COOPERSTOWN — A proposed federal law would restore and extend a tax credit for short-line railroads to target infrastructure-improvement projects through 2016.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) launched his push for the “Short Line Railroad Rehabilitation and Investment Act” during a Thursday appearance at the New York Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) headquarters in Cooperstown.

The short-line rail tax credit expired on Jan. 1, but Schumer’s bill would restore the credit and extend it through 2016. 

The tax credit is valued at 50 percent of the cost of track maintenance and improvements, up to $3,500 per mile.

The NYSW has already benefitted to the tune of more than $7 million from this tax credit and is looking to maintain and upgrade rail infrastructure to keep shipments running quickly and safely, according to a news release from Schumer’s office. 

Schumer’s bill would allow the NYSW to undertake an additional $2.5 million to $3 million in infrastructure improvements over the next two years.

The NYSW is an arterial route for 85 New York businesses that ship their products to the Port of New York for export, especially agricultural businesses transporting commodities such as lumber, feed ingredients, and motor vehicles, according to the news release. 

The NYSW is “particularly important” to the transportation of grains from Upstate New York’s grain producers to the Port of New York, where they are then shipped around the world, Schumer’s office said.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

 

GENEVA — A Geneva bus and limousine company is hearing from brides-to-be and other groups following the sudden closure of Caz Limo, Inc. on Wednesday.

Fitzgerald Brothers Bus and Limousine Co. has serviced the Syracuse market since 2001, the company said in an email message to CNYBJ.com.

 “We are calling back lots of drivers who were off for the winter to meet this new demand,” Mike Fitzgerald, company owner, said in his message.

The firm operates a fleet of more than 30 vehicles that are of “similar size and composition” to Caz Limo, and, therefore, is “able to service those customers in the same capacity,” Fitzgerald said.

The company owner acknowledges that the Caz Limo situation is “unfortunate.”

Fitzgerald also notes that his business may be able to accommodate some of the company’s former employees, as his firm has openings for salespeople, mechanics, and drivers.

As CNYBJ.com  reported Wednesday, Caz Limo, a well-known charter bus and limousine service in Central New York, went out of business due to the firm’s “financial situation.”

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

 

SYRACUSE — More than five months after launching operations, a new local chartered-transportation company is hoping for growth in 2014.

 

Ultimate Arrival, LLC, a family-operated business, is located in a 4,500-square-foot space at 971 Spencer St. in Syracuse, near the intersection of Hiawatha Boulevard.

 

“We’re looking to grow in Syracuse,” says Jessica Sloma, a Bridgeport resident who serves as the company president and the firm’s majority owner. 

 

The business has three divisions: motor-coach buses, executive transportation, and aircraft-charter brokerage.

 

The motor coach and executive-transportation divisions primarily serve the corporate and academic markets, along with demand for social outings, including weddings, nights on the town, and wine tours. 

 

Ultimate Arrival is “still developing” the aircraft-charter brokering portion of the business, which is the smallest division of the three, says Sloma. 

 

The firm’s principals are Jessica Sloma; Donald Kuepper, Jr., Sloma’s stepfather who serves as company vice president and director of operations; and Ryan Kuepper, Sloma’s step brother who also serves as vice president of aircraft-charter brokering.  

 

Sloma owns 60 percent of the firm, while the Kueppers each own 20 percent, according to Sloma.

 

They began operations last September but formed the company a few months earlier in June, Sloma says.  

 

The firm had landed its first contract before the principals had secured operating space.  Ultimate Arrival’s first contract-generated business was with Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

 

Ultimate Arrival partnered with Wade Tours, Inc. of Schenectady and rented that firm’s buses to begin the casino contract, according to Sloma.  

 

And while the first contract didn’t take long, finding operating space for the business “took us some time,” Sloma says. 

 

The principals needed a setting that provided both office space and a place to house and maintain motor-coach buses.

 

“So, we had to find overhead doors that we could drive in and also raise the buses to work underneath them. So, it was challenging,” Sloma says. 

Jeff Kelsen, who owns Allegiance Realty, LLC at 920 Spencer St. in Syracuse, helped broker Ultimate Arrival’s lease with property owner Anthony D’Agostino, according to Sloma.

 

Ultimate Arrival purchased and uses a fleet of vehicles that includes two customized, 56-passenger motor coaches; two mini-coaches, including a 26-passenger shuttle with a flat screen TV and restroom and a larger 32-passenger shuttle; along with a 10-passenger Mercedes Sprinter van, a Lincoln crossover, and two Lincoln Navigators. 

 

Ultimate Arrival found its motor coaches at the Orlando, Fla. location of College Park, Ga.–based Alliance Bus Group, Inc, Sloma says.

 

The Syracuse business also purchased some of its smaller sports-utility vehicles in Rhinebeck, N.Y., she adds.

 

Ultimate Arrival provides shuttle service for student teachers from Syracuse University’s School of Education to their assigned locations in the Jamesville-DeWitt and Liverpool School Districts, along with shuttle services for Christian Brothers Academy as well, Sloma says.

 

Ultimate Arrival is currently talking with Greek Peak Mountain Resort about partnering to attract Canadian tourists. The company also wants to provide trips to sporting events, New York City excursions, and multi-day trips. 

 

The business employs 14 drivers, including 13 who are school-bus qualified, according to Sloma. The drivers are considered part-time employees, she adds. 

 

The firm also employs a full-time master mechanic and a full-time compliance manager, according to Sloma.

 

Ultimate Arrival hopes to add drivers as demand increases, she adds.

 

The three partners self-funded the $300,000 needed to launch the business, Sloma says. Through more than five months of operation, Ultimate Arrival has generated close to $300,000 in revenue, she adds. Sloma projects a revenue figure of $1 million by the end of 2014. 

 

Forming Ultimate Arrival

 

Sloma was working for DeWitt–based Lighthouse Marketing, Inc. in April 2013 when Don Kuepper suggested they pursue the transportation business.

 

Kuepper had retired from the U.S. Postal Service in March 2009, having spent his final three years working at a distribution facility in Hartford, Conn.

 

During the following winter, a friend suggested Kuepper learn how to drive a bus and work for Caz Limo, Inc. 

 

“I loved it.  I was living the dream,” he says, noting he made trips to 17 New York Yankees baseball games in 2010.

 

The company eventually promoted Kuepper to operations manager.

 

“In doing so, I got an in depth look at how the transportation industry worked,” he says.

 

He discussed the possibility of launching a similar type of business with his son, Ryan, who suggested the charter-brokering division. 

 

Ryan Kuepper is currently the chief pilot for Syracuse–based Citation Jet with experience in commercial, corporate, and charter-aircraft service.

 

The elder Kuepper suggested adding in some ground-transportation options. 

 

He eventually brought the idea to Sloma, who left her most recent job last June, she says.

 

“And, with several conversations, the idea quickly formed. And then the divisions quickly formed, so that was mid-April. And by the end of May, we had the business 

plan almost wrapped up and the LLC formed,” she says.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

 

 

 

SYRACUSE — Solvay Glass, LLC, which also serves as the local retailer for Renewal by Andersen, is now covering a larger area for those Andersen products in the southern part of New York.

Solvay Glass, located at 735 Erie Blvd. West in Syracuse, sells and installs glass for windows and doors. Renewal by Andersen this past summer informed the local company that it was expanding its service territory to include the Southern Tier all the way to the Pennsylvania border.

Renewal by Andersen is the custom, full service division of Andersen Windows, Inc., which is part of Bayport, Minn.–based Andersen Corp.

Solvay Glass got word at “the end of July of last year,” says Lisa Stratton, sales and marketing director. “We were elated. We celebrated,” she adds. 

The firm’s coverage area now stretches to the Pennsylvania border and includes Binghamton, Endicott, Endwell, along with Tioga County, and Elmira.

For that same product line, the Solvay Glass territory extends north to Watertown, east to Utica–Rome, and west to Waterloo, according to Stratton.

Prior to last summer, the southern end of its service area for Renewal by Andersen only stretched as far as Cortland, Stratton says.

Renewal by Andersen based its decision to expand Solvay Glass’s coverage area on customer feedback, Stratton says.

Andersen forwards a survey to customers who purchase one of its products, a survey that Stratton describes as “everything.” The homeowners then complete the survey privately and send it back.

“We measured up in their eyes of what was important [which is, again,] protecting that brand promise,” Stratton says of Renewal by Andersen.

Solvay Glass has an overall customer satisfaction rating of 92 percent, “which is impressive in the remodeling/home improvement industry,” Stratton adds in an email.  

Stratton describes Renewal by Andersen as the “custom, full service division of Andersen Window and Door,” meaning the product isn’t available a big-box store. A contractor cannot purchase the product at Solvay Glass, she says.

Renewal by Andersen partnered with Solvay Glass in May 2008 because it had a showroom for the product and had been in good standing with the Better Business Bureau for more than 25 years, Stratton says.

In addition, Renewal by Andersen requires a full-time service department and its certification of Solvay Glass’ installers and production manager, she adds.

“The reason for that is a faulty installation will void the warranty. Hence, the reason that Renewal by Andersen won’t let a contractor come in off the street and purchase the product,” Stratton says.

In its partnership with Renewal by Andersen, Solvay Glass is required to provide projections, including revenue, sometimes projected out as far as five years, Stratton says.

Solvay Glass also reports to Renewal on a “weekly basis,” including number of customers to whom the company has spoken, number of times it presented a price, and what the pricing structure looked like.

“So, they really do have a pulse on our company as far as how we’re pricing, what we’re pricing,” she says.

With the extended territory, Solvay Glass is considering possibly opening a location in the Southern Tier, but as of now, has “not pursued it,” says Stratton.

“That’s at least a year to a year-and-a-half down the road,” she says.

 

About the company

Founded in 1964, Solvay Glass operates in a 32,000-square-foot facility that includes 25,000 square feet of warehouse space and 7,000 square feet of showroom floor and office space, Stratton says.

The company owns its building on Erie Boulevard West, she adds.

Solvay Glass currently employs 35, which includes eight part-time employees, Stratton says. The figure also includes four new full-time employees who started with the firm this year to accommodate the expansion of its Renewal by Andersen territory.

Solvay Glass serves a customer base that is 95 percent residential and five percent commercial, Stratton says.

She describes Solvay Glass as a $5 million company and offered the same figure when asked about a revenue projection for 2014.

When asked if the expanded Renewal by Andersen territory might boost that annual-revenue figure, Stratton replied, “I would hope.”

Charles (Chuck) Cometti, son of company founder Henry (Hank) Cometti, is the sole owner of Solvay Glass.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com