Category Archives: Business News

By R.J. DeLuke

The former Clifton Park Golf Driving Range is being eyed by ay Albany company as the site of a mixed-use development project that would be include apartments.

Paul Amedore, CFO of the Amedore Group, said he is hoping that a grocery store from one of the major chains is the anchor of the commercial segment.

He did not specify who is being sought.

The property, at 1759 Route 9, recently was recently sold to Amedore by Ostoja Bucetic, who decided not to reopen his business, which included a driving range, miniature golf course and batting cages. The sale price of the 34.5-acre property was $3 million.

The planning and zoning process could be challenging because the property is divided between the town of Clifton Park along Route 9 and the town of Halfmoon in the rear.

Amedore said the parcel straddles two towns, Halfmoon and Clifton Park. He said the zoning is already in place in Clifton Park to allow the project. He will be working with Halfmoon to get the necessary approvals.

The new Southern Adirondack ReStore of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties opened to the general public with a ribbon cutting on October 2nd.

The ReStore, at 1373 Route 9 in Moreau, is the first in the area. 

Sustained largely by a team of volunteers, Southern Adirondack ReStore is the Habitat for Humanity-style thrift shop, selling new and lightly used home furnishings, decorative accessories, lighting, appliances, building materials and more.

Donations made by area businesses, decorators, contractors and residents, support the ReStore. Donations go to the store and are tagged for sale. Proceeds of each sale go to Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties and its efforts to build and maintain affordable homes.

Through ReStore, Habitat is able to provide affordable home improvement items and furniture to local families, while also diverting usable materials from local landfills each year.

The store is nearly 7,000 square feet.

Media and marketing publication Digiday has named Ed Mitzen of Fingerpaint in Saratoga Springs, as one of its Top Boss award winners.

Mitzen, who founded the agency in 2008, won the award from Digiday in its full-service industry category. Fingerpaint has offices in downtown Saratoga; Conshohocken, Pa.; Columbus, Ohio; and Scottsdale, Ariz.

The company ranked No. 1 on this year’s Albany Business Review List of Largest Advertising, Public Relations, Digital and Creative Agencies in the Albany area ranked by total local staff with 100. In 2016, Fingerpaint had nearly $30 million in local revenue.

Other winners in the Digiday awards this year are the heads of companies such as Bleacher Report and Hypr.

This year’s Digiday Top Boss Awards go to senior executives from Mindshare, Bleacher Report, AdColony and others who are building positive relationships with their employees.

The Top Boss Award recognizes managers who go above and beyond to deliver results, build a strong team dynamic and provide mentoring.

SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Empire State have forged an agreement to open a seamless new pathway for business students to earn a graduate degree.

The articulation agreement allows qualified Bachelor of Business Administration students at SUNY Cobleskill to transfer smoothly into the Master of Business Administration in business management program at SUNY Empire.

The agreement enables SUNY Cobleskill BBA students to cross-register for up to nine credits of SUNY Empire MBA coursework, and establishes a framework for developing a combined BBA-MBA program registered jointly by both institutions.

“SUNY Cobleskill is dedicated to creating learning pathways tailored to continuous and suitable student progress from secondary school through to their desired goals,” said Marion Terenzio, its president. “This new partnership with SUNY Empire State College gives our business students a valuable opportunity to continue seamlessly to a graduate degree program.”

The agreement “is all about getting students to complete their MBA in the most convenient, time- and cost-efficient manner possible, while at the same time, ensuring students receive the high-quality SUNY education they expect, need and deserve,” said Empire State President Merodie Hancock. “I look forward to offering additional opportunities, and even greater access, to our graduate programs for more Cobleskill students.”

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) reported that the recently completed summer meet at Saratoga Race Course set a record for all-sources handle with $676.7 million being wagered during the 40-day meet.

That surpassed the record of $648.3 million wagered in 2015. This year’s handle was up 4.5 percent over last year’s figure of $647.3 million, NYRA officials said.

On-track handle was $157 million, just missing the record $157.6 million wagered in 2015, but up 3.4 percent from last year’s figure of $151.8 million, NYRA said.

Total attendance, or paid admissions, for the summer was 1,117,838, just off the record of 1,123,647 set in 2016, officials said.

“We were extremely pleased with this year’s handle,” said Chris Kay, NYRA president and chief executive officer. “It’s a real credit to everyone in the organization, but in particular the racing department that we were able to generate such handle.”

The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce will host the 2017 Saratoga County Business-to-Business Expo on Thursday, Oct. 5, at the Saratoga Springs City Center.

The event will start at 3:30 p.m. for members and vendors and at 5 p.m. for non-members. The event will conclude at 7 p.m.

The Adirondack Trust Co. and Upstate Transit of Saratoga are the diamond sponsors of the Expo.

Exhibitor space is always a sell-out with nearly 150 companies on hand to share ideas, products, and service expertise with other businesses in an interactive face-to-face trade show format, Chamber officials said.

“The Saratoga County Business-to-Business Expo is the Chamber’s, and perhaps the Capital Region’s, largest business-to-business networking event of the year. With over 2,500 business professionals from all over the area, networking opportunities are plentiful if you are looking to build leads and grow your business,” said Todd Shimkus, Chamber president.