PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
GBJ 9 Broad Street #7 Glens Falls, NY 12801
VOL. 34 NO. 09
PAID
GLENS FALLS, NY 12801 PERMIT #600
HH The Business Newspaper of Warren and Washington Counties HH
www.glensfallsbusinessjournal.com
NOVEMBER 2022
Expansion Plans Continuing For Common Praxis Technology Will Consolidate Its Roots Brewing Co. In South Glens Falls Manufacturing Operation On Pruyn’s Island
This is a rendering of the new building and beer garden designed by Phinney Design Group for Common Roots Brewery’s expansion. V&H Construction Inc. is the lead contractor. 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
Courtesy Phinney Design Group
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. Continued On Page 12
Praxis Technology will move into this facility on Pruyn’s Island as they proceed to consolidate operations here and move out of their space in Queensbury. BY CHRISTINE GRAF Queensbury-based Praxis Technology— a manufacturer that produces titanium components for the medical, aerospace, consumer and sporting goods markets—has announced plans to consolidate its operations in a 53,500-square-foot manufacturing complex on Pruyn’s Island in Glens Falls. The company purchased the facility from Andritz Inc. It sits on 6.2 acres. The investment was made after the city rezoned the site from single-family residential to heavy industrial use.
Glens Falls Business Journal
The property at 1 Namic Place is located at the southern end of Pruyn’s Island, an area that is home to other industrial uses including Flomatic Corp., Umicore Electrical Materials and building materials supplier ABC Supply Co. “We purchased the building and are relocating both of our facilities that are currently in the industrial park by the airport,” said Joseph Grohowski, founder and president of Praxis Technology. “We’re doing it for a number of reasons,” he said. “One is that we want to have all of our operations Continued On Page 12
Agricultural Industry In The Region Has Economic Impact Of ‘Ice Castles’ Expected Wide-Ranging Impact On The Economy To Grow When It Returns In January BY PAUL POST COVID-19 shone a spotlight on the need for a safe, secure food system and strong local agriculture, which has a $500 million economic impact on Saratoga County alone, led by its diverse equine industry. Numerous farm businesses, from large dairies to maple production, award-winning goat’s milk cheese and Christmas trees, are prevalent throughout Warren and Washington counties as well. “I’m really excited about what we learned during COVID-19,” state Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball said. “We had supply problems, getting food in grocery stores. We’ve got to leverage that right now and make sure people remember that we need food here, and need it grown here.” Ball is president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, which recently brought hundreds of people from throughout the U.S. to Saratoga Springs for a four-day, annual conference. Participants attended panel discussions on critical farm issues such as labor shortage, toured local ag enterprises and worked on policy proposals. “I’m excited about connecting with a population that maybe didn’t know as much about New York state agriculture as it really should. It’s upstate New York’s biggest economic engine and it’s so large we don’t know totally how large it is,” he said. A 2019 Cornell University study said the agriculture, farm and food system had a direct $43.6 billion in total industry output, encom-
Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball at River Bend Christmas Tree Farm in Lake Luzerne. Paul Post
passing over 163,000 jobs. The impact is even greater when linking the full farm and food system to the entire supply chain, growing to $65.2 billion “For every on-farm job there’s like seven more jobs somewhere else,” Ball said. “Think about a dairy farm. Then think about food manufacturing processes for Greek yogurt and the deliveries they have. It just goes on and on. We think about agriculture as farmers. We reContinued On Page 15
BY PAUL POST Local officials welcomed Ice Castles with open arms last year, hoping it would help fulfill the long sought-after goal of making Lake George a yearround tourist destination It did that and more, by generating enough occupancy tax to bring four brand new attractions to Charles R. Wood Park’s Festival Commons in 2023, exponentially increasing Ice Castles’ economic impact by drawing even more people to the village, according to local officials. “When Ice Castles was open, the streets had as many people on them as we’d see normally and all the accommodations I’m aware of that were open were full on weekends,” Mayor Robert Blais said. “So many people stayed at Fort William Henry Hotel, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn and the Marriott Courtyard that our occupancy tax collection for that period was up 40 percent. That will go toward increasing the number of special events the village can support and expanding the special events we have here presently.” Warren County Tourism expected last year’s inaugural Ice Castles to give the local economy a $4 million boost. That figure should be much larger in 2023, both directly and indirectly, thanks to more attractions throughout the year, officials said. Plans call for adding a garlic festival, Christmas holiday festival, country living craft show, and Jeep rally and car show to a lineup that already includes major draws such as the Adirondack Wine & Food festival, a tow truck show, craft producers event and barbecue festival. Each one brings large crowds to Lake George. Buoyed by last year’s positive response (more than 88,000 tickets were sold), Ice Castles will be
More than 88,000 tickets were sold last year for people to walk through Ice Castles. Paul Post
even bigger this year with space around the perimeter allocated for an ice bar serving winter-themed alcoholic beverages, a concession area and colorful light walk. “At night there will be an area where you’re immersed in lights hung in trees and large light features will surround you as you walk through,” Ice Castles marketing director Melissa Smuzynski said. “We’re also going to be creating snow features like igloos and snow carvings. We’re just hopeful the weather Continued On Page 6