Category Archives: Business News

By Paul Post

Strong corporate backing and fan support are more important than ever as the Adirondack Thunder deal with the rapidly rising cost of doing business.

Under a new collective bargaining agreement reached after a brief midseason strike, the leaguewide salary cap has increased $3,000 per week.

In December, the Thunder will make one of their longest road trips in franchise history when they play the ECHL’s newest team, the New Mexico Goatheads, in suburban Albuquerque.

“The Thunder are no different than everyone else,” team President Jeff Mead said. “We travel a lot and fuel, air fare and hotels have increased significantly.”

Adirondack, playing in the league’s smallest market, had a record 20 sellout crowds this season, and average attendance (4,539) was the highest ever. But six large-market teams, playing in much bigger arenas, averaged more than 7,000 fans per game, including league leader Jacksonville (9,198).

The salary cap helps level the playing field when it comes to signing premier players. But some big-city teams with larger budgets may offer amenities the Thunder can’t afford.

By Paul Post

Riley Silbert learned the economics of his parents’ baked goods business at a young age.

He could keep the profits from cookies they made by selling them at a farmers market, but first he had to purchase them.

Nothing was handed to him.

The work ethic they instilled in him, a heavy dose of ambition and a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit laid the groundwork for a thriving enterprise whose online sales are now coast to coast.

The 32-year-old Silbert took over Bucks County Biscotti from his mom and dad and relocated it from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, to 37 Casey Road in Queensbury. They had just moved to Warren County and weren’t really expecting him to follow in their footsteps.

“I threw them a curveball,” Silbert said, smiling. “I was in New York City, doing sales and marketing for some start-ups, and decided I was working too hard for other people.”

He took one year to build up the business, another to work out all the financing and a third to construct the firm’s modern new home at the Warren-Washington Industrial Development Agency’s Airport Industrial Park.

F.W. Webb Company opened its new Queensbury store and warehouse at 369 Corinth Road, replacing its former Queensbury location on Highland Avenue.

The 90,000-square-foot facility is designed to supply residential, commercial, industrial and institutional projects with expanded inventory, added amenities and improved access for skilled trades across the region.

“Opening this larger facility strengthens our ability to support trade professionals with the products, solutions, and expertise they need to operate efficiently and grow their businesses,” said Bob Mucciarone, COO at F.W. Webb Company. “Investing in this new location is part of our footprint-wide strategy to provide state-of-the-art locations that meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

The facility has more than 20,000 products on site, including 1,500 new to the Queensbury location. Contractors can call, text or order at fwwebb.com and pick up orders at a dedicated will-call counter.

The Queensbury operation now offers products and resources from the company’s Water Works division, including pipe, fire hydrants, pipe fusion equipment and other components for underground utility jobs.

By Ann Donnelly

A Plattsburgh-based managed IT services firm has cemented its commitment to the Greater Glens Falls and Saratoga region with a dedicated office on Broad Street in Glens Falls.

LayerEight, which launched its current brand in January 2021, previously maintained a full-time technician in the area. In 2026, the company decided to establish a dedicated office adjacent to the new South Street developments. The firm brought on account executive Bryan Carr to staff the location and spearhead local growth.

Vicki Marking, director of sales and marketing, said the new office positions the company amid local growth. “There’s so much going on around us right now,” Marking said.

Carr, who lives in Saratoga, is tasked with building relationships across the region.

“I love what I do here,” Carr said. “Being able to go out to different ribbon cuttings, seeing these new businesses, introducing them to the LayerEight brand and telling them what we do is something that I’ve done a little bit before, but never on this scale.”

By Ann Donnelly

Crosspoint Realty has established its new headquarters at Moreau Commons on Route 9, positioning the brokerage along the corridor from the Northway’s Exit 17 to Glens Falls as upstate New York’s real estate market expands.

Broker and owner Scott Cross founded the relationship-driven brokerage earlier this year to capitalize on the region’s geographic shift. After more than four months of working from home, Cross said he needed a dedicated brick-and-mortar space for his growing team.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Crosspoint Realty was not built in a day either,” Cross said. “It takes a long time for you to plan everything.”

The Moreau Commons location gives agents quick access to clients in Washington, Warren and Saratoga counties. Cross sees South Glens Falls and Moreau as a key junction for future housing development.

Cross identifies the Exit 17 corridor in Moreau as a pivotal geographic “pinch point,” with limited growth potential in larger cities pushing development from Saratoga into Wilton and farther north, and from Glens Falls south toward the central area. He expects that regional expansion to strengthen the location’s strategic value.

Fifty-nine Early College Career Academy students from 17 school districts were celebrated June 8 at the ECCA Completion Ceremony, a partnership between WSWHE BOCES and SUNY Adirondack. Families, friends, faculty, staff, Board of Education members and guests attended the event recognizing the Class of 2026.

ECCA offers career pathways in Advanced Manufacturing, Business and Entrepreneurship, Information Technology: Computer Networking and Cybersecurity, New Media, and Pathways to Teaching. Students earn certifications, complete work-based learning, job shadowing and mentorships, and work on industry challenges. Students also earn college credits toward an associate degree while still in high school.

Fifteen graduates completed the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (PTECH) program, a six-year track that begins in middle school and continues through high school and two years of college.

SUNY Adirondack President Anastasia Urtz, J.D., praised the graduates for their determination.

By Ann Donnelly

When people hear the word hospice, they often picture a brick-and-mortar facility. But for High Peaks Hospice, which serves a sprawling six-county region across upstate New York, hospice is not a place; it is a comprehensive service brought directly to the patient.

“We are not a place,” executive director Nicholas George said. “Wherever people are calling home, we go to that home, whether they’re in their actual home, in a nursing home, in assisted living, we go in to take care of them where they are.”

Operating since 1986, High Peaks Hospice has what is likely the second-largest geographic coverage of any hospice in the state. Its territory spans Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Washington and Warren counties. With a staff of nearly 50 employees, the organization cares for individuals who have received a medical prognosis of six months or less to live because of a terminal illness. Age and income are not limiting factors; the hospice has cared for patients ranging from infants to a 106-year-old, and Medicare and most commercial insurance cover the service.

By Paul Post

Traffic at Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport is expected to increase from 23,652 to more than 33,700 flights per year over the next 20 years, much of it business and tourism travel that contributes to the local economy.

An airport master plan update, scheduled for completion next year, seeks to identify current and future needs to maintain the site as a valuable regional asset.

Several dozen residents and stakeholders got their first look at the study during a recent public meeting at SUNY Adirondack.

“There’s a perception out there that these airports are only for a certain sector, such as people with small planes or people with a lot of money,” said Steve Bourque, of Binghamton-based McFarland Johnson, an engineering firm specializing in aviation planning. “It’s more than that. There’s jobs at the airport. It’s not only used by corporate executives. It brings in hundreds and hundreds of tourists every year, which brings thousands of dollars to the local economy.”

“It’s also used for search and rescue and law enforcement activity,” he said.

By Paul Post

Garvey Kia is scheduled to move into its new state-of-the-art dealership on Wednesday, May 20 followed by a grand opening celebration with area dignitaries in June.

The 25,000-square-foot, two-story building is adjacent to the firm’s former site at 483 Quaker Road, which continues as a Volkswagen dealership with future remodeling plans.

Kia generates approximately 65 percent of the company’s revenue.

“It was really a business need,” owner and President J.P. Garvey said. “We were selling so many cars next door that we had to expand. It’s the biggest, best and most technologically modern dealership in the North Country. Kia had a really big role in the design process, but a lot of the details were up to us. Every day there were a hundred decisions that had to be made.”

Garvey is the only Kia dealership between Albany and Plattsburgh, and its market includes most of central Vermont, too.

The new building has a variety of unique features, from environmentally sustainable elements and a spacious customer lounge to a top-of-the-line network computer system and employee amenities such as a shower, secure locker room and full-service break room and kitchen area.

By Paul Post

From a new planning and zoning department to downtown parking initiatives, Glens Falls is pursuing steps large and small to attract business and promote economic development.

Mayor Diana Palmer outlined those steps during a recent wide-ranging speech covering her first 100 days in office at Heritage Hall in Harding Mazzotti Arena.

“Being mayor of a small city is about solving problems,” she said. “At any given time, there will be new problems that need careful thought and solutions. The beginning of my administration was no exception. In January, we confronted a number of ongoing problems, and I am proud of the progress my administration has made on all of them.”

One of the most significant items she discussed was a proposed transfer of operations and sale of the city’s Fire Road ice rink, near the YMCA, to the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association. The facility was temporarily closed last year because glycol leaked from its cooling system.

The situation was managed, but the city is still seeking a long-term solution.