By Susan Elise Campbell

What started as a plan to add more production and canning space has snowballed into an additional restaurant and event space that doubles the size of Common Roots Brewing Co. at 58 Saratoga Ave. in South Glens Falls. 

Guests are already booking weddings and corporate events for up to 250 people, according to Christian Weber, who owns the brewery with his father, Bert Weber.

“The site has been cleared and the steel for footings has arrived,” said Weber. “We hope to have the new building up and closed in by the end of the year and opened to customers the end of spring.”

The new building and beer garden is being designed and built by Phinney Design Group of Saratoga Springs with V&H Construction Inc. as lead contractor. These are the same firms that rebuilt the modern Adirondack-style structure in 2020.

“We’re putting the team back together because we love what they did for us,” said Weber.

By Andrea Harwood

Jaylene Leonbruno opened Tailored Real Estate Group, after working in real estate for over 15 years.

The office is located in the Bluth Building at 2452 Route 9 in Malta, on the third floor. The office opened around a year ago, and Leonbruno said she has had a very strong start to her first year in business.

Leonbruno began her career in real estate by helping sell properties her father-in-law purchased at tax auctions. She represented him in the selling listing.

“I became a broker-owner because I felt like there were things in the industry that I wanted more of from a company,” said Leonbruno. “I felt I could fill in the gaps in areas I thought were lacking. And I could offer that to someone else as well. I wanted to start a company where people could grow and evolve without the constraints of a big business.”

Leonbruno houses 10 agents in addition to herself. Her specialty is in new construction. She represents G.W. Luxe and Heritage Custom Builders with multiple subdivisions primarily in Saratoga County. She services from the Bolton Landing area as far south as Albany. Her primary focus is Clifton Park through Glens Falls.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Longtime real estate professional Lynn Johnson launched Johnson Capital Realty in Halfmoon this summer to reflect her commitment to the Capital Region and her personal brand of customer service.

“Real estate is in my blood and has always been a passion,” said Johnson, who entered the field in 2003 in a “now or never” moment that set the career she “had always wanted” into motion.

“The drop-out rate for new agents is very high during the first year or two,” she said. “But I worked very hard and never gave up.”

 She followed the advice she now gives to her licensed real estate agents: “Work your contacts, the center-of-influence people you know, and be willing to talk about real estate so that when they think about real estate, they think of you.”

Johnson worked with several of the area’s well known realty firms until 2018, when she went out as a sole agent working out of Ballston Lake. Today she is a broker with five agents and three more joining Johnson Capital Realty by the end of the year, she said.

While today’s market is “challenging,” according to Johnson her business plan is “on track,” which includes training more agents and hiring some staff. But she will keep the business “on the small side,” she said. “I would like to double in size in a few years, but it’s quality, not quantity, that I am focusing on.”

Nemer Motor Group and the Nemer family have stepped up to support cardiac care at Saratoga Hospital, helping fund equipment to help meet increased demand for cardiac monitoring in the hospital’s Alfred Z. Solomon Emergency Center.

A donation was made to procure an additional cardiac monitor.

 Saratoga Hospital set records for Emergency Department patients in April, May and June, including many who required cardiac monitoring, hospital officials said.

 “Chest pain is the second most frequent complaint of Emergency Department patients worldwide,” said Lisa West, administrative director of emergency and urgent care services at Saratoga Hospital. “Thanks to the Nemers’ generosity, we now have an additional cardiac monitor— \an invaluable tool for giving patients the best chance for a positive outcome.”

The monitor is the Nemer family’s third cardiac-related gift to Saratoga Hospital in recent months. Since March 2021, the family has donated $56,000 to provide the Emergency Department monitor, fund four neonatal cardiac monitors, and underwrite the hospital’s subscription to the emergency LifeNet System.