By Molly Congdon

Sitwell Enterprises LLC plans to build a series of office and retail buildings at 2443 Route 9 in Malta.

Company officials said the project will consist of three one-story buildings. The first will be an office building of 15,300 square feet. The other two will house retail businesses. One will be 14,186 square feet and the other 13,830 square feet.

The company hopes to break ground within the next two months, according to the project’s engineer Scott Lansing of Lansing Engineering in Malta.

RealtyUSA has merged into the Howard Hanna family of companies based in Pittsburgh, combining the largest residential real estate broker in New York state with the largest broker in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The merger was announced at a press conference held in Buffalo on July 13 by Howard W. “Hoddy” Hanna, III chairman of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, and Merle L. Whitehead, president and CEO of RealtyUSA.

RealtyUSA has offices in Saratoga County and throughout the Capital Region.

“I have known and respected the Hanna family for years,” said Whitehead. “Their growth in the last decade has been amazing. A common theme of commitment to our agents by developing the best in products and services for customers and clients will assure our combined success.”

Whitehead will become chairman of the combined company in New York state.

RealtyUSA is the top broker in the state of New York with 65 office locations covering western and central New York, Northern New York, the Capital Region and the Southern Tier. The company reports more than 2,200 sales associates and employees and is ranked the ninth largest real estate company in the country with 23,023 closed transactions last year, based on the REAL Trends 500 report, May 2016, which ranks the 500 largest real estate brokers in the U.S. by 2015 closed transactions.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

Adirondack Trust Co. will soon break ground for a new branch located at Luther Forest Boulevard and Route 67 in Malta.

The bank is looking to serve not only the area near Northway Exit 12, but is looking to specifically take advantage of the locations’ close proximity to GlobalFoundries said Charles V. Wait Jr., executive vice president.

The branch office is expected to open sometime this fall.

Wait said the branch will differ from the others as it won’t be a stand-alone property. It is part of a building owned by Stewart’s Shops and the office will adjoin a Stewart’s store. Adirondack Trust will rent the space from Stewart’s.

By Margaret MacDonald

Kru Coffee, a new company located in the Fresh Market Plaza in Saratoga Springs, situated alongside Smashburger and Gennaro’s Pizza Parlor, is looking to open toward the end of August.

Ryan Miller also owns Caffé Vero in Lake George (previously in two other locations) and Spektor Coffee in Glens Falls. His coffee-related interests began in 2005 and he began roasting in 2008. Caffé Vero was opened in 2006 and Spektor in 2012.

In a space of 4,000 square feet, the company will be both a roasting facility and coffee bar. The bar area is open and looks out into the roasting facility, allowing interplay between the two.

The café, Miller said, will not be the average coffee shop. The company aims to create a new coffee experience, deeming it a creature of the “third-wave coffee world.” Kru boasts high-end machinery, specialized brewing methods and well-trained baristas dedicated to the craft.

Miller said eight to 10 people will be employed.

There will be two bars: a full-service standard bar and a “specialized-menu concept bar” or “slow bar,” he said. The latter seeks to serve and treat coffee in a “culinary fashion,” with a seven-seat intimate setting and more involved, time-consuming drinks like smoke-infused coffee.