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Crouse Breast Health Center project set to wrap in September
SYRACUSE — Crouse Hospital is close to finishing a renovation and expansion of its Crouse Breast Health Center in Syracuse. Work at the center, which offers imaging services such as mammograms and follow-up breast health care, is set to wrap up Sept. 17. That’s eight months after crews started renovations on Jan. 20. The center […]
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SYRACUSE — Crouse Hospital is close to finishing a renovation and expansion of its Crouse Breast Health Center in Syracuse.
Work at the center, which offers imaging services such as mammograms and follow-up breast health care, is set to wrap up Sept. 17. That’s eight months after crews started renovations on Jan. 20.
The center sits across the street from Crouse Hospital in the Central New York Medical Center Building at 739 Irving Ave. Crouse leased an additional 600 square feet of space from the building’s owner, Chicago–based Lillibridge Healthcare Services, Inc., to expand the Breast Health Center to 6,200 square feet.
That additional space will be used for two new ultrasound rooms, according to Jeffrey Tetrault, Crouse Hospital’s director of engineering. The remodeling will also add patient changing rooms, he says.
The revamped center will have five patient-changing rooms, up from three. The rooms will each be about 40 square feet, much larger than the previous rooms, which were about 10 square feet each.
The new changing rooms will also offer more privacy, Tetrault says, by utilizing solid doors instead of the curtains that cordoned off the old changing rooms. And each patient will have one room dedicated to her during her time at the center.
Other improvements include a private patient-registration area and surfaces designed to make the center more comfortable, Tetrault says.
“It was your common hard-surface-floored, sterile, clinical-feeling area,” he says. “Now it’s going to be a warm, plush environment with crown molding on the ceilings and chair rail, along with multi-textured carpets.”
The center will have an energy-efficient heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning unit. And, workers are installing low-energy LED lighting systems with motion detectors.
“It’s not only to have a warm environment with multiple controls for patients for the heating and cooling systems,” Tetrault says. “We were also very sensitive to the energy efficiency.”
Crouse started consulting with physicians on the center’s redesign in March 2011, according to Tetrault. It also set up focus groups with women who had previously used the center in order to listen to their ideas on how it could be improved.
LPS Design Associates, Inc., of Stoneham, Mass. designed the upgraded center. Rochester–based LeChase Construction Services, LLC is the project’s general contractor.
Crouse expects the renovations to cost $1.5 million. The hospital is funding a majority of the work through its operations budget. Its not-for-profit fundraising organization, Crouse Health Foundation, is also helping to pay for the construction with a capital campaign.
The Crouse Breast Health Center did not shut down or relocate its operations while renovations were under way, according to Tetrault. Instead, crews planned construction in four separate phases, allowing equipment and staff members to shift as work moved to different sections of the center.
“When we flipped phases, we had to move physicians and imaging stations in a very short time frame to allow work to continue,” Tetrault says. “There was a lot of coordination with the end users, the general contractors, and ourselves.”
Crews are also on pace to perform about 60 percent of the renovations between the hours of 6 p.m. and 3 a.m., Tetrault adds. Crouse wanted a majority of the project to be done as shift work to maintain as quiet of an environment as possible during the Breast Health Center’s hours of operation, he says.
The Crouse Breast Health Center is staffed by 11 radiologists. It has a total of 20 staff members, including receptionists, patient-access personnel, mammography technicians, ultrasound technicians, and breast-health navigators. The center hired three breast-health navigators during the duration of the construction.
About 12,000 patients visit the center annually. It is not Crouse’s only facility in the Central New York Medical Center. The hospital also operates an outpatient imaging center and prompt care in the building.
Crouse Hospital, a private, not-for-profit hospital, is located at 736 Irving Ave. in Syracuse. It is licensed for 506 acute-care beds and 57 bassinets. The hospital employs 2,700 people and serves over 23,000 inpatients, 66,000 emergency-services patients, and more than 250,000 outpatients per year from 15 counties in Central New York and Northern New York.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com
Growing Health 2012 confab set for Binghamton Oct. 16-17
BINGHAMTON — The nonprofit Rural Health Network of South Central New York will host the Growing Health 2012 program at the Riverwalk Hotel & Conference Center in Binghamton Oct. 16-17. The event brings together people from throughout the region and state to discuss issues such as developing a more local/regional food system and boosting the
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BINGHAMTON — The nonprofit Rural Health Network of South Central New York will host the Growing Health 2012 program at the Riverwalk Hotel & Conference Center in Binghamton Oct. 16-17.
The event brings together people from throughout the region and state to discuss issues such as developing a more local/regional food system and boosting the use of New York State agricultural and food products to improve health.
The first day of the event will be the New York State Healthy Farms, Healthy People Meeting. Participants from throughout the state will register by region and spend the day considering four critical issues: the state’s agricultural capacity and infrastructure; individual and consumer access to NYS food products; business and institutional access to NYS food products; and state food coalitions, networks, and collaborations.
For more information about the conference, visit the Growing Health website.
Developer begins building ‘urban infill’ houses in Ithaca
ITHACA — A Skaneateles developer has started work on a project that will build 29 homes on three acres of land near Cornell University in Ithaca. “These college towns throughout the Northeast are really the places to do these kinds of ‘urban infill’ projects,” says Toby Millman, president and owner of Agora Homes and Development,
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ITHACA — A Skaneateles developer has started work on a project that will build 29 homes on three acres of land near Cornell University in Ithaca.
“These college towns throughout the Northeast are really the places to do these kinds of ‘urban infill’ projects,” says Toby Millman, president and owner of Agora Homes and Development, LLC. “These are the micro markets that a lot of the experts are talking about. There are some healthy pockets throughout the country right now.”
The project, which Millman dubbed the Belle Sherman Cottages community, will construct 19 single-family detached homes and 10 townhomes on land at 808 Mitchell St. Crews started pouring footers on Aug. 23 for the first of the homes that will be owner-occupied.
The construction comes after Agora hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony in June at a model home built at 101 Walnut St., which is a newly laid road that runs through the land at 808 Mitchell St. Homeowners will be within walking distance of Cornell University, so Agora is targeting buyers with ties to the institution, Millman says.
Workers will build the homes as Agora sells them to residents. Millman anticipates all homes being sold and constructed in 24 to 30 months.
Agora is partnering with Lansing–based broker Audrey Edelman RealtyUSA to sell the homes. Prospective buyers currently have the choice between two stand-alone home models, and Millman expects to open townhomes for sale soon.
Both stand-alone home models have three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms, Millman says. But a model called the “bungalow” totals 1,748 square feet, while a model called the “farmhouse” has 1,835 square feet.
Millman points out some other variations.
“Architecturally, they look a bit different,” he says. “The real difference is the bungalow offers a master bedroom on the ground floor. That’s appealing to the older empty nesters. The farmhouse is a more traditional plan.”
The townhomes, by comparison, were drawn up to have two bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. Their size is set for 1,590 square feet.
Agora is using modular construction. The homes will be largely built off-site and delivered to their lots when they are about 80-percent complete. Then, local contractors will finish them on-site.
Carina Construction Services, LLC, an Ithaca–based firm specializing in modular building, is lined up to finish the homes once they are delivered to their lots, Millman says. Simplex Industries, Inc. of Scranton, Pa., fabricates them.
Millman chose Simplex because the company was willing to build custom designs, he says. He hired an architect versed in modular design, Allison Ramsey Architects Inc., of Beaufort, S.C., to draw up homes that matched the surrounding neighborhood in Ithaca.
“We really try to show that modular construction doesn’t have to look like what people think it’s going to look like,” Millman says. “I love having people walk through and telling them it’s a modular home and seeing their eyes light up.”
The single-family stand-alone homes will be priced in the mid $300,000 range. For the townhomes, Agora plans asking prices in the upper $200,000 range.
Buyers will also have the option of ordering their homes built with an eye toward the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Agora is currently pursuing LEED silver certification for Belle Sherman Cottages’ model home, Millman says.
Agora planned the homes for land it acquired from Lott Motor Lines after that company merged its operations with Sunshine Bulk Commodities, Inc. in Clifton Springs, according to Millman. He closed on the property in August of 2011 for just over
$1 million. Warren Real Estate of Ithaca, Inc. brokered that deal.
The housing project fits the neighborhood better than the trucking company, according to Millman.
“It was kind of interesting, right in the middle of this older single-family neighborhood they were running 18-wheel trucks,” he says.
And neighbors seem to be supportive of the housing development, Millman adds.
“They really did not want to see student housing here because it’s really the last owner-occupied neighborhood near Cornell,” he says. “Everyone who had looked at this site wanted to do apartments.”
The housing project will cost a total of $8.5 million, Millman estimates. Sources of financing include a loan from M&T Bank and equity investments from a group of investors who wish to remain private, he says.
Millman founded Agora Development in 2009 to specialize in modular construction. He declined to share revenue totals for the business, which he runs from his home in Skaneateles. The firm has one other development project currently under way in Northampton, Mass.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com
Hunt Real Estate ERA tops $1 billion sales mark through July
Hunt Real Estate ERA, which has a major presence in the Central New York market, announced that it has generated $1 billion in residential sales year to date through July in 6,534 transactions. Sales are up 8 percent over the year-ago period and 2.42 percent ahead of the company’s own budget. Despite a challenging real-estate
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Hunt Real Estate ERA, which has a major presence in the Central New York market, announced that it has generated $1 billion in residential sales year to date through July in 6,534 transactions. Sales are up 8 percent over the year-ago period and 2.42 percent ahead of the company’s own budget.
Despite a challenging real-estate market, Hunt Real Estate ERA says it has been investing in its business, including moving some local branches to new, higher-traffic locations.
“It should be news to no one in the business world that you get out of your business what you put into your business,” Peter F. Hunt, president and CEO of Hunt Real Estate Corp., parent company of Hunt Real Estate ERA, said in a news release. “While other companies have been scaling back we have been growing, and providing our sales professionals with the innovative, industry-leading tools they need to service clients and customers today means we are succeeding and growing our market share and systems where others are not,” Hunt said.
Buffalo–based Hunt Real Estate is a 101-year old family-owned business with 35 branches located throughout much of upstate New York, as well as Arizona.
In Central New York, Hunt Real Estate ERA has branch offices in Camillus, Carthage, Cazenovia, Chittenango, Cicero, DeWitt, Evans Mills, Liverpool, Manlius, New Hartford, and Oneida.
Hunt also operates a commercial brokerage, called Hunt Commercial Real Estate; a mortgage banking firm, Hunt Mortgage; two insurance agencies — Hunt-Vanner Associates and Hunt Insurance Agency; a title agency, Network Title Agency of New York; a relocation division; a residential building company; and a fee-for-service brokerage.
State park attendance jumps by nearly 6 percent year to date
Visits to New York’s state parks and historic sites increased 5.6 percent in the first eight months of 2012. Almost 43.7 million people visited the
Finger Lakes Boating Museum relocates office
GENEVA — The Finger Lakes Boating Museum has relocated its office from the Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce building to the former Geneva Recreation Department
C&S chairman attends White House transportation meeting
The chairman of Salina–based C&S Companies calls a meeting he attended at the White House last week on transportation infrastructure valuable for upstate New York.
Upstate Medical University pulls Zipcars into its lots
SYRACUSE — The State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University has steered the car-sharing network Zipcar, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIP) to its campus. Two
Fairness is the foundation of President Barack Obama’s campaign for re-election. It was the centerpiece of his 2012 State of the Union address. Fairness was the driving force behind his proposed Paycheck Fairness Act legislation, equating pay for men and women. The Buffett Rule, named for famed investor Warren Buffett and calling for millionaires to
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Fairness is the foundation of President Barack Obama’s campaign for re-election. It was the centerpiece of his 2012 State of the Union address. Fairness was the driving force behind his proposed Paycheck Fairness Act legislation, equating pay for men and women. The Buffett Rule, named for famed investor Warren Buffett and calling for millionaires to pay at least 30 percent of their income in the form of federal tax, is yet another example.
To most people, “fairness” means free of favoritism, impartial, equitable, being just to all parties. What does it mean to President Obama? The auto bailout — which may strike you as ancient history but is being touted by the Obama campaign as a success — provides the answer. Let me explain.
The Obama Administration made the argument in early 2009 that if the federal government didn’t bail out General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, the American auto industry would collapse, resulting in massive job losses. Let’s assume the argument to be true and focus just on the bailout process.
First, the context. By 2008, the Big Three Detroit automakers — GM, Chrysler, and Ford — were in trouble. All had incurred massive debt, were committed to high labor costs (on average, $73 per hour versus $47 per hour for foreign carmakers with plants in the U.S.), supported generous retiree pensions and health-care plans, struggled with quality control, and carried overgrown dealer networks. In 2007, Ford bet the farm by pledging all of its assets to invest new funds in a turnaround that would make the company competitive. GM and Chrysler muddled along until the recession of 2008, when they came hat-in-hand to Washington to be rescued.
President George W. Bush loaned some Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to GM and Chrysler to tide them over during the transition of administrations. In 2009, President Obama made a deal with the two supplicants: The U.S. Treasury will loan you $80 billion if you declare bankruptcy and reorganize. GM filed for bankruptcy on June 1, followed by Chrysler.
Fairness is in the details. Let’s start with some guiding principles of bankruptcy. First is the “absolute priority principle,” in which creditors’ priorities are preserved in bankruptcy in the same order as outside bankruptcy. Thus, secured creditors should have a favored position over unsecured creditors. In fact, Chrysler’s secured creditors were paid only 29 cents on the dollar while the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which was unsecured, recovered most of the value of its claims. In short, Chrysler’s secured creditors took a haircut while the union emerged from the bankruptcy process largely unscathed.
A second principle of fairness in bankruptcy is that similar classes of creditors should get equal treatment, unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise. The bankruptcy settlement clearly favored the UAW over other unsecured creditors. GM’s unsecured creditors, who held $29.9 billion dollars in claims, received a settlement in stock and warrants valued at only $8.1 billion at the time of issue. GM’s obligation to the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, which totaled $20.56 billion, was repaid with a total recovery of $17.8 billion. Had the union been treated equally, it would have recovered $12.2 billion less than that. No compelling reason for the unequal distribution was offered. At Chrysler, the second-lien creditors and the unsecured vendor obligations were simply wiped out of $7 billion while the union recovered $9.2 billion.
A third principle of bankruptcy is that the emerging companies should be in a competitive position to continue business after bankruptcy. This typically means wiping out any debt on the books and getting operating costs in line. To help accomplish this, Section 1113 of the bankruptcy code gives the courts the power to rewrite collective-bargaining agreements. The union did make some concessions: temporary suspension of cost-of-living adjustments and performance bonuses, restrictions on paid overtime, elimination of the JOBS bank that paid laid-off workers the majority of their full wages, and creation of a Tier 2, whereby entry-level workers were paid less than those already employed. For active UAW members, there was no reduction in base hourly pay, no reduction in health care, and no change to pensions. The resultant is that GM’s post-bankruptcy compensation package still leaves it in an uncompetitive situation. The company’s stock price is down by more than one-third from its November 2010 IPO price.
Fairness would also suggest that all unions be treated equally. Not so. The Obama Administration clearly favored the UAW. At Delphi, an auto-parts manufacturer and former GM subsidiary, some retirees of the International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE) and of the United Steel Workers unions did not receive a pension boost granted to the UAW. The 2,500 IUE former employees at the Moraine, Ohio assembly plant were denied transfers to any UAW facilities, despite their record of high productivity.
But what of the investors? Some may think that just people like Gordon Gekko and the greedy banks lost their investments. Not so. Thousands of private investors, including union workers, had investments through their 401(k)s and retirement plans in the old GM and Chrysler. The Indiana State Police Pension Fund and the Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement fund, which held Chrysler’s secured bonds, both suffered sizable losses as a result of the favoritism displayed in the bankruptcy process.
How does fairness look to the Ford Motor Co.? The firm gambled with its own assets that it could fix its problems without government help. Private capital providers agreed and loaned them the money. Smart management and a productive work force turned the company around so that it’s profitable. Now Ford, still carrying a heavy debt burden, competes with GM and Chrysler whose debt was not only wiped out but the bankruptcy judge also granted GM an $18 billion tax-credit carry-forward, something atypical of the bankruptcy process.
Some may ask why I’m writing about an action that’s more than three years old. The answer is that we, the taxpayers, now know what fairness means. The tab is at least $25 billion, the difference between what the federal government gave GM and Chrysler and the final payback. Had the Obama Administration treated all of the auto creditors fairly, the UAW would have received $26.5 billion less and the taxpayers would have been off the hook. Apparently, fairness is defined as the average taxpayer, who makes $30.15 an hour in wages and benefits, supporting a worker who earns more than $70 an hour and now maintains his former lifestyle.
Thank you, Mr. President, for defining “fairness.” Now we just need to redefine the auto bailout and call it the UAW bailout.
Norman Poltenson is publisher of The Central New York Business Journal. Contact him at npoltenson@cnybj.com
Entrepreneurship class debuts at SUNY Cortland
CORTLAND — The State University of New York (SUNY) Cortland is launching a new course in entrepreneurship this fall. The three-credit course is open to
Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.