BSK forms long-term care practice with additions

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

SYRACUSE — The law firm Bond Schoeneck & King of Syracuse has added six attorneys with a strong statewide long-term care practice. The move was

Syracuse law firm gets new partner

Law, Accounting & Taxes

SYRACUSE — The law firm Scolaro, Shulman, Cohen, Fetter & Burstein, P.C. has a new partner. The Syracuse–based firm announced in December that Zachary Benjamin

Mohawk Valley Chamber names five new board directors

Nonprofits, Regional News

UTICA — The Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce recently named five new members to its board of directors. The quintet, which began serving three-year board

Unshackle Upstate unveils 2013 policy agenda

Employee Benefits & Human Resources

Pro-business group Unshackle Upstate posted a 2013 policy agenda Jan. 4 that includes allowing shale-gas drilling in New York. Other legislative changes the group is

Tully Rinckey expands again

Law, Accounting & Taxes, Small Business

SYRACUSE — An Albany law firm with a Syracuse office is expanding into the Buffalo market. Tully Rinckey, PLLC will open its Buffalo office Jan.

Ithaca’s Primet to begin licensing its technology

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

ITHACA — Primet Precision Materials, Inc., an Ithaca–based advanced materials company, plans to start licensing its technology to larger businesses. The firm’s core technology involves the production of very small particles on the micron to nano scale. Those particles have a range of applications, but Primet has been focusing on materials used in manufacturing lithium

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

ITHACA — Primet Precision Materials, Inc., an Ithaca–based advanced materials company, plans to start licensing its technology to larger businesses.

The firm’s core technology involves the production of very small particles on the micron to nano scale. Those particles have a range of applications, but Primet has been focusing on materials used in manufacturing lithium ion batteries, a market worth billions of dollars, says Lawrence Thomas, Primet CEO.

“We think we have the lowest cost process for high-performance materials in that whole industry,” he says. “It’s getting to the point where it’s obvious that we have the lowest cost machine out there. If you’re not using our machine, you’re not competitive in the marketplace.”

Licensing was always a probable path forward for Primet, Thomas notes. Establishing the kinds of manufacturing plants it would take to compete with major players in the industry requires resources and expertise the company simply doesn’t have.

“Our strategy is not to sell materials,” Thomas says. “That market is dominated by multibillion dollar chemical companies. That’s not us.”

Rather than compete with those firms, Primet wants to partner with them.

But that doesn’t mean the company will stop growing in Ithaca. In fact, Primet has hired five or six people in the last four months and now employs 32.

Primet is housed in 20,000 square feet at the South Hill Business Campus in Ithaca. Its facility is home to a smaller-scale version of its production technology so potential license partners can see it in action.

Primet has been adding some new equipment lately to bring its operations to an industrial scale, Thomas says. The company can now demonstrate for partners how it can go from making grams of material to tons.

The Ithaca facility can also produce larger amounts of material so partners can have samples and enough material for sales while a partner implements Primet’s technology at its own plants, Thomas says.

The long-term goal is for Primet’s technology to be deployed across the battery industry in as many different types of batteries as possible. And once that’s done, the company’s technology has applications in other markets, Thomas says.

He says he’s already in talks with companies on potential licensing agreements. Primet announced the licensing strategy in November.

Primet has won a number of grants over the years including three from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for $440,000, $250,000, and $400,000. The company is also a founding member of the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium.

New York state is an investor in Primet in the form of the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) Small Business Technology Investment Fund. The firm’s private investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the Cayuga Venture Fund, Morgan Stanley, the Onondaga Venture Capital Fund, and Tomoe Engineering, Ltd.

Primet’s technology has applications in the military as well as the private sector. The company received two research and development contracts from the Defense Department in 2010.

The Army Research Lab was impressed enough with the results that they initiated a second phase of work with the firm that is starting now.

Primet says its technology can help the Defense Department reduce the size and weight of batteries soldiers must carry with their equipment and increase their available power.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

Blue Ocean caps year of growth in 2012

Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Small Business, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Blue Ocean Strategic Capital, LLC went through a growth spurt in 2012, adding two new staff members from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Syracuse and acquiring Hebert Financial Strategies of Liverpool. Stephen Chow and Jeffrey Moro joined Blue Ocean from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in July. It’s one of the first times in

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Stephen Chow and Jeffrey Moro joined Blue Ocean from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in July. It’s one of the first times in Syracuse that brokers moved from a large investment house to a smaller firm like Blue Ocean, says Theodore Sarenski, Blue Ocean CEO.

It’s a trend that’s occurring nationwide, he adds.

“I think the industry is changing,” he says. “Clients want more than just transactional business. They want advice. They want guidance. It’s not just about their investments. It’s about their whole lives.”

Chow is now president at Syracuse–based Blue Ocean. The firm provides financial planning and investment management.

In August, Blue Ocean acquired Hebert Financial Strategies. Dennis Hebert and Jennifer Spagnola of Hebert Financial joined Blue Ocean as a result.

Both additions brought new clients to Blue Ocean, which took the firm from $165 million in assets under management to $270 million. Blue Ocean had $91 million in assets under management when it first formed in 2010.

The firm spun off from Syracuse accounting firm Dermody, Burke & Brown CPAs, LLC. It originally began in 1997 as Dermody’s financial-services arm.

The additions over the summer were the first of their kind for Blue Ocean, but they probably won’t be the last, Sarenski says. The firm is in talks on another potential acquisition now, which would add two more people.

Further growth is a long-term goal for Blue Ocean, Sarenski says.

Nearly half of the firm’s new business comes in the form of referrals from existing clients, he notes. Adding more clients through acquisitions means greater potential for such word of mouth.

Blue Ocean now employs 10 people and is outgrowing its 4,200-square-foot space at 443 North Franklin St. The firm will relocate in April to a 7,500-square-foot space at 333 W. Washington St. in downtown Syracuse.

The building, called Washington Station, opened in 2010 and is the headquarters of the engineering firm O’Brien & Gere. It houses several other businesses as well.

The move will give Blue Ocean room to grow in the years ahead, Sarenski says.

“We’re not filling it all right away,” he says. “We’re moving with the idea that we will continue to expand and grow in the future.”

About 20 percent of Blue Ocean’s clients are company 401(k) plans and another 10 percent are nonprofits that use Blue Ocean to manage their endowments. The rest of the firm’s clients are individuals and families.

And while much of the firm’s business started out in Upstate and Central New York, Blue Ocean now has clients in 10 states, including Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania, and the New England area. The firm has at least five clients in four states.

Much of Blue Ocean’s business in other states results from local clients who leave the area, Sarenski says. They often stay with Blue Ocean when they move and also refer business from their new locations to the firm.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care coming to Syracuse

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Health Care, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — A southern company specializing in orthotics and prosthetics plans to open a location in Syracuse in the middle of January. The Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care expects to open a 2,500-square-foot office at 522 Liberty Street. It will be the firm’s fourth location in New York State, joining offices in Elmira, Binghamton,

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

SYRACUSE — A southern company specializing in orthotics and prosthetics plans to open a location in Syracuse in the middle of January.

The Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care expects to open a 2,500-square-foot office at 522 Liberty Street. It will be the firm’s fourth location in New York State, joining offices in Elmira, Binghamton, and Cooperstown.

The Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care, which has main offices in Durham, N.C. and Louisville, Ky., operates 13 locations in Kentucky, Indiana, and North Carolina, in addition to its New York outposts. Its Syracuse expansion will start with three employees but could grow to as many as 12 workers in the future.

“It’s not a high-volume business because everything we do is custom,” says Anthony Marschall, who will be the Syracuse office’s branch manager. “So in general, for one practitioner, you might see eight to ten patients per day.”

In addition to being branch manager, Marschall will be the Syracuse office’s practitioner. He will be joined by a technician and office support worker.

“We’ll do everything from patient evaluations to fittings,” Marschall adds. “This office will have an onsite lab so we can do some fabrication, and then for more major projects, the company uses central fabrication.”

Marschall will be coming to the Syracuse office after working at the Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care’s Cooperstown location. The company hopes to generate more than $1 million in revenue in its first year in Syracuse and grow in subsequent years, he says.

He cannot release specific companywide sales totals for the Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care. The firm is a “multi-million dollar” company, he says.

Its Syracuse office is set to move into newly renovated space. The building at 522 Liberty St. is being overhauled by its owner, the Syracuse development firm Salt City Enterprises, LLC.

Salt City Enterprises purchased the building at the end of June for $150,000, according to records from Onondaga County’s Office of Real Property Tax Services. It has since added a second floor to the structure, doubling its space to 5,000 square feet, according to Leonard Montreal, who co-owns Salt City Enterprises along with Samuel Flatt.

The development company’s affiliated construction firm, Montreal Construction of Syracuse — also co-owned by Montreal and Flatt — is handling the renovations at the Liberty Street building, Montreal says. He declines to share the cost of renovations, but notes that Solvay Bank is providing financing.

The Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care is moving into the building’s ground floor, a space customized for its needs, according to Montreal. It will later have the option of moving into the 2,500-square-foot second floor.

“We made that, so they can expand into it, a vanilla box,” he says. “The idea is for them to start on the ground floor and move up.”

The Liberty Street property is one of almost 30 Salt City Enterprises owns between Syracuse’s Inner Harbor and Hiawatha Boulevard. It has invested more than $8 million purchasing and rehabbing properties in the area, Montreal says.

“There’s a lot of good stuff happening,” he says. “The city has been kind enough to promise in the spring to do the curbs and walks for the remainder of Liberty Street. It’s like putting on a picture frame. It just cleans everything up nicely.”

Allegiance Realty, LLC of Syracuse brokered the Center for Orthotic & Prosthetic Care’s leasing of the Liberty Street building. That company is co-owned by Montreal, Flatt, and broker Jeffrey Kelsen.

“There’s no better location,” Kelsen says. “It’s fantastic to get them to go from a spot that was heavy industrial that’s now starting to migrate toward medical.”

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com

Canton engineering firm says merger will help it grow

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

CANTON — A merger with a larger Michigan–based company will help Burley-Guminiak & Associates, Consulting Engineers, P.L.L.C. (BGA) of Canton grow and expand its services. C2AE, an architectural, engineering, and planning firm based in Lansing, Mich., announced Nov. 28 it merged with BGA. The move will help with recruiting new talent to Canton, says Timothy

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

CANTON — A merger with a larger Michigan–based company will help Burley-Guminiak & Associates, Consulting Engineers, P.L.L.C. (BGA) of Canton grow and expand its services.

C2AE, an architectural, engineering, and planning firm based in Lansing, Mich., announced Nov. 28 it merged with BGA. The move will help with recruiting new talent to Canton, says Timothy Burley, a partner with BGA.

Unless prospects already lived in the region or had local ties, it was challenging to draw them in, Burley says. Many potential hires, he says, were concerned about a lack of other opportunities in the market.

Being part of a much larger firm will help with those issues, Burley says.

The deal with C2AE will also provide more services for BGA clients. The firm often stuck close to its core expertise in water and wastewater projects, Burley says.

Customers would sometimes ask for work in other areas, but the firm generally turned them down.

“Honestly, we were so busy doing what we were good at, it only made sense to stay in our sweet spot,” Burley says.

Burley says he expects new jobs in Canton as a result of the merger that will allow the office to provide a wider array of services. He says plans are in place for one new hire already.

The deal also solves the issue of succession planning for BGA leaders, Burley says.

“They want to grow,” he says of C2AE.

All 12 BGA employees, including the firm’s leadership team, joined C2AE.

C2AE

Founded in 1996, C2AE has more than 120 employees and additional locations in Grand Rapids, Gaylord, Escanaba, and Kalamazoo. The firm has projects in eight states and three countries outside the U.S.

Expanding C2AE’s expertise in water and wastewater has been a priority for the firm, C2AE Chairman and CEO Bill Kimble says. C2AE began working with a recruiting firm to add to its staff in that area.

The recruiter came across BGA, which was also looking to expand, Kimble says. The firms then began talking about a merger.

“What this allows us to do is strengthen our resources internally,” he says. “We can take their expertise in their fields and apply to all of our clients, no matter what state they’re in.”

The Canton office will be C2AE’s first outside Michigan. The firm wasn’t specifically looking to expand to New York, but leaders are excited about the prospects here, Kimble says.

C2AE works frequently for state and local governments and on industrial, education, and health care projects. The firm’s work includes road design, municipal buildings, water treatment plants, highway projects, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, hospital renovations and construction projects, and work for smaller health care clinics.

In the private sector, C2AE works frequently on large-scale manufacturing projects and has clients in a number of states, including Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

The firm expects to pursue similar work in New York, Kimble says.

“Strategically, the company wants to continue to expand and grow,” he says.

Further geographic expansion is also a goal for C2AE, he adds. That will help remove the firm’s dependence on government clients in just one or two states, he notes.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

Barclay named again to State Assembly leadership post

Subscriber Only

Assemblyman Will Barclay has been re-appointed deputy minority leader of the Republican Conference in the New York Assembly. Barclay represents the 120th Assembly District, which includes Oswego, Fulton, Pulaski, and parts of northern Onondaga County. Barclay serves on the Energy, Judiciary, Rules, and Ways and Means committees and is ranking member on the Insurance Committee.

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

Get our email updates

What's New

Upcoming Events

21st Annual Symposium on Energy in the 21st Century

GOFCC Business After Hours

Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce Connect Over Lunch

CNYBJ Job Board

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get our email updates