ADIRONDACK REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) is a 100% membership funded organization with the mission of supporting our business community through advocacy, education, connection and collaboration. The ARCC offers numerous benefits intended to help businesses grow and thrive, including resources in the following areas: business and professional development, money savings, marketing and promotion, ribbon cuttings, and sponsorships.
518-798-1761 | AdirondackChamber.org
LAKE GEORGE REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & CVB
The mission of Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce & CVB, Inc. is to drive tourism to the Lake George region year-round while fostering a vibrant business community. The Chamber seeks to promote growth and development of its member businesses by offering networking events, educational programs, ribbon cuttings and other opportunities.
518-668-5755 | LakeGeorgeChamber.com
BUSINESS COUNCIL OF NEW YORK STATE
The leading business organization in New York State, representing the interests of large and small firms throughout the state.
111 Washington Avenue, Suite 400, Albany, NY 12210 | 518-465-7511 | bcnys.org
BUSINESS MENTOR NY
For entrepreneurs, turning a passion into a business is the ultimate dream. But that dream doesn’t come easily. Fortunately, entrepreneurs don’t have to go it alone. Business Mentor NY is a free, easy-to-use social network that allows entrepreneurs and volunteer business mentors to connect so they can solve problems and build businesses together. bmny.micromentor.org | Support.businessmentor@esd.ny.gov
EMPIRE STATE DEVELOPMENT
New York’s chief economic development agency. Through the use of loans, grants, tax credits and other forms of financial assistance, Empire State Development strives to enhance private business investment and growth to spur job creation and support prosperous communities across New York State.
625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207 | 518-292-5100
NEW YORK STATE CONTRACT REPORTER
The New York State Contract Reporter is an online publication of procurement opportunities with New York State agencies, authorities, public benefit corporations, and many municipalities. The Contract Reporter is an essential tool for selling your product/services to New York State government. | nyscr.ny.gov
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
518-457-9000 | dol.ny.gov
NEW YORK STATE DIRECTORY OF SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS
Helping NYS business build back. Find out more about Business Pandemic Recovery Initiative programsincluding $800 million in state funding for small businesses - and about rental assistance for tenants. esd.ny.gov/business-pandemic-recovery-initiative
NEW YORK STATE ENERGY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (NYSERDA) NYSERDA offers objective information and analysis, innovative programs, technical expertise, and support to help New Yorkers increase energy efficiency, save money, use renewable energy, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
518-862-1090 | nyserda.ny.gov
NEW YORK STATE MINORITY & WOMEN OWNED BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
esd.ny.gov/mwbe-new-certification
PURSUIT
Access more than 15 small business loan programs custom-fit to your needs, including SBA 504, SBA 7(a), and SBA Microloans. You’ll work one-on-one with a lender dedicated to understanding your business and your borrowing needs.
800-923-2504 | PursuitLending.com
SCORE
38 local SCORE volunteer mentors help small businesses and entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. SCORE is a nonprofit and all services are free and confidential. Contact: Richard Sellers | richard.sellers@scorevolunteer.org
There are many reasons why folks choose to visit an area. Recreation, cultural attractions, historical buildings and monuments, and great restaurants are just some of the attractions that lure “cash carrying” visitors to a particular place. Here in Glens Falls we have Corvette Shows, The Fire & Ice event, Great Food Fests, The Special Olympics, Art Shows and The Santa Claus Parade. There are many more events that make up the year round events calendar that helps make the City of Glens Falls such a special place.
Showcasing tourism brings us into the world of Amy Collins, Director of Tourism for the City of Glens Falls, a position that she has held for the last 11 years. Amy feels that her career path of 15 years of experience in Washington, D.C. and later in Albany was good preparation for her role in Glens Falls City Government.
Amy says that her job is made easier by the assistance of Mayor Bill Collins (no relation). She sees him as a “wonderful representative of the city. He’s young and has a lot of energy. He’s
an events guy. He likes the city to host events that bring in tourists.”
Glens Falls has built itself into a tourism destination.
Glens Falls is the Southern ‘Gateway to the Adirondacks’ and because of the location, tourism and recreation are intertwined.
People whose travel destination may be Lake George stop in Glens Falls and find that they can enjoy a variety of experiences. “We have the Cool Insuring Arena which is a 4,794 seat multi-purpose area that supports tourism all year round and it’s also the home of the Adirondack Thunder. We have the Wood Theater and The Shirt Factory, and activities and venues all throughout the city.”
Glens Falls also has youth sports facilities that can support tournaments. “Youth sports bring families to stay in our hotels and the teams and the families eat at restaurants. That’s all part of tourism. And, the local venues are for residents and tourists alike. Tourism helps improve the quality of life for the local residents. It’s important to invest in recreation. That’s part of the challenge of tourism. How do you keep track of the people who are coming into town to play pickleball?
Or go to Haviland Cove? We have riverfront recreational property!” Collins said.
“We also have what could be called ‘educational tourism.’ We have the SUNY Culinary Center right downtown. Seasoned, which is the culinary school restaurant, brings students and restaurant goers into the city... Attracting people into the city is the key right? We have a wonderful Memorial Day parade. For that, we partner with Queensbury. It takes place on Glen Street, and every year I’m just amazed at how many people line the streets.”
Amy has seen the growth and evolution of tourism in Glens Falls during her tenure. “We now have more hotel and restaurant options than we had even five or six years ago. The streetscape has changed and improved. We want a strong retail presence, arts presence and hospitality presence. We have a lot of local talent and we want to showcase that.”
It can be difficult to quantify tourism dollars. “Tourism in Glens Falls is like the spokes of a wheel. A tourist may be someone who is coming into town to visit Glens Falls Hospital or the Cemetery. It’s really ‘what door you come in.’ What we would like
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to ensure is that every person who comes into town feels welcomed. If someone is coming into town to visit the hospital, are there restaurants and lodging that they can enjoy? We, as a community, have come to realize that we have a variety of types of tourists and we want everyone to feel welcome,” Collins said.
Amy and the Mayor are not alone in their efforts to bolster the City of Glens Falls. They have support from the Glens Falls Collaborative and the Business Improvement District. The Glens Falls Collaborative is a membership organization whose mission is to band together and promote Glens Falls. The Collaborative puts on several events throughout the year, including Wing Fest, Restaurant Week, Take a Bit, and Hometown Holidays, just to name a few.
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The Glens Falls Business Improvement District’s mission is to improve the economic environment and opportunities in downtown Glens Falls. Its goal is to enhance the value of property within the district and promote the quality of life.
People who are coming to the area are often visiting Saratoga Springs and Lake George as well. “We find that people who come to the area to visit different locations find that Glens Falls adds value to their experiences. We are halfway between Saratoga and Lake George. You can stay in Glens Falls and easily travel to both locations. This adds flexibility and sometimes affordability to people’s travel plans.” Amy reminds us that, “tourism helps improve the lives of local residents and visitors alike,” and is crucial for keeping Glens Falls vibrant and exciting.
EDITORIAL
Kate Haggerty
Michael Nelson
Gary Scott
Jordan Dunn
Scott Peterson
Tristan Amzallag
Amanda Blanton
Sherry Finkel Murphy
Tracey Wardwell
Drew Wardle
Nancy Turner
Christy Alexander
These days it seems like Bitcoin is everywhere; you hear about it on TV, on the internet and on the lips of everyone who has been involved with it since 2017. And for good reason: an investment in Bitcoin has beaten every single other asset class in the last 4 years in terms of growth and adoption.
An investment in Bitcoin in 2019, when it was valued at $3,700, would yield a 1,864% return on investment in 2021 when it reached the high of $69,000. And it’s still not done climbing. Mention these numbers to any fund manager and you’ll see them turn green with envy as they also try to explain the risks of such as asset.
In the short term, Bitcoin IS a risky asset class. It has seen price declines between 75% and 90% over very short periods of time (3 – 4 weeks). In fact, as I composed this article I watched Bitcoin lose 50% of its value. This can be very jarring to your average investor without the stomach for such volatility or the understanding of what Bitcoin actually is.
So what IS Bitcoin? Bitcoin is something new. It’s difficult to liken it to any existing asset types. Some say Bitcoin is like gold. While that’s partially true, it has much more utility than gold. Gold is heavy and cumbersome and doesn’t transport easily, so travelling with your wealth in gold isn’t easy. However, Bitcoin only requires a USB key to allow you to transport hundreds of millions of dollars. Others say Bitcoin is like money. Yes that’s also partially true, assuming vendors are willing to accept it as currency, and many are using it that way. Still others have classified it as an asset, like a house or stocks. In fact, the US tax system treats it that way, with gains/losses being classified as Capital Gains/Losses and taxed accordingly. However, Bitcoin hasn’t been as tightly regulated as stocks and enjoys some of the tax loopholes that have been closed around stocks and real estate. I like to think of Bitcoin as Financial Freedom for the citizens of the world.
Bitcoin transactions between 2 private parties transcend borders, countries, and laws that may otherwise exist between the parties in a traditional Fiat transaction (Fiat is the term used to describe what we all know as government issued currency such as the US Dollar, the Euro, or Chinese Yuan). Currently, when I want to buy goods or services using the US Dollar, I need to “ask” for permission from my bank to transfer the sum of money to the vendor in order to purchase the services I want. This has been refined into a fairly smooth process in the US with the use of credit cards, cash, and most recently through apps such as Paypal, but ultimately the bank holds my wealth, and therefore is in control of my wealth.
In 2008, financial institutions played fast and loose with our money by underwriting risky mortgage holders, which led to a real estate market bubble. That bubble eventually
burst and revealed the dangerous actions the institutions had undertaken, leading to the great recession. To combat this, President Obama launched several quantitative easing programs that helped prop up the market with free cash, but in turn raised our national debt more than all the previous presidents combined. All of this was possible because we had handed over control of our wealth to a handful of people we “trusted.”
Bitcoin was born from that chaos like a phoenix rising from the ashes. The inventor, known as Satoshi Nakamoto, wanted to take money out of the control of governments and put it back into the hands of the people so that we were no longer subject to whims of greedy individuals. Through the distributed nature of the internet, Satoshi was able to create a new network layer that sits on top of the internet to facilitate such permissionless transactions between two parties. Due to the international nature of the internet and the usefulness it has given to communication and e-commerce, Bitcoin is able to take advantage of that same usefulness and apply it to a new field: Digital Finance (DeFi).
Bitcoin and other digital currencies now allow us to conduct financial transactions with the same ease and flexibility as sending an email or one swipe ordering from Amazon. Imagine being able to mortgage a house without the need to go to a bank, or fund a business idea without the need for shareholders. This has already been done with DeFi and this new field is just getting started. That’s the freedom Bitcoin can bring to the world of finance and to everyday people.
While Bitcoin only exists on the internet, Glens Falls area businesses can take advantage of its benefits even at the local level. Even though Bitcoin adoption is still relatively small, there are already millions of users. The novelty of Bitcoin may wear off someday, but today it is very much in the spotlight. Users of Bitcoin love to find places where they can spend their currency. Being able to accept Bitcoin will open a business up to newcomers looking to spend their coins in novel ways.
Novelty is cute and all, but being in business means that everything we do affects our bottom line— and Bitcoin can help you there as well. Since Bitcoin is a decentralized network and not a central bank, the fees for money transfers are very low and are shifted from the receiver (the business) to the sender (the customer). Yes, it’s true! Businesses that accept Bitcoin no longer need to pay the 3% fee that they are charged by credit card
companies and that can have a huge impact on small margin businesses.
Another, albeit riskier, proposition, is a business opting to hold some of their net profit in Bitcoin, rather than converting it all to Fiat at the point of sale. Since its launch in 2009, Bitcoin has seen exponential growth in value, going from less than $1 per coin to an alltime high of $69,000 in 2021.
This may seem like “gambling with your profits” on a risky asset class, but I have two points to make about that: one, there are many large companies that are entering the Bitcoin world and holding a portion of their portfolio in Bitcoin. Even entire countries have started to look at Bitcoin, with El Salvador leading the way in 2021 when it announced that Bitcoin is now considered legal tender throughout the country. This adoption by more and more companies will remove today’s risk factors. Two, the free money monetary policies the Federal Reserve has enacted and upheld for over a decade have led to some of the highest inflation numbers I have ever seen in my lifetime, which means the buying power of the US Dollar is eroding and the profit being held by businesses is no longer as valuable as it once was. Since Bitcoin is deflationary in nature, it will protect against that erosion.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s Market Capitalization is $660 Billion. That’s a lot. But it’s a paltry sum compared to the size of the markets this technology could overtake. In its simplest form, Bitcoin is an easy way to store value and send that value across the world within minutes. Another good store of value is gold. If Bitcoin were to take the place of gold as said store of value, its market cap would be closer to $11 Trillion and each Bitcoin would be worth $647,058. That’s a 10x growth from its previous all-time high and a 20x growth from where it is today.
Like gold, Bitcoin has a limited supply: there will only ever be 21,000,000btc in circulation. This was purposefully done by Satoshi in an effort to make Bitcoin a deflationary asset, contrary to the inflationary nature of Fiat. To put that into perspective, there are 23,000,000 millionaires in the US alone and 56,000,000 in the world, which simply means that if every millionaire wanted 1 Bitcoin, it would not be possible to fulfill that demand. In fact, if each millionaire in the world wanted an equal share of Bitcoin, they would only be able to have 0.375 btc each. When looking at these numbers you can start to see the potential Bitcoin has in the coming decades— even building just a small nest egg in Bitcoin could result in substantial future gains.
Bitcoin can be divided by 8 decimal places. The lowest unit of Bitcoin is called a “Satoshi” or “Sat”. One sat is 0.00000001 Bitcoin equal to $0.00034. This means that any amount of USD can be invested into Bitcoin, you don’t need to invest in a whole coin which is worth $37,000 as of this writing. $100 will get you 0.00294118 Bitcoin or, put another way, 294,118 Sats.
Everything in life has a learning curve for us to go through before we feel comfortable with it. Email and online shopping both went through their periods of anxious adoption by the masses. In the early days of email, people didn’t know how to use it, some believed you still needed stamps, and others thought you needed to send it from the post office. Online shopping was rife with stories of stolen credit cards and lost packages. But those anxieties were overcome and new money making markets emerged. Bitcoin is no different; once you understand it and work with it, a whole new emerging market rife with innovation will open up to you.
Digital Finance is the next step in the internet’s evolution, and platforms like Bitcoin Lightning (Layer 2), Ethereum (The world’s super computer) and Solana are working hard to make these digital financial products as accessible to everyone as email and one-click shopping are to us today.
Saratoga businesses can take advantage of its benefits even at the local level.”
The Women’s Business Council of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) is excited to host their annual Succession Summit event for businesses in the greater Glens Falls region.
The Succession Summit was the result of a series of conversations between ARCC Member, and Women’s Business Council pioneer, Sherry Finkel Murphy and Michael Bittel, former President of the ARCC. It dovetailed with the stated work of the Women’s Business Council: to develop a strong business network of the community’s women business owners and professionals, and to prepare them to take on increasing leadership in the community.
Michael’s concern was that the generation that had invested so heavily in the early 2000’s to rebuild the Glens Falls area was preparing to retire without having identified the successors to carry on their work. As a financial planner and former corporate executive,
Sherry was well-suited to identify the critical aspects of continuity and succession planning that all businesses, large and small, must engage in to address multigenerational and organizational transitions.
Our first Succession Summit, in late 2019, featured Gary Dake of Stewarts, Rebecca Wood of Six Flags Great Escape, Juan Gonzales of The Hunt Companies, and Sherry Finkel Murphy of The Atrium Financial Group, with Michael as MC. With a virtual audience of over 70 members, we were able to cover important ideas for identifying, developing, and financially retaining leaders.
Our first in-person event, in 2022, facilitated by EOS implementor Wendy Waldron, expanded the panel to include accounting, human resources, and legal insights on continuity and succession.
“By embracing and developing both the home-grown and the come-from-away talent in the Warren and Washington County area, I know that we have a strong
pipeline of leadership into the future. It’s our job to impart just enough best-practice and creativity into the conversation to have business owners want to reach out and do this kind of planning to ensure they and the area will continue to have an exciting future,” stated Finkel Murphy.
Our 2023 SUCCESSion Summit will focus on the role of key employees and continue the discussion around retention and development of talent. After all, once you have the right people in the right seats, you want to keep them there, rather than have them open a competing business across the street. Our panelists include Tyler Herrick (Spruce Hospitality), Bert Weber (Common Roots Brewery), Crystal Grimaldi (Ideal Dairy) and Tracey Wardwell (Capital Bank), as well as domain expertise from Jen Massey, (Integra HR), Wendy Waldron (WaldronWorks EOS Worldwide), and Sherry Finkel Murphy, CFP® (The Atrium Financial Group.)
“I am excited to be a part of the SUCCESSion Summit for 2023, presented by the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, developed by the Women’s Business Council. This is our opportunity, as Leaders within our communities, to give back to the areas we serve by offering our expertise, sharing ideas that businesses may not have previously thought of, and to collaborate as a group to help make our communities stronger and more successful,” said Tracey Wardwell, AVP, Regional Branch Manager, Business Development for Capital Bank.
“Attendants can expect an interactive opportunity, moderated by Tricia Rogers of the ARCC, to learn about investing in employees, helping attract employees, keeping employees engaged, developing those employees in the workplace, and sustaining employment for longer periods of time. It’s going to be a great program that I know will benefit many businesses.”
Save the date for May 10th, at the Fort William Henry Hotel & Conference Center for the Succession Summit. Stay tuned to the ARCC website for more information, www.adirondackchamber.org.
“This is our opportunity, as Leaders within our communities, to give back to the areas we serve by offering our expertise, sharing ideas that businesses may not have previously thought of, and to collaborate as a group to help make our communities stronger and more successful.”
— Tracey Wardwell, AVP, Regional Branch Manager, Business Development for Capital Bank
New leads are the life-blood of the sales cycle, but tracking them down can be time consuming and costly.
These may get your team on their way to landing new business...
January 2023
Standard Barbell Club
Michael Montanye, 13 Fieldview Rd S, Queensbury, NY 12804
Rita D’s Cleaning Service
Rita Maria Dejnozka, 91 Montray Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
Halsted’s Drywall
Jacob Halsted, 4 Park Pl, Lake George, NY 12845
Pink Hair Tarot
Mikayla Wadsworth, 1 Zenas Dr, Queensbury, NY 12804
UV Oasis
Martina Jones, 643 Upper Glen St, Queensbury, NY 12804
White Daisy Cleaning Services
Becky Litchfield & Terri Lobdell, 280 Aviation Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
Adirondack Real Estate Photography
Justin Crannell, 857 Luzerne Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
Ward Construction
Tyler Ward, 889 High St, Athol, NY 12810
Sarah Tether Photography
Sarah Tether, 8 Wayne Ct, Queensbury, NY 12804
Adirondack Photography by Brisbane B. Young
Brisbane B. Young, 5 Columbine Ave, South Glens Falls, NY 12803
ESG Construction
Thomas Bolton, 559 Pease Hill Rd, Pottersville, NY 12860
Hair by Gigi
Shirley Padasak, 24 Sanford St, Glens Falls, NY 12801
Stunad’s Smoke Shop
Michael Ditroia, 144 Canada St, Lake George, NY 12845
Ken’s Custom Carving
Kurt Donald Rinamon, 471 Landon Hill Rd, Apt 3, Chestertown, NY 12817
Twice Treasured
Jessica LeBlanc, 3 Timmons Ln, Queensbury, NY 12804
J&L Mowing and Snow Removal
Joe Baker, 4 Stewart Ave, Glens Falls, NY 12801
The Crow Nest
Brandon Lee, 35 Fox Farm Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
East Coast Products
Peyton Phillips, 1C Manor Dr, Queensbury, NY 12804
Whitney’s Hunting Supply
Dennis, Carrie, and Jami Whitney, 2 Church St, Granville, NY 12832
Green Tiger Martial Arts
Korey Michael Kennedy, 11 Wall St, Hudson Falls, NY 12839
Pirate King Enterprises
Elijah Enzensperger, 125 East Main St, Cambridge, NY 12816
Care Fox Enterprises
Joseph Allen, 60 N Park St, Cambridge, NY 12816
Whittaker Brook
Abraham Schrock, 173 County Route 49, Salem, NY 12865
Gathering Ivy Doula Care
Jennifer Lauren Steinberger, 24 East St, Argyle, NY 12809
CCB Contracting
Cory Bishop, 160 County Route 45, Argyle, NY 12809
Chestnut Hill Carpentry
Donald R. Disorda, Jr., 883 Chestnut Hill Rd, Cambridge, NY 12816
Upstate Land Management
Brennan Strong, 15 Hendee Rd, Hudson Falls, NY 12839
Start Line
Anthony M. Flewelling, 3 Browns Ln, Fort Edward, NY 12828
The Greenwich Local
Keisha M. Timms, 2809 State Route 40, Greenwich, NY 12834
The Bridge House Pub
Erin Wood, 1 West Main St, Granville, NY 12832
Campbell’s Euro Mounts And Taxidermy
Austin Campbell, 199 Middleton Rd, Granville, NY 12832
Critter’s Caretaker
Victoria L. Rasanen, 795 County Route 68, Eagle Bridge, NY 12057
Just A Little Love Home Cleaning Service
Michelle L. Spear, 7 Barber Ave, Greenwich, NY 12834
A Man Named Cash
Eric A. Hofmanis, 38 Harrison Ave, Glens Falls, NY 12801
East Coast Products
Michael Simmes, 129 Farr Ln, Queensbury, NY 12804
George’s Landscape Co.
Hunter George, 18 Terrace Ave, South Glens Falls, NY 12803
Your Momma Design’s
Jennifer Ferris, 206 Glen St, Glens Falls NY 12801
Marie Center’s Cleaning
Marie Center, 176 Aviation Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
Brennan & White
William J. White, 163 Haviland Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
Rocky Ridge Firewood
Berness J. Bolton, Jr., 36 Cougar Ln, Chestertown, NY 12817
Boho Tea Shop
Christine M. France, 63 Bay St, Glens Falls, NY 12801
LaPlanche Construction
Matt LaPlanche, 115-1 Robert Gardens, Queensbury, NY 12804
Wicks N Wags
Gabrielle Skellie, 29 Spring St, South Glens Falls, NY 12803
Bishop Tree Nursery
Douglas W. Bishop, 13 Helen Dr, Queensbury, NY 12804
Positive Propagation Products
Michael V. Corentto, 32 Larose St, Glens Falls, NY 12801
Panther Productions
Sean E. Smith, 5A Overlook Ln N, Chestertown, NY 12817
Green GOAT Genetics
Malik Abu-Zeid, 49 Coolidge Hill Rd, Diamond Point, NY 12824
Cameron Realty Group
Kelli May, 1810 State Route 9 Suite C, Lake George, NY 12845
NY Nails Spa
Wen Jun Zou, 324 Quaker Rd Suite 3, Queensbury, NY 12804
Ross Trucking & Excavating
Robert S. Ross, 706 Golf Course Rd, Warrensburg, NY 12885
Hair Care by Sara
Sara Hoffay, 213 Dippikill Rd, Warrensburg, NY 12885
Johnson’s Roofing
Jonathan P. Johnson, 28 Warren St, Warrensburg, NY 12885
KAM2 Solutions
Michael Zilm, 84 Mohawk Mtn Rd, Lake George, NY 12845
Lanaskinbar
Alana Thacker, 147 Ridge St, Glens Falls, NY 12804
Harrington Construction
Orbin H. Harrington III, 24 Stevens Rd, Queensbury, NY 12804
Mason and Sons Roofing
Willis Mason, 47 Smith St, Warrensburg, NY 12885
Finish Line Construction
Christopher J. LaRock, 213 Upper Sherman Ave, Queensbury, NY 12804
Jeremy’s Stony Creek Marketplace
Jeremy J. Dunn, 8 Harrisburg Rd, Stony Creek, NY 12878
Insured Cleaners
Brenda Ackley, 68 Frost St, Warrensburg, NY 12885
Vitality Chiropractic Care
Wesley Cotton, 11 May St, Glens Falls, NY 12801
Pediatric Ear Piercing
Lauren Meilhede, 84 Broad St, Glens Falls, NY 12801
TODAY
Scott M. Peterson is the founding partner of D’Orazio Peterson, having left a partnership at a large regional law firm to limit his practice and focus on exclusively representing individuals in a small number of employment and serious injury/medical malpractice matters.
I know, it’s dry like an overcooked steak. I get it.
But it’s also important, and in my world it can be critical. Today we’re not talking general insurance, however, we’re talking SUM insurance
Many of you have probably never heard this term before; and that’s generally good – it means you’ve never had to use it.
SUM stands for Supplementary Uninsured Motorist, and SUM insurance is a part of your auto insurance policy. SUM encompasses both UM (uninsured motorist) and UIM (underinsured motorist), and is meant to step in if you are severely hurt in a car accident, but the other driver either has no insurance or (more likely) does not have adequate insurance coverage to protect and/or compensate you.
Here’s a fun fact: everyone in New York State has at least a minimum level of SUM coverage, which means the good news is that you already have some. The bad news is that the bare bones limits are $25,000 per policy, which is woefully inadequate.
Let’s look at a common scenario in our practice: Person 1 – we’ll call her Jane – is driving down the street and is t-boned by Person 2 – we’ll call him John – at an intersection. Jane breaks her leg in two places, and in addition to requiring a substantial surgery, has a long recovery and is out of work for six months. Jane owns a successful chiropractic business, and while she is able to get coverage during her absence, it costs her a substantial amount of money.
Jane comes to us for help, and one of the first things we do is investigate how much insurance John has to adequately compensate Jane for her physical and economic losses. Unfortunately, we learn early on that John has a minimum insurance policy, and only maintains $25,000 worth of liability coverage. This is inadequate, but it is also relatively common.
From here, one of two scenarios will occur.
SCENARIO #1
In scenario #1, Jane has the New York State minimum SUM coverage of $25,000. Because that amount is the same as the other driver’s insurance, Jane cannot make a claim and she is capped at recovering $25,000 from the other driver’s insurance company. In most instances this constitutes the entirety of Jane’s recovery, which does not even come close to making her whole.
SCENARIO #2
In scenario #2, Jane has thought about SUM coverage, and has increased the coverage on her policy to $500,000. Now, once she has exhausted John’s coverage of $25,000, she can look to her own insurance carrier under the SUM portion of the policy. Jane can now obtain something close to a complete financial recovery for her injuries and losses as a result of the accident.
The kicker here – SUM coverage is relatively cheap. Adding substantial coverage to a policy will cost, maybe, a few hundred dollars per year. Our world deals with loss, assessment of fault, and risk management. Increasing SUM coverage is something that anyone who owns a car
can do, and it can make a significant difference if you find yourself severely injured in an automobile accident.
This is something that I talk about quite a bit, for good reason. This year alone I have had several clients come to me following a very severe accident, only to find out that the other driver has minimal coverage and, critically, that the client has minimal SUM coverage as well. It can be a very difficult conversation in cases involving severely injured individuals.
The takeaway for this article: talk with your insurance agent or go online and look at your policy. Increase your SUM limits as much as you are able. Like any insurance, hopefully you’ll never need it. But if you do, you’ll be glad you have it.
If you have questions about insurance coverage or injuries after an accident, give us a call. We’re always happy to chat.
Disclaimer: This column is meant for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or the basis for an attorney-client relationship, which may only be achieved following consultation and execution of a formal engagement agreement.
To learn more about the ways in which D’Orazio Peterson can help you, visit our website: doraziopeterson.com.
We believe in educating individuals about their legal rights before hiring a lawyer; empowering them to stand up for those rights; and using our knowledge and experience to guide them toward the right decisions in difficult situations. Legal problems are not one size fits all.
by Jordan Dunn Glens Falls TODAY
Other states have already fully entered the game. Now it’s almost New York’s turn. So where does that leave investors who are thinking about entering the Cannabis Industry?
Some are wondering if they should hold off, others are thinking the time is now.
We had the opportunity to speak with Phil Spinelli of Nightshade Farm, a local upstate organic farm turned New York cannabis industry trailblazer, about his perspective on potential investors.
As an investor, the best way to see the fullest effects of your investment is to get in on the ground floor,” said Spinelli. “When you’re investing in a small business, you can really see the effects; top to bottom, all the way through. You can get involved on a granular level and just really see how impactful the money you are putting in can be.”
As it now stands, New York State is in an advantageous position in several respects. Not only is cannabis not legal federally, meaning that no interstate commerce of this product is allowed at the moment, but New York also has the benefit of having others that have gone before, making it easier to strategically analyze their roll outs while in turn beginning to craft their own procedure.
“For us personally, we are in a unique position,” said Spinelli “Out of the processing licenses granted in the state, we are one of few that can extract as well. With both of these in our back pocket, we want to ensure that whoever we choose can help us correctly scale the business so that we can make a ripple in the New York market.”
Naturally, like any small, local
business owner, Spinelli emphasized the fact that they would like to work with a partner that is strategic, has industry experience, is business savvy, but is “respectful of the spirit of the law” under which his company was granted this opportunity.
New York truly has tried to root this whole process in the right “spirit.” Spinelli went on to explain how when it came to other states, they made it “very advantageous for big corporations to play the game. New York, on the other hand, is making it a playground where medium to small entities can invest too.”
For example, the state has decided to “exclude investors that have their hands in other parts of the industry; in other places outside of New York. Essentially making it so that big corporations really aren’t having the upper hand here and won’t be able to just absorb smaller entities like they could in other states,” elaborated Spinelli.
Additionally, another intertwining element is that New York has made an emphasis on distributing licenses to those who meet certain requirements. According to the State Office of Cannabis Management website, “Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) Licenses will be the first adult-use retail dispensary licenses issued in New York State.” What makes CAURD licenses special is rather multifaceted. In layman’s terms, however, it is most important to note that there are different requirements for the two entities that may apply: qualifying business and qualifying nonprofits. The former has a ‘‘justice-involved individuals” component, and the latter’s criteria focuses more on social impact. Additionally, both must have a “qualifying presence” in New York State.
Another checkbox on Spinelli’s aforementioned ideal investor sheet included that they, “must understand that this is an industry that poses high risks,” referring to the fact that at the very initial stages of this
industry in this country, a lot of people moved too fast too quickly. Many investors made investments into poorly thought-out concepts and plans, and were ultimately soured by the lack of return.
Spinelli is hopeful that the right investors will be able to “identify that if the business plan is done right and you listen to the right projections and forecasts, it’s not really unlike any other industry that’s out there.”
It was late November 2022 when we last spoke to Spinelli. At the time, it was almost go-time for those in the cannabis industry in Upstate New York. The state was scheduled to officially announce the first round of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary License recipients on the 21st of that month, leading many to believe that retail spaces would soon follow.
Come December, the state awarded 36 retail licenses to a select few of the over 900 original applicants that applied to the first wave of the program. Out of those 36, four were appointed in the general Capital Region and its surrounding area.
Yet, on the 11th of December, roadblocks started popping up left and right. The first to appear was when a federal judge blocked New York from issuing the licenses due to a “lawsuit filed by a company whose application to operate a marihuana store failed to qualify because its owner lacked a significant New York state presence,” stated an article from the Times Union. It was reported that the company’s owner is a resident of Michigan, though the company is incorporated in New York. This injunction puts a halt on progress in five of New York’s 14 appropriated regions.
On December 29th, Housing Works, a Manhattan-based nonprofit, became the first CAURD licensee in New York to open its doors. Another New York City-based business soon became the second.
By the time the 1st of the new year rolled around, only 4 of the 36 selected licensees were based in and around the Capital Region and none were overly close to opening their doors. This was due to several factors including the fact that the State had originally told the licensees that the State’s Dormitory Authority would be the institution responsible for selecting the physical retail location of each operation, but then changed this ruling at the end of December 2022.
On January 24th, three more marijuana retailers were approved by the Office of Cannabis Management for the Capital Region area, making a new total of seven. This decision was one of a larger effort, with 30 new licenses being granted across the state, bringing the grand total up to 66 licensees. At the time, five of the regions were still barred from acting upon their licenses due to the aforementioned injunction that was issued in mid-December 2022.
As of February 14th, the first non-New York City based establishment, Just Breathe, opened in Binghamton, New York.
As of late February, the seven Capital Region based licensees were as follows: Thinc Provisions, Inc., Ten Cees, Humble Country, Stage One Cannabis, Essential Flowers, Capital District Cannabis & Wellness, Inc. and Upstate Canna Co. (Schenectady).
Though all were given the same license, it seems that each company is moving at their own pace in regard to setting up shop. This is due to many factors including, but not limited to, the unfortunate reality that each company is not only up against the current real estate market and economy, but they are also up against the zoning laws and policies established by the NYS Office of Cannabis Management, as well as the stipulations of their own specific municipalities.
On March 3rd, the state announced that they will be allotting an additional amount of licenses to those with past convictions. An originally estimated 150 has now risen to 300 retail shops that will be licensed throughout the state. At this time, only 66 licenses have been made official.
An article from the Times Union reported that the Capital Region could now see a rise from seven to 14 approved businesses for this first round.
It currently remains unclear whether any of the selected will set up shop as far north as Glens Falls.
“The unpredictable success of an unplanned walk.”
e have been on this block in one house or another since 1917.” Those were the words of Todd Feigenbaum, the third generation owner of Feigenbaum Cleaners, located at 89 ½ Bay Street in Glens Falls. Todd is the President of Feigenbaum Cleaners and the grandson of Herman & Jennie Feigenbaum, the founders of Feigenbaum Cleaners. Their business started out in their family home and was the first dry cleaner north of Albany.
by Kate Haggerty Glens Falls TODAYIn 1917, The Feigenbaums were not expecting to make Glens Falls their home. After living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Herman & Jennie were looking to move their young family out of the city. Herman had heard of a tailor shop that was for sale in Whitehall, New York. The couple was traveling by train to Whitehall with a stop over in Glens Falls. “The train station at the time was on Lawrence Street. So, they walked downtown and spent the night here,” Todd said, recalling the family history. The Feigenbaums decided that Glens Falls was the place that they wanted to stay. “My Grandmother fell in love with downtown. So they rented rooms in 89 Bay Street which was a boarding house at the time. Then a year or two later they bought 3 Fulton Street.” The tailor shop in Whitehall would have to fulfill someone else’s dream.
Herman Feigenbaum was a tailor by trade. Originally from Eastern Europe, he apprenticed with his uncle in London. After his apprenticeship, he realized that opportunities for a tailor were limited in his home town. So he decided to follow his brother who had moved to America.
Todd was able to trace his grandfather’s voyage to America. Herman left the Port of Bremen, Germany in December of 1902 and, according to the Ellis Island records, arrived in New York a week or two later. The family tried to trace Jennie’s journey the same way but were unable to find any
record of her at Ellis Island. As it turned out, when Jennie left Eastern Europe at the age of either 15 or 16, she traveled by herself to Boston and took a boat to New York. Jennie and Herman met due to the kindness of Herman’s cousin. Herman’s cousin was a few years older than Jennie, and was willing to show Jennie ‘the ropes’ of living in America. She was the one that introduced Herman and Jennie.
The Feigenbaums lived in the lower east side of Manhattan from 1902 until they relocated to Glens Falls in 1917. Todd’s uncle found evidence of exactly where the family lived in a 1910 U.S. census. They lived on Rivington Street, which was in the heart of the tenement district. At the time, this was the most densely populated place on earth. Prompted by this information, Todd and his wife Julie went and found out that the building his family had lived in was still standing. To find out more of the history they visited the Tenement Museum which was down the street. Todd recalls a featured tenement apartment that had been preserved in 1937. “It was in the same condition that it had been when it had been closed. It was a tenement apartment with three rooms. It had 14 people living in the three rooms. The tour guide said that people were packed in like sardines. That was when I realized why my grandparents came upstate. They had been living in these cramped conditions with a growing family for 15 years.”
Once they moved upstate, Herman was able to enjoy the improved quality of life. He enjoyed fishing on Glen Lake. But to keep food on the table, Herman had to work three
jobs. “He had the dry cleaning business, his tailor shop on South Street, and in the summer he would peddle vegetables in Schuylerville,” Todd said. The tradition of having to work multiple jobs to support the family didn’t stop with the first generation. The next generation had to work just as hard to keep the business going. Todd’s father Louis and his uncle Bill took over the family business in 1947 after they returned from the service. They moved the business from the family home into its current location at 89 ½ Bay Street. Louis had been a metal worker and aircraft mechanic. He helped build some of the prototypes of the P-51 Fighter, fondly known as the Mustang. Bill had been in the Coast Guard. “It’s funny because my father never expected to work in this business; he was a very highly skilled metal worker and aircraft mechanic. After the war, he had work all over the world. But his father’s health was starting to fail so he said ‘why don’t I come up and help’ and he got sucked into it. He had to help to support his family, and the business supported three families at that time, so my dad would go out and sell life insurance and real estate at night to earn extra money to raise his family.”
The story of how Todd got into the family business isn’t that far off from his father’s story. “So I was working as an analyst in the state legislature in Albany and my dad’s health was starting to fail, and I was kinda bored with what I was doing. So, we made all the plans so he could retire. We would build up the business then we could sell it. We
made all of the plans, and the next morning he passed away. That was 37 years ago. So, I got thrust into the business a lot quicker than I had expected. But, I had worked in the business during college and summers so I knew the basics which was good because I didn’t have time to learn.” At that point, Todd took over the business with his wife Julie.
Todd has seen endless numbers of changes in ‘the rag trade’ during his tenure. There are a variety of challenges to the ever changing dry cleaning and tailoring business. “All of the changes to fabric that have taken place over the years. The industry has gone through so many changes in the last 50 or 60 years. Wash and wear. When polyester came along in the 60’s, the industry was decimated. The clothes no longer needed to be professionally cleaned. Then the industry rebounded in the 1980’s, and there has been a slow decline since the 1990’s. However, there have been peaks in business. In the early 2000’s businesses decided that they would allow their employees to dress more casually. Then as a result they saw a decrease in productivity. So the employees had to dress up for work again and everyone started to come back to the dry cleaner.”
Cultural shifts are one factor that the intrepid business has adjusted to. However, there has also been the evolution of environmental regulations. “We have a very ‘green’ operation. We have a solvent that is nontoxic, biodegradable, and earth friendly but to use things like that takes complex and expensive machinery. The machines are designed so that nothing goes into the environment. It’s much better for the environment than when you clean your clothes at home. Here all of the vapors and solvents go back into the tanks.”
Todd Feigenbaum has run the business through cultural
changes, and he has heard the stories about all of the changes that the business has withstood. “Sixty years ago everyone dressed up for Easter. It would be so busy, it was even before my time, but the pressers would have cots in the back by the presses, and they would take turns taking naps because they would be pressing until midnight just to keep up with the work the week before Easter.”
Feigenbuam Cleaners has survived over the years due to the family’s hard work and ingenuity. An example of their ingenuity harkens back to the 1960’s during the Cuban Missile Crisis. There was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union when the two superpowers came dangerously close to nuclear war. Families throughout the country had survival plans and bomb shelters and the Fiegenbaums had the fur vault.
The term vault suggests a bank-like construction and that is exactly the case. This vault was designed to house and protect 5,000 furs which the owners would store in the warmer months of the year. The vault even has a Moseler security door which was installed by the famous bank vault company. This vault has happily never needed to be used in a nuclear crisis, and it continues to store fur coats in a comfortable climate-controlled atmosphere.
Part of continuing the family business has been welcoming change. Todd and Julie took over the business in 1986. It was at that time that they realized that they would have to add more locations to reach customers.
“When my wife and I took over in 1986 we knew we needed to add locations because with the one location in downtown Glens Falls we didn’t have access to enough customers. So we opened the location in Queensbury
and from there we opened in Clifton Park and we moved that location to Saratoga. We have had a number of different locations over the years. But currently it is Glens Falls, Queensbury, Saratoga/Wilton.”
There are struggles and rewards that go along with the work. “We are open six days a week. My goal has been to take two weeks of vacation back to back. Which we have never been able to do. This summer we may be able to do that. We are training more and more of our staff members to take on more responsibility. We have a couple of really good managers who are taking on more responsibility. So my wife and I can work a bit less.” Todd struggles with the idea of handing over the reins of a business that handles 250,000 garments a year. “This is a craft and so you constantly have to be paying attention to the quality. And there are so many issues and the average person has no idea the complexity of this business.”
Todd appreciates the qualities that his grandmother had seen in Glens Falls. “Glens Falls has a unique community. It has a rich history of innovators and entrepreneurs. A lot of innovative and courageous business people have made their homes here. There is a culture of community support.” As the third generation of the family business, Todd finds himself not completely sure what the future will hold when he and his wife decide to retire. His children are currently not interested in carrying on the family business but that may change as it did in previous generations. “The dry cleaning business is a challenging business but by the grace of God and a lot of hard work we have made it work and it is what it is.” The City of Glens Falls has benefited from the unpredictable success of what started out as an unplanned walk.
It was the calm before the storm - a sunny Friday afternoon with expected heavy snowfall later in the day. Even still, the Common Roots Brewery taproom was packed to the brim with satisfied patrons who were ready to start the weekend off right.
Amid the clamor of people and rustic furniture, staff members moved around quickly and with purpose, never missing a beat and never bumping into one another. On the worker’s side of the bar stood Bert Weber, co-owner of Common Roots. He was speaking with multiple patrons while holding a glass of their latest IPA currently in its “beta” stage: “Sunset Dreams.”
Along with his son, Christian, Bert owns and operates the brewery that has become a community staple.
As if fate had a part to play, Christian was not able to be present for the interview with Bert, as his wife, Melanie Fronhofer, was giving birth to their second child, Archer Weber.
As Bert speaks about the birth of his second grandchild, his eyes become slightly teary. He takes a pause and looks around the large conference room that we are sitting in. The room, like the rest of the facility at 58 Saratoga Avenue in South Glens Falls, is made up almost entirely of windows. The taproom can be seen to the right, while the brewery is to the left. Throughout the conversation, Bert occasionally stops to smile and nod at passing employees who show genuine appreciation for him as they return the smile.
While the Webers are a family business through and through and treat
their employees as extended members, there is no grandiose sense of continuing a “family legacy.” It runs deeper than that - it is about respect for a cultural heritage, which is what Common Roots’ business ethos is based on.
Bert is a first-generation American and was born in the States after his family emigrated here from Southern Bavaria, Germany in 1950.
“The Bavarians had this love affair with beer and they take it very seriously. Beer, I’d say, was always part of all our celebrations. We never brewed beer ourselves, honestly, but that tradition of enjoying beer continued,” he said.
Some say never get into business with your family, but the father-son duo has been able to separate the two, Bert says.
As a father, it’s been an exercise in humility for Bert at times, he says. “Christian kind of became my boss when it came to setting up the brewing system.”
While Bert’s construction experience required Bert to take charge when building the original site in 2015, there came a time when he had to take a backseat and let Christian establish the brewery operation, as Christian is ultimately the expert brewer out of the two.
“Christian has a view from a 10,000-foot level and tends to see the bigger picture and where he wants the company to go. Whereas I would be more concerned with what I’m looking at right now.”
While the family is tied by this cultural heritage, it was never a guarantee
that the family business would start.
Bert distinctly remembers the moment he and Christian decided to start the brewery.
“We are bicyclists as a family, we like to enjoy long rides together. On this one trip with my wife, myself, and Christian, we drove all the way down to the Eastern shore of Maryland for the Sea Gull Century bike route. It takes us about nine hours to drive down there. After the ride, when we were headed back up, we had a really heartfelt conversation about the business idea in the car.”
It was a few years before the brewery opened; Bert was retiring as a horticulture teacher. Christian was a graduate student in New Hampshire and had taken on a few apprenticeships.
Chris Ericson (owner of Lake Placid Pub & Brewery) was a big influence on Christian.
“Our heartfelt conversation became quite serious at one point, and to my surprise, my wife replied: ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea. Let’s do it!’”
“Robin and I always loved being part of the community and we looked for ways to stay engaged with it even though I was getting close to retiring.”
Their first real challenge as a family business came right at the beginning.
“We weren’t getting a lot of positive responses from banks,” Bert said. Bert said banks were reticent due to the Weber’s lack of business experience at the time.
They then began meeting with SCORE, a group of retired businessmen, who helped the family get a solid business plan together to present to banks.
Key Bank was the one to eventually give the green light.
When asked what kind of influence being a family business had during this process, Bert said that if anything, it had a positive effect as it pulled on the heartstrings of some.
The Webers have had their fair share of storms. Bert said that this initial challenge was greater than the time when the fire destroyed their original location in 2019 and even greater than the Coronavirus shutdown.
“I get home and an hour later and Christian calls me and says, ‘Dad, the brewery’s on fire.’ Even before the fire was out, we began to get text messages.”
Bert said the outpour of community support made all the difference.
“I’m getting emotional just thinking about it,” he said. It only confirmed Bert’s dream of creating a strong sense of community - a home away from home for their patrons. The support for the Webers only gave them more of an impetus to start the Common Roots Foundation, the nonprofit organization affiliated with the brewery. The foundation is two years old and has raised and donated approximately $50,000 to community organizations that support and exhibit the same ethos as Common Roots.
Their new facility is currently being built next to their main location and is slated to open this June. It will provide more storage room and a new event space which will eventually host weddings.
Bert said that more storage is badly needed, especially for their popular craft, Good Fortune, of which there is an overflowing mountain in their brewery at the moment. Bert says he would hope that his grandchildren may eventually work at the brewery.
“Those first two years there was so much anxiety and questioning whether we made the right decision.”
However, Bert will never forget that tragic night in 2019.
“The night before the fire, we broke ground to do the addition on the old building, and we were thinking, ‘alright, this is really working out.’”
“Oliver’s (Christian’s first son) got a little pair of brewer’s boots. Christian said to me, ‘well dad, Oliver is going to start cleaning kegs and everything else around here as a job. If he likes it, great, if not, there are also nieces.’”
“The opportunity will be here for all the grandchildren, and we’ll see who likes it. This job isn’t for everyone.”
“
Christian has a view from a 10,000-foot level and tends to see the bigger picture and where he wants the company to go. Whereas I would be more concerned with what I’m looking at right now.”
— Bert WeberRenderings of Common Roots Brewery’s new facility at 55 Saratoga Ave., currently being built to the left of their location. The new building is slated to open this June.
For many businesses locally (and nationally), the climate being created by inflationary pressures, housing prices, interest rates, and available labor market is creating a large and sudden decline in their company’s revenue; a decline that could create opportunities for competitors to scoop up market share.
WHY: As conditions move from boom to doom for many businesses, they will begin to experience the inevitable panic that these types of swings bring. They’ll be asking: Are we going to be okay? What happens if revenue does not continue to increase? Are we going to have to let anyone go?
As these questions surface, management teams will inevitably start looking for costs to cut, line items to delete, and ways to save their salaries. This contradiction of looking for ways to just simply survive rather than explore ways
to continue growth through a rough business climate will almost always start with cutting Sales and Marketing departments.
The decision to cut marketing costs and downsize sales forces will inevitably shrink the exact thing businesses need: revenue. As revenue declines, businesses are forced to take another hard look at cuts. With the low hanging fruit already gone, companies will need start to look to make harder decisions.
HOW: The opportunity for an upcoming competitor lies in the space created for them by the shrinking brand awareness and lack of lead generating activities of the company making cuts. To grow your market share, you can almost move into the hole created by their absence. I say “almost” as there is a little extra work to do as well. To take advantage of this opportunity and ensure it is successful, we recommend you do 3 things before looking to fill the void.
Moving buyers to your camp relies on having a very strong brand that resonates with them. It is not enough to say who you are, and have your company values on your website. You need to walk the walk you talk. Then focus on the marketing & sales activities that reinforce who you are as a company and what is important to you.
Too often people are focused on marketing to “everyone.” Become hyper focused on your target market. This will help you not only save dollars on advertising but will also help your ideal prospect self-qualify before they even get in front of you. Spend time considering as much demographic information as you can, the geographic location of your audience, and the most important: psychographic information. Psychographic information is the psychological reasons your clients work with you. It is typically emotional and deals with the problems you are solving.
Lastly, you need to get creative. Stepping into a Brand Awareness and Lead Generation void left by a competitor does not mean you do exactly what they did. Spend some time considering what you do better and how to give voice to that. Look for ways to be visually different. Use highly emotional content to get attention and make sure that the problem you are solving is somehow important to the viewer’s survival.
This is not a short-term play, although it may have some immediate gain. You should be planning an overall marketing & sales strategy to garner your competitor’s market share that spans 12-18 months. As always, specific milestones and metrics should be in place and goals should be identified. Channels and campaigns should be monitored at a minimum of monthly and activities that are not producing after 90-120 days should be left behind.
As a newcomer, smaller company, or rising star, you only get so many opportunities to take large pieces of market share away from the established 20-year hometown competitor. Don’t miss this one.
Founded by Charles Amodio, Partner at Ferraro Amodio & Zarecki CPAs, Meeting Point was started with the intention of bringing seasoned professionals in the local area together, in order to help facilitate connections based on specific industries.
by Jordan Dunn Glens Falls TODAYCharles Amodio has a talent for making connections. “Working in a forensic accounting firm, we get a lot of referrals. I saw an opportunity to expand and extend the experience I was having at my own office to those in my local communities and beyond,” said Amodio.
With its first chapter in Albany commencing in the fall of 2019, the group has now added a chapter in Saratoga and another in the Hudson Valley to its ranks.
Meeting on a regular basis, the group helps local professionals in niche areas of accounting, law and wealth management connect, learn more about one another and hopefully facilitate
lasting professional relationships. Though the group began quite near the start of Covid, Amodio said that “the advances in remote working styles and meetings really helped to get us through that different period of time while still staying connected.”
Now that the world has returned to a semblance of normalcy, the groups utilize a mixture of traditional meetings, where members are often asked to give small presentations or participate in group discussion and activities, as well as participation in a number of social outings and events throughout the seasons.
We had the opportunity to speak with a member of Meeting Point’s Membership Committee,
Ryan Keleher of Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, who discussed a little bit of the group’s credentials when it comes to taking on new members.
“We really are looking for people who are interested in creating organic, professional relationships with top experts in their fields. This isn’t a business card exchange type of group. This is for those looking to get to know people not just on a professional level, but on a character level as well,” said Keleher.
In addition to positive intent, the group focuses on bringing in those who have reputable knowledge in a niche area of their industry. Oftentimes this means that the membership committee will strategically identify what kind of areas of focus have less
representation in the group and they try to fill them accordingly.
At this moment in time, each chapter is actively trying to fill several membership positions. Currently, there is also no membership fee.
“We are relatively new and still evolving,” said Amodio. “Each chapter is really still at an infancy stage so we are open to whatever potential avenues and opportunities may come our way down the line.”
This ‘take it day by day’ approach seems to be working positively for the group, if the opinion of Kaitlin Russitano of ADP, a member of the Saratoga chapter, is any indicator.
“Meeting Point has been a tremendous resource for my career within the Capital District. I found that fellow members were eager to find out more about me and to offer whatever help that was needed,” said Russitano. Russitano continued on to explain how “when it comes to helping my clients, I know I have a strong group of highly qualified professionals I’m comfortable sending them to. I truly look forward to the monthly meetings and group events that are planned throughout the year.”
Does this sound like the right opportunity for you? Those interested are encouraged to visit meeting-point.us/contact-us for more information.
Christy Alexander, the founder of WorkSmart, recently took the time to answer questions to shine a light on the opportunities and experiences of the shared workspace office model.
Q: What led you to start WorkSmart Coworking & Meeting Space?
A: Working as a remote professional in 2017, I was able to see that working from home wasn’t working. People were trying to run their business from a coffee shop, and it just wasn’t effective. They took a table as their “office” for hours and even held client meetings there. It’s unfair to the coffee shop and its customers, and it’s not a productive environment. I knew that business owners could be much more successful if they had a professional environment for client meetings. And even though they were in a public space, they still weren’t making real human connections.
Q: What made you want to open a business in Glens Falls?
A: I grew up here and I know it’s a great region with a lot of talent. So, my vision was to create a place where that talent and energy could come together - a place where people can build strong relationships and thrive. This kind of activity gives young people a reason to stay here and attracts economic investment to Glens Falls.
Q: What sets the membership model apart from the traditional office model?
A: Our membership model positions WorkSmart as more than just traditional office space or a desk. We provide everything members need like fast internet, utilities, office equipment and even furnishings so they can focus on their own growth. That growth doesn’t happen in a bubble though, so becoming a member gives you access to a talented community that can boost your success. In addition, there’s no need to waste time on long term lease negotiations or a protracted build out, and members can add space as their team grows or scale down with their business needs.
Q: How does WorkSmart promote cooperation between individuals and businesses?
A: WorkSmart was built with private office spaces and private meeting spaces, but it’s not like a traditional building full of divided office space. WorkSmart was intentionally designed with offices that enable visual connection with other people and common spaces where members can come together to share ideas and skills. We know that growing a business is hard; and, here, we support each other through challenges and celebrate our wins. It’s common to see members roll out the whiteboard to brainstorm ideas and troubleshoot a way around obstacles. For an entrepreneur, a quick whiteboard session like that can mean days of progress! This is the kind of activity that leads to authentic connections, new ideas and growth.
Q: What is the significance of being a Certified NYS Women-Owned Business?
A: The challenges women face in business are unique. I face them, too. The MWBE certification allows me to show women in this community that I understand their struggles and needs. New York’s MWBE certification requires a lengthy application process, and it can be particularly helpful to businesses that participate in government contracts.
Q: Tell me about your location: The First National Bank Building
A: I launched WorkSmart in 2018 in a smaller space in Glens Falls to determine whether the region would embrace the concept and to better understand customers’ needs. I found that we needed more and larger meeting rooms and private office spaces. The First National Bank building had been vacant for several years, and the original lobby offered WorkSmart the opportunity to expand and diversify our current product offering in a truly unique space. In addition, there is potential to expand as our membership grows and as our clients grow their businesses.
Q: Why should people working from home consider becoming a member?
A: If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that humans need human interaction. We’ve all gotten used to working from home, BUT growing from home is really hard. Distractions make it unproductive, and it feels like we can never put the workday behind us. At home, we’re missing the “water cooler moments” where we swap stories and talk shop. The energy of the people around us has been proven to boost our productivity and our drive to push through challenges.
WorkSmart Coworking and Meeting Space has a variety of offerings to fit the way people work best. Members can access private offices, executive desks or coworking space to work remotely or run their businesses. We even offer meeting rooms for client meetings and larger spaces where teams come together for the kind of “magic” that’s only possible in person. I invite you to book a tour at WorkSmartGF.com.
Q: Where do you see WorkSmart Coworking and Meeting Space in 5 Years?
A: Over the next five years, we plan to expand our services to meet the needs of our members and the community. We envision an ongoing workshop series to help business owners get the tools, information, and mentorship they need to be successful. We will tap the talent in our region to continue to develop WorkSmart as a center of activity where small business owners, freelancers and startups can launch, grow and even fail successfully. I’d like to work in partnership with other local businesses and organizations to further stimulate growth and add to the vibrancy of our economy. We also see a real need for childcare, so I’m exploring options for providing that as an on-site solution for WorkSmart members.
I invite anyone interested to schedule a tour online at WorkSmartGF.com. To get more information about upcoming workshops, ongoing events and business opportunities people can subscribe to our bi-weekly updates by visiting WorkSmartGF.com. Stay connected by following us on social media where we share about our nonprofit coworking days and other opportunities to connect with the WorkSmart community.
Catherine E. Martin sold property at 309 Miller Rd to Timothy Lutgens for $45,000
Robert A. Hahn sold property at 9 Tilford Rd to Justin Darrow for $233,863
J.R. Merc, Inc. sold property at 1042 State Route 197 to Empire State Self Storage, LLC for $34,900
Paul Dean McWhorter sold property at 1335 Coach Rd to Thomas Pollock & Amanda Cordiale for $225,000
Nancy Ross sold property at 1482 Mahaffy Rd to Timothy LaFountain for $130,000
Jag Morgison Enterprises, Inc. sold property at 31 Safford Rd to Cindy Corlew & Scott Schermerhorn for $249,963
William & Martha Hanna sold property at 318 Hinds Rd to Chad & Kristine French for $9,000
Brian & Moriah Mathis sold property at 5978 State Route 40 to Daniel R. Sill for $125,000
Beatrice H. Garfield sold property at 9 Thunderbird Rd to James & Asuncion Smallze for $365,000
Alicia Williams sold property at 11079 State Route 149 to Fort OB, LLC for $325,000
K & C Land Holdings, LLC sold property at 117 Buttermilk Falls Rd to Gail Crandall for $150,000
Richard & Lisa Bancroft sold property at 38 Catherine St to Haylee I. Lefebvre for $189,900
Rodney & Rachelle Standage sold property at 25 Taylor Woods Rd to David & Linda Shaw for $230,000
Douglas Vaughn sold property at 1045 County Route 16 to John Flewelling for $130,000
Bonnie L. McFarren sold property at 21 West Rd to Robert D. Havens for $150,520
Christine A. Hadden sold
property at 197 Hadlock Pond Rd to Chrisopher Robinson for $272,000
Boldstar, LLC sold property at 147 South St to 19 E. Notre Dame Street, LLC for $55,883.50
Hugh Matson sold property at 26 Grand St to Buena Fe, LLC for $165,000
Sanford Street Holding Company, LLC sold property at 24 Sanford St to TB Nelson Properties, LLC for $171,720
James Atherton-Ely sold property at 106 Bay St to Michael P. Sheedy for $270,000
Darin R. Williams sold property at 137 Bay St to HEJ International, LLC for $180,000
Pet Paradise NY, LLC sold property at 121 Warren St to Simons McCormack Holdings, LLC for $595,000
Dutton Properties, LLC sold property at 73 Bay St to PMA Saratoga Real Estate Holdings, LLC for $160,000 80 Glen Street, LLC sold property at 80 Glen St to 64 Glen, LLC for $550,000
Kristin E. Canini sold property at 10 Charlotte St to Mark & Jeremy DeLor for $240,000
Servants of the Word, Inc. sold property at 28 & 30 Walnut St to Giovanni Fresco, LLC for $125,000
Diane M. Transue sold property at 32 Mason St to Eric & Melanie Pearsall for $165,000
Wilmot Real Estate Holdings, LLC sold property at 1315 Wilmot St to Edgardo Velasquez, Jr. for $250,000
Diane Coughlin & Linda Pechette sold property at 68 Prospect St to Andrew Sundberg for $125,000
The Town of Granville sold property at 44-46 Main St to Sammy Development, LLC for $61,000
Thomas & Louise Tolworthy sold property at 43 West Main St & 2 South Maple St
to Peter Stefanopoulous for $830,000
Richard Clayton sold property at 1-3 & 3-5 Slocum Ave to Floyd E. Carruth, Jr. for $110,000
Antonio D’andrea sold property at 8 County Route 25 to Douglas Swain for $100,000
Damian & Kimberly Truttling sold property at 370 & 366 Carrera Ln to Bruce Ferguson, Sr. for $33,000
Lori Johnson & Pamela Bailey sold property at 1320 County Route 24 to Kenneth L. Thomas III for $65,000
NS193, LLC sold property at 720 Guilder Hollow Rd to Bruce & Michelle Smith for $195,900
Lisa A. Lipp sold property at 8 Bulkley Ave to Josh Ellis & Bethanne Dickinson for $205,320
Glenn R. Clouse, Jr. sold property at 6 Granview Dr to Elizabeth & Jonathan Schuyler for $182,000
Tyler & Michelle Baranowski sold property at 83 Stoddard Rd to James & Judson Springer for $355,100
Franklin R. Murray sold property at 42 Maple St to D&T Creative Properties, LLC for $87,500
Patricia A. Clum sold property at 12 Birch Ln to Dayle L. Beshara for $62,000
Timothy, John, & Daniel Sullivan, Diane Flores, and Lisa Rogers sold property at 24 3rd Ave to Quantum Steinberg, LLC for $85,000
Gloria, Nancy, Lorraine, and Brian Gilman sold property at 355 Dean Rd to Melanie Older for $246,170
Richard Stanley sold property at 5 Alexander Ln Lot 15 to David & Nancy Godbout for $314,000
Stephen A. Shaw sold property at 45 Stone Schoolhouse Rd to Mary Ann Swinton & Joshua Shores for $240,000
David I. Hayes sold property at 31 Country Acres Dr to Rodney & Donna Secor for $ 330,000
Michael Blau sold property at 735 County Route 41 to Linda & Simeon Hunsdon for $225,000
Robert E. Hoffer III sold property at 349 Main St to Jeffrey & Joshua Hoffer for $145,000
Annie Ogden & Cargel Clifford sold property at 18 Pine St to Brenda Yagy for $132,500
Kim Griffin & Barbara Griffin Jordan sold property at 4 Brook Rd to Barry & RoseAnn Viola for $188,000
Levi & Hillary Brewer sold property at 2 Third St to Michael T. Clifford for $210,000
Scott Estabrook sold property at 13 Alexander Way Lot 19 to David & Kimberly Thistle for $265,000
DLE Rentals, LLC sold property at 337 Main St to Bentley Property Development, LLC for $600,000
Casey J. Gordon sold property at 10 Grove Ave to Christopher Herbst & Ashley Krywcun for $216,000
Michael B. Neyhart sold property at 20 Locust St to Michael T. Blowers for $159,540
Nancy L. Barber sold property at 61 Boulevard to Bedrock Building, LLC for $145,000
Branden Smith sold property at 579 Vaughn Rd to Walter Zagorski for $80,000
Scott M. Lindsay sold property at 2435 State Route 149 to Michael J. Locke for $182,000
John D. Renaud sold property at 1231 State Route 196 to Michael Carbone & Mary Horn for $217,420
James & Nancy Keating sold property at 1197 Dix Ave to John Brunette, LLC for $145,000
Dominic & Michael Caivano sold property at 80 River St to Gold Door Holdings, LLC for $105,000
Mark E. Hopper sold property at 41 John St to Liam Serviss for $182,000
Jenni Lee sold property at 33 Helen St to Jade Golden for $80,000
Aaron Minsk & Alyson Epstein sold property at 5 Elm St to The Falls Housing Group, LLC for $89,108.22
Albert Nolette, Lisa Keenan and Margaret Keenan sold property at 253 Main St to David & Silvana Zelenka for $165,000
Trampes R. Decker sold property at 1067 State Route 196 to Travis Decker for $55,226.50
Wesley M. Carpenter sold property at 990 County Route 41 to Kristi & Gregory Dawson for $270,000
Sara J. McKay sold property at 1107 State Route 196 to Logan J. Dembesky for $220,000
Holly J. Boothby sold property at 11 ½ Melbourne Ave to Joseph & Patricia Tallini for $177,000
Kevin & Mary Beth Maschewski sold property at 3238 Lake Shore Dr to 3238 Lakeshore Drive, LLC for $4,460,000
Kathleen D. Mound sold property at 209-211 Beach Rd to Francis & Cheryl Putorti and Daniel & Deborah O’Rourke for $585,000
Brian E. Morris sold property at 348 Truesdale Hill Rd to Patricia & Joseph Hays for $570,000
Craig Brown sold property at 44 Watershed Dr to Laura & Michael Tobin for $172,000
Brian Dunleavy sold property at 10 Pettis St to Danielle Thompson-Dunleavy for $291,000
James E. Miller sold property at 47 Olde Coach Rd to Thomas & Shannon Lapp for $650,000
John Ratynski sold property at 7 Prospect St Unit B10 to Mark & Staci DeLorenzo for $278,000
James & Steven Ohnigian, Shakee Hitik, and Frank Piper sold property at 3686 Route 9L for $207,000
Circuitous Group, Inc. sold property at 3136 Lake Shore Dr to B&G Lake Shore Drive, LLC for $905,000
KPA Group, Inc. sold property at 8 Whisper Ln to Mark & Rosetta Salerno for $48,000
Zachary J. Ruland sold property at 13 Pine Grove Ave to SPC 13 Pine Grove, LLC for $160,000
Raymond & Katie Reilly sold property at 740 East River Dr to Damian & Matthew Maslinski for $350,000
Grandma’s Home, LLC sold property at 44 Harris Ave to Renee Elliott, Richard Buys and Charles Buys for $165,000
Donald C. Fleming, Jr. sold property at 16 Seventh Ave to Adam & Jenna Mueller for $123,000
Kenneth & Jeanmarie Craig sold property at 16 Hill St to Nathaniel & Krysta Cochran for $240,000
Charlotte E. Gilet sold property at 16 Terrace Rd to Gregory Canale & Patricia
Heslin for $393,600
Bradford B. Hague sold property at 275 Chestnut Ridge Rd to Jeremiah M. Brockway for $717,000
Revival Designer Homes, LLC sold property at 6 River St to Lauren Formanski & Daniel White for $279,000
Robert A. Gover sold property at 18 ½ Newcomb St to Schermerhorn Residential Holdings, LP for $220,000
Tina Arcuri DeMarsh sold property at 43 Lambert Dr to Jason R. LaMora for $349,500
John & Mary Anne Doty sold property at 21 Juniper Dr to Ronald & Stacey Leydecker for $430,000
Vanessa L. Zulauf sold property at 3 North Ct to Ashlyn E. Holderman for $219,000
Adrienne Lee Rowell sold property at 3 Ames Pl to Daniel Tucker for $230,000
Edwin & Kelly Seeley sold property at 123 Sherman Island Rd to William Coates
III & Alexandra Coates for $415,000
Lisa M. Peoples sold property at 17 Terrace Rd to Roger L. Kallop for $520,000
Thomas Orr sold property at 133 Tee Hill Rd to Matthew Eberlein for $380,000
Theodore & Jamie Bearor sold property at 25 Pinion Pine Ln to David & Tonya Holbrook for $400,000
Shelley S. St. John sold property at 248 Corinth Rd to Christopher Hayes & Dannae Whalen for $160,000
George & Irene Sammons sold property at 105 Farr Ln to Michael & Kimberly Nelson for $440,000
Robert B. Larson sold property at 23 Thomas St to Samuel M. Steinhilber for $246,400
Michelle Signorelli sold property at 1 Owen Ave to Daniel & Kelly Mitchell for $245,000
Cornelius & Kimberly Tavarres sold property at 39
Algonquin Dr to Mary & Duncan Goel for $485,000
Kyle Marrs & Alexis Gayton Taylor sold property at 124 Sunnyside North to Jeremiah & Sonya Madden for $455,000
Kathilyn L. Williams sold property at 212 West Mountain Rd to Evan Richardson Koke
Donald & Margaret Bress sold property at 1285 Ridge Rd to Laurence & Margaret Gilbride for $250,000
Debra M. Gross sold property at 61 Palmer Dr to JPGross Properties, LLC for $265,000
Joshua S. Brown sold property at 20 Birch Rd to C&CF Real Estate Investments, LLC for $395,000
David Howard & Peter Davis sold property at 676 Sherman Ave to Daniel & Amy Foster for $455,000
Francis & Ellen Cabana sold property at 22 Mohawk Trail to Steven & Urszula Sledziewski for $560,000
Dana R. Smith sold property at 6 Lynn Ave to Nicholas A. Jacobson for $153,000
The Salem Tavern, LLC sold property at 219 Main St to Battenkill Realty Holdings, LLC for $152,000
Sandra L. Green sold property at 56 Perry Hill Rd to Shannen Regan for $164,000
Raymond & Elizabeth Olson sold property at 35 Perry Hill Rd to Lynn M. Telford for $170,000
Lori T. Colombraro sold property at 4397 State Route 22 to Adam R. Burnett for $199,900
Holly C. Montgomery sold property at 115 Scott Lake Rd to Janice M. Knapp for $58,333.33
Scott Eastman & Winona Hathaway sold property at 307 North Main St to Mark & Mary Brayton for $169,000
Keiva Harrington sold property at 26 Nichol St to Blue Swan Otto for $185,000
Marine Veteran and StrongFirst Certified Trainer, Ryan Carpenter prides himself on building a fun and safe environment geared towards helping people push forward to meet their health and wellness goals through Kettlebell workouts.
A gym inside a gym, Carpenter uses space inside of Atlas Jiu Jitsu & MMA, at 110 Main street in South Glens Falls in the Midtown Plaza.
by Kate Haggerty Glens Falls TODAYRyan uses his passion for the Kettlebell workout and his own personal story to inspire others to create change in their lives. Ryan credits his ability to gain and maintain his sobriety with the discipline that was instilled in him by the Marine Corps. Ryan was an athlete throughout high school and had scholarship offers for college. But, he felt that he was going to waste the opportunity of college. He decided to enlist in the Marines. The values that the military instilled in Ryan were discipline, taking care of others, helping others, and relying on others. These values helped Ryan overcome his own personal struggles.
When Ryan left active duty with the United States Marine Corps in 1997, he struggled to keep in shape. It wasn’t until he chose sobriety that he found a new passion for working out. Ryan started off slowly with light workouts, changing his diet and making smarter choices. He began to lose weight and began to see his training evolve.
The Kettlebell workouts really appealed to Ryan because they were so effective in working the entire body. The low impact on the joints, and the improvement to his strength and conditioning, and the weight loss were undeniable. Ryan completed his StrongFirst Kettlebell Certification in July of 2020. In five years, he went from morbidly overweight to the strongest, healthiest and happiest he has ever been. Ryan’s goal with Simple Strength and Conditioning is to build a community and create a fun and safe workout for others. Being part of a community was something that Ryan missed from his years in the Marines.
Simple Strength and Conditioning opened in July of 2021 and just keeps growing. Ryan and his wife Cara put the time and effort into rehabbing an under-utilized area of the Atlas Jiu Jitsu & MMA Gym. Ryan & Cara were able to create a space where Ryan could oversee the workouts of his clients. “We started with 7 people; And that was enough to pay the rent. Then, as word of mouth got out we have gotten more and more people, and 90% of the people who try the Kettlebell workout stay in the program.” Ryan said. The Kettlebell workout spans all ages. Ryan’s clientele range in age from 13 to 74.
In 2012, when Ryan decided to get sober, it was the core values that the military instilled in him that helped him gain and build on his sobriety. The military taught him to “Always Do Better.” As he was striving to “Do Better,” it was the mental toughness that he gained as a Marine that helped him push through. “Without my military background, I probably would have caved. The mental toughness, what it is to be a Marine, and the standards that
they instill helped me through my toughest days.” Ryan remembers being inspired by his Aunt Josie as well. She said to him, “You can do anything. You were a Marine! You can do anything!” Just those words of encouragement helped Ryan keep going. “That got me over the poor me phase of ‘what I had done to myself?’ and reminded me that my life is not over, and that I could fix this.”
Although the path that Ryan took throughout his life has had difficulties and challenges, he is thankful for his experience in the military and how it shaped him and instilled lasting values. “Without a doubt it was the best education that I have ever had.”
For information about membership rates, joining Simple Strength and Conditioning, and class schedules, visit their website: www.SimpleStrengthConditioning.com.
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Without my military background, I probably would have caved. The mental toughness, what it is to be a Marine and the standards that they instill helped me through my toughest days.”
— Ryan CarpenterMarine Veteran Ryan Carpenter, Corporal E-4. Photo provided.
hat would we do without our family? Have you noticed how DNA will all of a sudden show up in unusual ways as we go through life? Who are we and how did we become who we are? For instance, my mom was a wonderful hostess. We always had company for Sunday dinner and had family and friends in and out of our house on other days of the week. I know I inherited my mom’s hospitality skills. My father was an entrepreneur, he owned a confectionery store where he made and sold, retail and wholesale, ice cream and other confections. Bill came from a family history of business owners and lumbermen. From this he was a quick learner in building, plumbing and electrical, also in creativity and architecture.
In 2002, as I turned 50 years old, I decided I wanted to become an innkeeper. I didn’t romanticize the job. I knew it would be hard work. I had no thoughts of sitting in the evenings with my guests sharing a bottle of wine. Although
it did happen occasionally! My friends and family continually asked why we would want strangers staying in our home. But that aspect of the business didn’t bother us. So, we began to move ahead with plans. We found a house that would work as a bed and breakfast inn and began renovations. As we finished our guest room renovations we realized that they each needed a name and a personality. When we first opened we had 4 guest rooms and thought, ‘we had 4 grandmothers.’ We decided it would be a nice tribute to these women to name our guest rooms after them. My grandmothers were Sadie & Lillian, Bill’s were Florence & Beatrice.
I decorated the rooms to match their individual personalities. The project of renovating and decorating took a year to complete. Then we opened our door to guests. I really had no idea what I was doing but plunged ahead. This was before social media so the only way to get the word out was with a website and word of mouth.
We found out as time went on what worked and what didn’t. We learned how to balance our privacy with guests in the house. The first important thing we learned was to put locks on our doors that separated our private space and guest space. Signage was also important. We put up signage stating when we were not available to our guests unless it was an emergency.
We were able to make this bed and breakfast inn a successful business and ran it for 12 years. In addition to running the bed and breakfast we began to offer afternoon tea to the public. This started an avalanche of parties, dinners, showers and weddings. I took on a new role of event planner!
Then our life took on a new course and we became grandparents. Our daughter and her husband lived in Glens Falls. I wanted to be able to have quality time with my new granddaughter and offered to be her caregiver while mom and dad worked. I traveled back and forth to Glens Falls, it was about an hour and fifteen minute drive. I would stay for the week leaving Bill to run the bed and breakfast and his retail business.
Then our second ‘Glens Falls grandchild’ was born and Bill and I started to think about selling and moving to be closer to the grandkids.
We made the decision to put our house
on the market. When it sold we began looking for a property in Glens Falls to do a startup bed and breakfast inn. We needed to find a property that was in a lightcommercial zone and could accommodate not just guest rooms, a dining room and a gathering room for guests but also a living area for us. NYS law states that someone, either the owner or a hired innkeeper, lives on the property. There was not much inventory on the market for us to consider but decided that the house on the corner of Bay and Sanford was a good choice. We closed on the property March 2015, began renovations and opened for business in July of 2016. We brought our grandmothers with us by continuing to use their names for our guest rooms. When we added a fifth guest room it was named for my mother Dorothy.
We are now in our 7th year of innkeeping in Glens Falls. We love our community and our guests. We enjoy playing concierge, sending our guests to our downtown restaurants, museums, theaters, shopping and sports. Or, sending them off to the Saratoga Race Course or experiencing beautiful Lake George. We are also so incredibly lucky to have the support of our Glens Falls family and friends. Thank you, mom and dad, for gifting me with your wonderful DNA. I will continue to stay true to who I am.
In August of 2016, the City of Glens Falls announced that it was the recipient of a 10 million dollar state grant, the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), to revitalize targeted downtown areas. The targeted area is roughly 95 acres. South Street was identified as the area most in need of revitalization due to its high vacancy rates and the dilapidated conditions of many of the buildings.
Glens Falls responded to the challenges of the DRI by creating the Strategic Investment Plan (SIP). The SIP’s goal is to identify and advance projects and initiatives that have catalytic and transformative potential. The projects must be perceived as having the greatest public benefit, have broad stakeholder support and must be primed for implementation. The SIP exists to help the city focus on how best to leverage its resources and assets to encourage appropriate public and private investment.
To catalyze means to cause or accelerate an action or process to begin. Investors will be more likely to invest in an area knowing that there is public support and other investments with similar goals. The goal of the DRI is for downtown Glens Falls to create a groundswell of new activity that brings new residents to downtown, helps local businesses, boosts the arts community, and attracts new visitors to Glens Falls.
Jeff Flag, the Economic Development Director for the City of Glens Falls identified the first project completed under the DRI as the moving of the SUNY Culinary School from Bay Road to Hudson Street. What seemed to be a promising start to revitalization was put on hold by the unexpected intervention of the
COVID-19 pandemic. As that period of uncertainty diminishes in the rear view mirror of history, the city is re-engaging and supporting DRI projects.
It is easier for investors to choose a specific project in a community if there are signs that more investment is imminent. Just recently, 58-66 South Street was purchased by Gregg Singer and Larissa Ovit. These partners purchased the three connecting buildings from Tony Poulos and David Johnson. Renovations have also begun on the old Irish Pizza & Cafe.
Kerry Smith, the owner of Glens Falls Bagels and current tenant of 58 South Street signed his lease because of the imminent investment of the DRI on South Street. Since the building has changed hands he has renegotiated his lease and will move into the 66 South Street space upon completion of the renovations. Smith has received solid local support from the community for his product and is looking forward to expanding his menu and potentially franchise.
The investment in the neighboring properties on South Street is exactly what the DRI was designed to inspire. “Now we’ve got enough critical mass. There is enough momentum that we can look at the other side of the street too. DRI has facilitated getting private investment in the city,” Flagg said.
The plans that involve the DRI funding are assessed so that the DRI plan is supportive and not duplicative of other planning efforts. It is important for private investors to know that the area will not be flooded with similar concepts. A broad swatch of economic activity benefits each individual stakeholder.
