FEMA reimburses Onondaga County for COVID-19 response costs

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FEMA is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The medical supplies and materials include personal protective equipment (PPEs); cleaning/disinfecting facilities; distribution of food

Onondaga Lake Townhomes in Salina sold for $3.4 million

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SALINA, N.Y. — The Onondaga Lake Townhomes complex at 151-159 Old Liverpool Road in the town of Salina was recently sold. Estate Townhouses, LLC bought the 60-unit facility from Onondaga Lake Townhomes, L.P. for $3.4 million. Richard L. Will, president of Hemisphere Holdings Corp. in Syracuse, was the broker on this transaction, which closed on

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Lockheed Martin Owego awarded $64 million Air Force contract

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only, Technology

OWEGO, N.Y. — Lockheed Martin Corp.’s (NYSE: LMT) Owego plant has been awarded a nearly $64.3 million supply contract for F-16 foreign military sales mission planning. This eight-year contract provides for the development, integration, test, and delivery of the Joint Mission Planning System Unique Planning Component/Mission Planning Environment software updates, according to a Jan. 29

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Lockheed Martin to pay first-quarter dividend in late March

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only, Technology

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) recently announced that its board of directors has authorized a first-quarter 2021 dividend of $2.60 per share. The dividend is payable on March 26, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 1. At Lockheed’s current stock price, the dividend yields nearly 3.2 percent on an

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New York egg production edges up in December

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

New York farms produced 150.5 million eggs in December, up 0.2 percent from 150.2 million eggs in the year-ago period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported. The number of layers in the Empire State averaged nearly 5.86 million in December, up 1.4 percent from 5.78 million layers a year prior. December egg

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In December, Onondaga County hotel occupancy fell more than 30 percent

Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Just over one-fourth of hotel rooms in Onondaga County, on average, were occupied by guests in December, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to stifle the travel and the hospitality industry. The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county was 27.2 percent in December, down 32.4 percent

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Launch NY invests more than $2M in 32 companies during 2020

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, New York News, Nonprofits, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Launch NY worked with more than 175 investors to deliver $2.23 million to 32 companies through its #InvestLocal community. Its effort during 2020 “pushed the venture-development organization to over $5 million in lifetime investments,” the organization said in a Jan. 25 news release. Launch NY’s #InvestLocal financing programs in 2020 provided seed

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Launch NY worked with more than 175 investors to deliver $2.23 million to 32 companies through its #InvestLocal community.

Its effort during 2020 “pushed the venture-development organization to over $5 million in lifetime investments,” the organization said in a Jan. 25 news release.

Launch NY’s #InvestLocal financing programs in 2020 provided seed capital for Central New York companies that included CathBuddy, Inc. and Promptous, Inc., both of which are members of the Syracuse Tech Garden.

Southern Tier firms that benefitted included Dimensional Energy, Inc., Ecolectro, Inc., Exotanium Inc., and ShrubBucket, all of Ithaca; Ellicottville Greens LLC in Western New York; and Iterate Labs, Inc. (formerly OrthoFit), which has a leadership team that includes Cornell University graduates.

Buffalo–based Launch NY describes itself as the “first and only” nonprofit venture-development organization that provides the 27 westernmost counties in New York with pro-bono mentoring. It says it helped companies access COVID-relief funding programs and “critical and unique” seed-funding programs.

Besides its Buffalo headquarters, Launch NY has co-locations with partner organizations in Syracuse, Binghamton, Ithaca, and Rochester.

“On March 13, 2020 — not even at the end of Q1 — life as we knew it changed overnight due to the pandemic,” Marnie LaVigne, president and CEO of Launch NY, said. “While other entrepreneurial programs, dependent on in-person events and incubator facilities, were put on hold, our regional delivery of services and funding that already leveraged remote communications quickly grew to fully virtual interactions.”

LaVigne said both grew because the investment community rallied to help fuel companies solving new market needs while driving jobs to counter the devastating hit to the local economy.

Launch NY’s #InvestLocal financing programs were built around its nonprofit seed fund. It was designed to “catalyze startups with the little publicized, but crucial ‘first money in,’ typically ranging from $25,000 to $100,000,” per its release.

“At a time when the only predictable thing was unpredictability, we’re celebrating the adaptability and perseverance of our regional economic community who worked hand-in-hand with our team to keep driving forward our mission of inclusive economic prosperity through high-growth entrepreneurship,” LaVigne said. “I am confident that we’ll see this same resilience, collaborative spirit and positive impact in 2021.”

SugEx Wins SU Campus 2021 ACC InVenture Prize Competition

Health Care, Subscriber Only, Technology

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University students Russell Fearon and Ricardo Sanchez were the grand-prize winners of the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at the 2021 Syracuse University (SU) campus qualifier for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize. SU Libraries put on the event virtually on Jan. 29. Fearon (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and

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SU Libraries put on the event virtually on Jan. 29. Fearon (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Sanchez (College of Visual and Performing Arts) earned a $5,000 cash prize, sponsored by M&T Bank, and will now move on to participate virtually in a PBS-televised event in April. The ACC InVenture finals feature a $30,000 prize package and will be hosted virtually by North Carolina State University. Fearon and Sanchez’ invention, SugEx, is an “innovative” device and mobile app designed to better monitor glucose levels for people with pre-, Type 1, and Type 2 diabetes, Syracuse University Libraries said.

“We started in the Invent@SU accelerator as undergraduates and immediately began working with the tenacious team in the LaunchPad who incubate amazing entrepreneurs,” said Fearon, co-founder and CEO of SugEx. The SugEx team developed an initial prototype in the Invent@SU program for a wearable glucose monitoring device, based on Fearon’s own experience discovering he had diabetes while in college. They worked with the LaunchPad on a commercialization roadmap and along the way won a number of accolades, including a national health innovation award from the American Heart Association.

The SugEx team has now won more than $60,000 for the invention in various competitions.

Fearon is now finishing his master’s degree in bioengineering and biomedical engineering after receiving his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Syracuse University. Sanchez, co-founder and CTO of SugEx, is a fifth-year industrial and interaction design student at SU.

The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries is the university’s innovation hub. The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization.

Oneida County hotels see fewer than three in 10 rooms occupied in December

Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County hotels posted an occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) of 28.4 percent in December, down 31.5 percent from a year ago, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. It was the largest year-over-year decline in occupancy in the county since July as

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NBT Bank profit rises 15 percent in fourth quarter

Banks & Credit Unions, Insurance & Financial Services, Subscriber Only

NORWICH, N.Y. — NBT Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB) recently reported that its net income rose more than 15 percent to $34.2 million, or 78 cents a share, in the fourth quarter from just under $29 million, or 66 cents, in the year-ago period. Higher net interest income and a lower provision for loan losses, partly

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Higher net interest income and a lower provision for loan losses, partly offset by branch-optimization charges, led the increase, NBT Bancorp, parent of NBT Bank, said in its Jan. 27 earnings report. Excluding branch-optimization charges for the quarter of $4.1 million, NBT said its net income and earnings per share were $37.4 million and 85 cents a share, respectively.

NBT’s net income for the full-year 2020 was $104.4 million, or $2.37 per share, down almost 14 percent from $121 million, or $2.74 a share in the prior year. That was due primarily to a higher provision for loan losses after the adoption of the current expected credit losses (CECL) accounting methodology and the worsening economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the banking company explained.

Excluding full-year branch-optimization charges of $4.8 million, net income and earnings per share were $108.1 million and $2.46 a share, respectively, it added.

“NBT ended the year with active pipelines and building momentum. Our strong capital base provides us with the optionality we need to drive our growth in 2021,” NBT President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. said in the earnings report. “The strength of NBT’s pre-provision net revenue and our outsized noninterest income is reflected in our results for the full year and the fourth quarter of 2020. As we continue to navigate these challenging times and look to the future, our team is customer focused and committed to executing the critical strategies that will carry us forward.”

NBT had total loans of $7.5 billion as of Dec. 31, up from $7.1 billion a year ago.

The banking company’s Paycheck Protection Program loans as of Dec. 31, 2020 totaled $431 million (net of unamortized fees), with $548 million originated at an average loan size of $184,000 and an average annual fee of 3.2 percent.

Net charge-offs to average loans were low due to COVID-19 pandemic-relief programs for the quarter and 2020, NBT said. Net charge-offs to total average loans were 0.23 percent for 2020, compared to 0.36 percent for 2019.

NBT Bancorp is a financial holding company based in Norwich, with total assets of $10.9 billion as of Dec. 31. The company primarily operates through NBT Bank, N.A., a full-service community bank and via two financial-services companies. NBT Bank has 141 branches in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and is currently entering Connecticut. EPIC Retirement Plan Services, based in Rochester, is a full-service 401(k) plan recordkeeping firm. NBT Insurance Agency, LLC, based in Norwich, is a full-service insurance agency.

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