Saratoga Busienss Journal - April 2017

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SBJ P.O. Box 766 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

VOL. 22 NO. 2

HH The Business Newspaper of Saratoga County HH

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APRIL 2017

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Tourism Bureau: Saratoga City Center Had Big Jeff And Deane Pfeil Met Many Challenges, Jump In Events In 2016 With $57M Impact Had Many Successes In Real Estate Careers The Saratoga Convention & Tourism Bureau held its 32nd annual meeting and dinner at the Saratoga Springs City Center in March where the organization highlighted the successes of 2016, reviewed initiatives for 2017 and welcomed new members to its board of directors and Executive Committee. Successes were listed in the 2016 annual report. It showed that the convention/group business continued to grow throughout 2016. More corporate group, sports and wedding leads and associations signed multi-year contracts again in 2016. The year saw 627 events hosted, compared to 422 in 2015. Those events resulted in 90,908 room nights, up 11.8 percent from 2015. The estimated economic impact of those figures was $57 million last year, compared to $45 million in 2015. The report said the group market contributes one in five room nights in Saratoga Springs. Recognized at the dinner were those elected to serve on the Executive Committee for 2017-18. They are Cindy Hollowood, chairperson, Holiday Inn Saratoga Springs; Thomas Newkirk, immediate past chairperson, Saratoga National Golf Club; AJ Bodden, incoming chairperson, Townsquare Media Group; Marianne Barker, treasurer, Impressions of Saratoga; and Robert Berrey, at-large officer, The Gideon Putnam. Elected to serve three-year terms on the board of directors were Amy Smith, Saratoga Arms; Tom Wiedmayer, Saratoga Casino Hotel; Elizabeth Sobol, Saratoga Performing Arts Center; Steve Grasso, GlobalFoundries; Ryan McFadden, Henry St. Taproom; Carmine DeCrescente III, DeCrescente Distributing Co.; Jasper Alexander, Hattie’s Restaurant; and Sean Willcoxon, Mazzone Hospitality. Continuing to serve on the board of directors are Megan Hennessey, Courtyard by Marriott Saratoga Springs; Paul Calhoun, Skidmore College; Joshua Cupp, Thirsty Owl; Matthew D’Abate, Adirondack

The Chowder Festival in Saratoga Springs is one of the city’s major tourism events. ©2017 Saratoga Photographer.com

Trust Co. Financial Services Inc.; Dan Fortier, Embassy Suites by Hilton Saratoga Springs,; Todd Shimkus, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce; and Ryan McMahon, Saratoga Springs City Center. The bureau recognized three 2016 Hometown Ambassadors, given to local people who brought their convention/event to Saratoga. The honorees were Nancy Trimbur, Soroptimist International of the Americas; Cassandra Latour, Association of YMCA Professionals; and Jeff and Becky King, Continued On Page 15

BY MAUREEN WERTHER As Jeff and Deane Pfeil prepare to transition out of their commercial real estate and development careers and into their new lives on Bainbridge Island in Washington state, they have a lot to be proud of and a lot to be grateful for. The husband-and-wife team created Pfeil & Co. Real Estate and moved to Saratoga Springs from Westchester in 1994. Both were commercial real estate brokers and they started out managing shopping center developments, moving into doing historic restorations and adaptive re-use apartments. Deane was born and raised in Troy, while Jeff comes from the small town of Carmel, in Putnam County. Looking back on their careers, Deane recalls that there was no internet when they first began and it took a lot of cold-calling to develop a client base, something at which she excelled. “We liked to joke that I would get them on the line and Jeff would reel them in,” she said. The Pfeils first major project in Saratoga Springs was the office building at 340 Broadway. “The property had been sitting vacant since 1969, and we kept asking ourselves why nothing had been done with it,” she said. Deane zeroed in on Eddie Bauer and “barraged” them with flyers, mailings, and information about Saratoga Springs. “I did this for more than a year, usually faxing them information about the city,” she said. She finally managed to get the attention of a corporate leasing agent at Eddie Bauer. He agreed to come for a visit and Deane remembers that he arrived in downtown Saratoga on a cold, wet and miserable February day in 1996. “Keep in mind that downtown Saratoga Springs in 1996 did not look the way it does today,” she said. But, the agent was willing to take a chance on the city. “We built the building in six months,” she said, adding that Jeff coordinated the entire construction

Jeff and Deane Pfeil created Pfeil & Co. Real Estate in Saratoga Springs in the 1990s. ©2017 Saratoga Photographer.com

process. It was the first new office building to go up on Broadway in 50 years. From there, Pfeil & Co. handled all the leasing for Congress Park Center, bringing in stores like Gap, Ann Taylor and Banana Republic. “I’m very proud of that. We really brought that part of Broadway alive,” said Deane. She said Jeff excels at getting projects off the ground, and he had great successes over the years in getting difficult projects completed. Those projects Continued On Page 13

R.S. Taylor & Sons Farm Brewery Plans Feigenbaum Cleaners Marks Its Centennial To Open A Tap Room In Congress Plaza Anniversary; Started In Glens Falls In 1917 BY R.J. DELUKE Congress Plaza in Saratoga Springs will soon be the home of a new taproom selling craft beers from a Washington County farm brewery business. R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery is renovating a 1,600-square-foot space in Congress Plaza. The business will go into the end unit in the southern portion of the plaza that was formerly Bubbles Laundromat. Renovations involve putting in a bar and tap service.“It shouldn’t take long to do what we need to do,” said Rich Taylor, owner of the farm brewery business and its chief brewer. The main issue is getting all the necessary operating permits. “We hope to be open by Memorial Day weekend,” he said. The company currently operates a tap room on the farm property where people go to quaff the locally made product and occasionally listen to music. Under the farm brewery license, companies like R.S. Taylor & Sons are allowed to open up to five tap rooms. The one in Saratoga Springs will be the second. A third is being planned in the Albany area, Taylor said. R.S. Taylor & Sons specializes in brewing English-style ales with a brewing system custom crafted by Portland Kettle Works in Portland, Ore. They use a combination of home-grown hops, hops grown for them at nearby Cold Spring Hop Farm in North Hebron, and a selection of Britishgrown hops. The water is from the artesian wells on the farm. The types of beer include Willie’s Nut Brown

This sign welcomes people to R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery in Salem. Ale, Amber Ale, English Ale, Belcher Town Ale, Harvest IPA-Limited Edition, Black Creek Oatmeal Stout, Sticky Fingers IPA/APA and Legends of the Fall Double IPA-Limited Edition. Taylor said he will have 12 taps in the room. They will sell product brewed at their Washington County facility. Under that classification of Continued On Page 15

Feigenbaum Cleaners, one of the oldest dry cleaning businesses in New York state, with locations in Saratoga Springs and Wilton, is celebrating its centennial anniversary. The company was started in Glens Falls, where it is still headquartered, in 1917 by Herman Feigenbaum and his wife Jennie, both emigrants from Austria-Hungary. They met and married in New York City in 1909. The local shops are at 33 Railroad Place in Saratoga Springs and at Wilton Square, 3039 Route 50 (near Staples). The business also has shops in Queensbury and in Latham. “After working as a tailor for years in the crowded garment factories of New York’s Lower East Side, Herman decided to leave New York City to purchase a tailor shop in Whitehall,” said Todd Feigenbaum, the third-generation owner. “On their way to Whitehall, the family of five decided to spend a night in Glens Falls. After exploring the community and falling in love with its charm, they decided Glens Falls would be their new home.” According to Todd Feigenbaum, Herman opened his tailor shop and soon realized there was no dry cleaner north of Albany, so he decided to incorporate dry cleaning into his business. For many years the business operated out of the family home, where eventually all six children helped out. After returning from the service in World War II, sons Louis and Bill joined their parents and expanded the company into a larger location near the home. By 1952, the business grew again with the construction of more space, including a large fur

Feigenbaum Cleaners owns this shop at 33 Railroad Place in Saratoga Springs. vault, which was added to the building. During the 1950s and 1960s, Feigenbaum Cleaners grew with an expanded delivery service and a store located in downtown Glens Falls. Todd Feigenbaum said Louis and Bill ran the business after Herman and Jennie retired. Herman died in 1958, Jennie in 1968. Todd took the Continued On Page 14


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