By Jill Nagy

Florist Samantha Nass—known as Sam—is enjoying the change from an appointment-only studio to a storefront in downtown Saratoga Springs. 

She opened Samantha Nass Floral Design at 61 Lawrence St. at the end of January.

She said she considered Valentine’s Day as “a test” for the new venture and, “Now that we’re through Valentine’s Day, spring is knocking on our door.”  

So are a lot of people who walk by and walk in. “A lot of people have been very curious about us,” she said and she is pleased to have them come in and look around. 

So far, Nass said, business is “going great . . .  a steady flow . . .  nothing crazy yet.” 

Potted plants, terrariums, and terra cotta planters are selling especially well. She also offers “lots of beautiful orchids” as well as a variety of cut flowers. At last count, she had 46 terrariums planted and ready to go.

Nass’ previous business concentrated on weddings and other special events. It was housed in the old Elks Club building, a building “with an old kind of Victorian Saratoga feel,” she said. It worked well as an appointment-only enterprise, but did not lend itself to a retail business.  

The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) rolled out a series of milestones and bold initiatives to help transform the area into a regional mobility integrator during a State of CDTA event on March 3.

Foremost among them is a plan to make electric cars available for rent.

The event recognized what CDTA called “the momentum of 2021 and how CDTA is entering 2022 stronger and more resilient from the challenges of the pandemic.”

“CDTA emerged out of the pandemic with renewed momentum as we look to the future,” CDTA board chairman Jayme Lahut said. “I am proud of the milestones recognized today and bold plans for the future as we work with community partners to support the region’s economic development.”

CDTA revealed the latest offering of their mobility program, DRIVE, an electric vehicle car sharing program. DRIVE is a network of zero-emission vehicles available to qualified drivers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Officials said car share, in tandem with CDPHP Cycle!, FLEX On Demand and SCOOT, continues CDTA mission to transform mobility in the region. 

“It is amazing to witness the impact and growth we have had on the region in just the past few years,” said CDTA Chief Executive Officer Carm Basile. “Our Bus Rapid Transit lines span nearly 40 miles, we have a network of electric vehicles, which now includes car share and we are expanding our footprint into Montgomery County to provide even more connections to the Capital Region. 

By Christine Graf

Arnoff Global Logistics has broken ground on a new 120,000-square-foot warehouse at its 40-acre Malta headquarters, the former home of Racemark International. 

The company said the new warehouse will occupy a portion of the 18 acres of vacant land on the company’s sprawling campus. It will sit adjacent to Arnoff’s existing warehouse which is currently operating at full capacity. The need for additional space has been fueled by demand for the company’s warehousing and order fulfillment services which account for one-third of its revenue. 

Arnoff Global Logistics also offers residential moving and storage services as well as logistical services for the transport of items that require special handling. 

“We’re starting to order materials now. Right now, the primary steel that we ordered for the building is scheduled for July. As of last week, we were on schedule. We would like to move in during the late fall. Maybe for Christmas,” said president Mike Arnoff. “We plan to employ an additional 50 people once that operation is up and running.”

He said the construction timeline is highly dependent on the availability of materials. Supply chain shortages continue to plague the construction industry, making it difficult to predict product availability. 

The company’s plan for expansion also includes the construction of a 50,000-square-foot building that would likely include a combination of office and warehouse space, said Arnoff. The original price tag for both warehouses was estimated at $18.7 million, but that number has already increased by 12 percent due to due to skyrocketing material costs. 

SUNY Empire State College’s School of Business has been approved by the State Education Department to offer a new Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree.

The program will launch in the fall term, with the option for students to be enrolled fully online.

Officials said the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a comprehensive business degree designed to serve adult learners working in business-related fields who want to advance their career by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business or prepare for a MBA.  

The BBA program will require fewer liberal arts credits, making the new degree program an attractive option for students who want a strong knowledge base in all facets of business and community college graduates with an Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree, officials said.

 SUNY Empire State College Officer-in-Charge Nathan Gonyea, Ph.D., said the launch of the new BBA degree program “reflects SUNY Empire’s ongoing commitment to helping students fulfill their academic dreams and professional ambitions, while also addressing the employment needs of the economy. The BBA will fit around the busy lives of adult learners and enable them to shift their careers in exciting new directions.”

 “The time is perfect for SUNY Empire’s School of Business to offer a business degree program that contains all the subject areas that equip learners for successful business careers, with a design that is transfer friendly,” SUNY Empire State College Dean of the School of Business Julie Gedro, MBA, Ed.D., said. “Whether a student has an associate of applied science, an associate of science, or a trove of college-equivalent knowledge that we can help translate and acknowledge as credit applied toward the degree, our BBA provides an excellent degree for them to succeed in business.”

New York’s State parks, historic sites, campgrounds, and trails welcomed a record-setting 78.4 million visits in 2021, continuing the robust level of visitation seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From Niagara Falls to Montauk Point, our State Parks and Historic Sites are a treasure that every New Yorker should be able to enjoy,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “During the pandemic, parks and public spaces have become more important than ever, providing New Yorkers with safe and enjoyable outdoor spaces for gatherings and recreation. New York was proud to welcome a record-setting number of visitors to our State Parks last year, and we look forward to modernizing our parks system as we approach its historic 100th anniversary in 2024.”

Total visits statewide increased in 2021 by more than 427,000, driven by a dramatic rebound of more than three million visitors at Niagara Falls State Park compared to 2020, when international border tourism was curtailed due to COVID-19 protocols. More than nine million visitors went to Niagara Falls State Park last year.

Officials said state park attendance has been steadily climbing, rising 41 percent since 2008. In addition to the total attendance, parks also set a new record for 2021 overnight visitation at campgrounds, with campsite, cabins and cottages booked for more than 787,000 nights.

“I am grateful that even more people decided they wanted to go to our State Parks and Historic Sites in 2021, even as other recreation options were becoming more available to them. New York has invested significantly in recent years to make its facilities world-class and even more improvements are coming,” State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid said.

Hochul’s proposed 2023 budget includes $200 million in capital funding for parks, an 80 percent increase from the current level, to enhance the NY Parks 100 capital initiative.