.1 percent for cars and trucks, dipped 1.7 points to 45.5 percent for consumer electronics, slipped 1.7 points to 30.1 percent for furniture, declined 3.3 points to 10.1 percent for homes, and fell 10.3 points to 24.2 percent for major home improvements.

Gas and food prices

In SRI’s quarterly analysis of gas and food prices, 58 percent of upstate New York respondents said the price of gas was having a serious impact on their monthly budgets, up from 57 percent in the second quarter and 47 percent in the first quarter.

In addition, 54 percent of statewide respondents said the price of gas was having a serious impact on their monthly spending plans, which was the same as the second quarter’s measurement and up from 43 percent in the first quarter.

When asked about food prices, 65 percent of upstate respondents indicated the price of groceries was having a serious impact on their finances, up from 64 percent in the second quarter and from 56 percent in the first quarter.

At the same time, 66 percent of statewide respondents indicated the price of food was having a serious impact on their monthly finances, up from 63 percent in the second quarter and 57 percent in the first quarter.

SRI conducted its survey of consumer sentiment between Sept. 29 and Oct. 7 by random telephone calls to 394 New York adults via landline and cell phone. It has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points, according to SRI.

Regional firms to pitch for funding in FuzeHub contest

Manufacturing & Engineering, New York News, Regional News, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only, Technology

ALBANY, N.Y. — The finalists in FuzeHub’s 2021 commercialization competition include businesses from Syracuse, Cazenovia, Binghamton, Hamilton, and Potsdam. The event is set for Nov. 8-9 at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona. The competition — part of FuzeHub’s Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund — is in its fifth year. A total of 12 entrepreneurs

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ALBANY, N.Y. — The finalists in FuzeHub’s 2021 commercialization competition include businesses from Syracuse, Cazenovia, Binghamton, Hamilton, and Potsdam.

The event is set for Nov. 8-9 at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona. The competition — part of FuzeHub’s Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund — is in its fifth year. A total of 12 entrepreneurs from across New York state will pitch their ideas before a live audience for the chance to win $50,000.

FuzeHub is an Albany–based nonprofit that works to help small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in New York state.

“FuzeHub is excited to celebrate these New York State technology entrepreneurs on their pathway to becoming future business leaders in our communities. These awards continue to help a diverse set of start-ups further develop their products and get closer to bringing them to market,” Elena Garuc, executive director of FuzeHub, said in a news release.

Regional finalist companies

• Carapace Analytics LLC of Syracuse is focused on advancing technologies in senior care and monitoring. The firm says its goal is to mitigate the effects of fall injuries among older adults through individualized activity data. It’s developing a wearable device and software suite that provides a detailed report of one’s mobility and associated risks. Carapace Analytics “seeks to change the paradigm” of older adult care by introducing a level of objective mobility monitoring that would “otherwise be impossible to achieve,” as described in the FuzeHub release.

• “With an expanding desire and need for green energy,” DomCat Technologies, LLC of Binghamton seeks to expand New York’s manufacturing base with its low platinum-content catalysts for fuel-cell applications, as described by FuzeHub.

• Eco-Baggeez LLC of Cazenovia says its patented alternative to plastic sandwich bags will help “put a dent” in the billions of plastic sandwich bags that end up in landfills, waterways, and oceans from U.S. households each year, per FuzeHub. With a “strong social mission,” the firm says it plans to expand its product line and impact by providing Eco-Baggeez in B2B, B2C, and B2G channels in both retail and wholesale arenas.

• Natural Beauty Breast Prosthesis, LLC, of Hamilton, manufactures an organic, all-natural fiber, external breast form for women who have had mastectomies without reconstruction. “We help women look, move, and feel like their natural selves while giving them the peace of mind knowing what they’re putting up against their skin will do them no further harm,” the company says.

• Pharmacoustics Technologies, LLC of Potsdam is an ultrasonic characterization/evaluation device startup developing instruments and equipment for assuring and increasing quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

• SensoLife LLC, also of Potsdam, says it creates materials and sensing solutions that provide easier, more convenient, and inexpensive technology for health monitoring and wearables. The company’s conductive transparent materials address long-standing issues with wearable electronics, providing flexibility, optical transparency and conductivity.

Tessy Plastics expanding into Monroe County

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

Planning to acquire Xerox Holdings property SKANEATELES, N.Y. — Tessy Plastics Corp. says it will expand its footprint into Monroe County by year’s end with the purchase of a property with three buildings that Xerox

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Planning to acquire Xerox Holdings property

SKANEATELES, N.Y. — Tessy Plastics Corp. says it will expand its footprint into Monroe County by year’s end with the purchase of a property with three buildings that Xerox Holdings Corporation previously owned.

The property is in the Monroe County community of Webster, about an hour away from Tessy’s existing facilities in Onondaga County.

The company isn’t releasing the amount it’s paying for the property and the three buildings, Grace Oswald, marketing specialist for Tessy Plastics, tells CNYBJ in an email.

Founded in 1973, Tessy Plastics is a contract manufacturer headquartered in Skaneateles with additional local facilities in Elbridge and Van Buren. The firm specializes in injection molding and custom automated-assembly products.

The acquisition represents supplemental warehouse space and “room for future growth,” per a Tessy news release. All three buildings provide an estimated total of about 1.5 million square feet, with the largest of three buildings measuring more than 750,000 square feet.

Two of the three buildings are already vacant and the third will be vacant by 2022.

The additional buildings mean Tessy Plastics is nearly doubling its available square footage, the company said. Tessy currently has more than 1.7 million square feet of space in its facilities in New York, Pennsylvania, and China.

“Knowing that we have the extra space to expand in the future is a strategic initiative that has always been important to Tessy. We’ve had great success in the past with having additional space. Having the extra square footage allows us to onboard programs quickly and continually adapt to our customers’ ever-changing needs,” Roland Beck, president of Tessy Plastics said. “Just last year we took on a large medical program that required us to have a manufacturing facility readily available. In just 15 weeks, we transformed a 400,000 square foot warehouse into a state-of-the-art medical manufacturing facility in support of one of our largest customers’ needs regarding the global pandemic.”

Tessy plans to lease a portion of the purchased area in Webster to third-party tenants and use the remainder as warehouse space — proceeding with the assumption that the buildings will later turn into full-scale production plants.

“It’s remarkable to see how much we have grown. In 2016, we were excited to nearly double our total square footage and now we have close to triple that amount totaling close to 3 million square feet in Central New York,” Beck said.

CEO FOCUS: Engage with CenterState CEO’s Tech & Culture Programs to Support Diverse Talent

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

One of the marks of success of CenterState CEO’s innovation and entrepreneurial efforts is the thriving tech ecosystem in Syracuse. This community is home to many rapidly growing tech companies, and is a great place for people to get a job or start their tech career. However, like so much of the tech industry across the

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CenterState CEO, through its Tech & Culture program and with support from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation’s AdvancingCities Challenge, is working to engage diverse professionals and highlight career opportunities in the region’s growing tech sector. This ensures there are more equitable opportunities while also creating a pipeline of exceptional and diverse talent.

Building a social and professional network of diverse tech professionals within the region through Tech & Culture supports the success of Syracuse Surge. By connecting diverse talent to one another, Tech & Culture is creating a network critical to shaping the local tech ecosystem and making Syracuse a place where people want to live and work. These connections are facilitated in part through the Syracuse Surge Learning Community, which prepares residents, specifically women and people of color, to transition into tech careers. Through the learning community’s participants discover what it takes to create a career in tech, as well as network and develop relationships with mentors.

I encourage all our members, but particularly those in the tech industry, to think about ways their company can support these programs. This could include sponsoring an event or having a member of your staff speak at a Tech & Culture or learning community event. You could consider offering to showcase your company and meet with Learning Community program participants, or encourage your staff to become active in these Tech & Culture programs. To learn how, contact Marcus Webb at mwebb@centerstateceo.com .

Robert M. Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState CEO, the primary economic-development organization for Central New York. This article is drawn and edited from the “CEO Focus” email newsletter that the organization sent to members on Oct. 14.

Tompkins Financial boosts dividend by more than 5 percent

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ITHACA, N.Y. — Tompkins Financial Corp. (NYSE: TMP) recently announced that its board of directors approved payment of a regular quarterly cash dividend of 57 cents a share for the fourth quarter. The dividend is payable on Nov. 15, to common shareholders of record on Nov. 2. The dividend represents a 5.6-percent increase over the

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