Category Archives: Business News

By Ann Donnelly 

Quintessential Mortgage Group, with offices throughout the East Coast, opened its newest office in the Union Square building, 9-11 Broad Street, Glens Falls. “We are thrilled to establish our presence in Glens Falls and have Maureen Ginter-Grabowski lead our team in this vibrant community,” said Michael Piazza, Director of Growth. “Maureen’s expertise and dedication to excellence align perfectly with our mission to empower homebuyers and homeowners with personalized mortgage solutions.” 

“I’m excited to start this venture with Quintessential Mortgage Group,” says Ginter-Grabowski, who has been in the mortgage industry for over 20 years and was in Title Insurance for 20 years before that. “My background gives me a lot of extra insight for my clients.” Ginter-Grabowski has worked with Glens Falls, Saratoga, and Capital District firms. Most recently, she was Senior Loan Office and then Branch Manager with Homestead Funding Corp.

With its main headquarters in White Plains, New York, Quintessential Mortgage Group has been operating for over fifteen years and has earned recognition as the leading mortgage provider in this state, closing the highest number of loans in New York in 2023. The firm offers a range of personalized mortgage solutions to individuals and families buying new or secondhand homes or who want to refinance or tap into the equity of their current homes.

By Ann Donnelly

Jennifer Cornell, owner of Dance Moves with Jen LLC, didn’t grow up as a dancer. She started classes at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Saratoga 15 years ago when she and her husband were looking for things to do for a “date night.” As her passion for dance, particularly Latin dance, grew, she started leading and then teaching classes at Tango Fusion Dance Company while a full-time Spanish teacher at Lake George High School. 

After six years at Tango Fusion, having also gained experience acting as a DJ and emcee at events, Cornell decided to go out independently and started Dance Moves with Jen LLC. Her passion for dance and music, with her added experience as a teacher, gives her a particular skill with running events and getting guests on the dance floor. Often accompanying Cornell is her husband, Chris. 

“He does a lot of the MCing. He’s also a teacher, retiring this year, and is great in front of a group of people,” she says. “The rapport between us helps move the event along.”

A certified instructor in Salsa (Dance Vision) and West Coast Swing (GPDIA), in January 2024, Cornell started teaching weekly classes on Thursday evenings at Sunnyside and Ridge studio an event space, recently opened by Jennifer Islas in Queensbury. 

“The West Coast Swing classes have been particularly popular. I get a wide variety of people, from high schoolers to retired people, because it can be danced to any style of music. We are developing a West Coast Swing community here,“ says Cornell.

By Paul Post

“If you get in one of my cars, you get in to win.” — Enzo Ferrari.

This same mindset has helped Donnie DeVito and Jason Kirshon grow their business, KIRSH Helmets, to achieve coast-to-coast sales in just a few short years.

Now it’s gaining international exposure by playing a significant role in the new Michael Mann-directed film, “Ferrari,” released on Christmas Day co-starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz. 

The Schenectady-based company, with production facilities in Queensbury, specializes in making half shell motorcycle helmets, the kind most popular with Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycle riders.

Its most unique, revolutionary feature is a fluid liner, inside an aerodynamically designed shell, which keeps heads cool on the hottest days.

Film producers conducted a worldwide search for a company that could replicate the kind of helmets race car drivers wore in 1957, when “Ferrari” takes place, while providing the highest level of safety and protection for actors and stunt men as well.

The story focuses on Enzo Ferrari’s auto empire, which is in financial crisis. 

To rescue it, he pushes himself and drivers to the edge in hopes of capturing the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.

Pioneer Bank, announced the appointment of Jenifer Marten as Vice President and Business Banking Team Leader. A local and regional commercial banking executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience, she will spearhead Pioneer’s efforts to develop and grow commercial business relationships, including overseeing a strengthened strategic approach to meeting the financial needs of community businesses.

In her new role, Marten will guide an enhanced go-to-market strategy focused on improving and expanding access for Pioneer’s local business customers to critical financial resources. From expediting loan review processes to increasing the authority of branch offices to approve loans, Pioneer is deepening its commitment to supporting the growth of regional businesses and the Capital Region economy.  

“We’re thrilled to welcome Jenifer to Pioneer, where she will play a vital role in supporting and growing our commercial banking portfolio,” said Pioneer Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer Jesse Tomczak. “With decades of expertise and experience, and deep roots in the Capital Region, Jenifer is the ideal leader as we seek to increase efficiency and productivity, build connectivity within our branches and the community, and enrich commercial lending and overall financial support to our local businesses.”

By Paul Post

The Glens Falls area’s third large manufacturing employer in less than a year has announced plans to cease operations, impacting 350 workers in Glens Falls and Queensbury.

AngioDynamics, a global medical device maker, says rising inflation, supply chain constraints and workforce shortages are responsible for the move, saving the company an estimated $15 million. 

Early last year, Lehigh Cement Company in Glens Falls shuttered its 130-year-old plant, idling 85 workers, followed several months later by the closure of Essity’s South Glens Falls paper mill and facilities in Greenwich and Saratoga Springs, which cost another 350 jobs.

“It’s never good when one of these operations closes,” said Jim Siplon, Warren County Economic Development president. “But I’m confident this isn’t all bad news. We still have thousands of open positions in the area, not only in manufacturing, but in tourism and health care. We have to figure out how to fill those.”

“What we’re seeing is less and less big employers that are going to be the underpinning of our economy and more and more medium and smaller ones that we need to serve as well,” he said. “No factory and no product line lasts forever. Business cycles are shortening. Our job is to support Angio in whatever transition they’re in the midst of and to make sure our workforce continues to be gainfully employed. We still have a lot of opportunity to do that.”

By Paul Post

 Seasonal workforce housing, a Farmer’s Market pavilion, Shepard Park fishing pier and south Canada Street improvements highlight the projects proposed for Lake George with a new $10 million state grant.

 A committee of public and private officials including four professional planners spent 16 months preparing an application for the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative program.

“The $10 million will help leverage another $20 million to $30 million in public and private investment,” said Committee Chair Dan Barusch, town of Lake George director of planning and zoning. “The town and village are going to be chipping in dollars and business owners will match any money they get for various projects.”

“The indirect economic impact is things like job creation, construction and increased sales tax revenue,” he said. 

Most of 2024 will be spent fine tuning priority projects and considering additional ideas that others may have. An open call for proposals will be issued soon.

A separate planning committee, comprised of local and state officials from various state agencies, will decide the merits of each project before money is forthcoming, with work expected to begin in 2025.

Warrensburg Town Supervisor Kevin Geraghty has been selected to chair the Warren County Board of Supervisors in 2024, the third consecutive year he has been chosen to sit as chair of the board. Geraghty received an overwhelming majority of votes from his colleagues on the 20-member Board of Supervisors at the board’s annual organization meeting.

“I am honored that my colleagues have selected me to chair our Board of Supervisors and I would like to thank everyone who supported me,” Geraghty said. “We accomplished many good things in 2023, a balanced budget with a reduced tax rate chief among them, and Warren County is in good shape as we head into 2024. I look forward to working with each of my colleagues on the board, and all of our great Warren County employees, to continue to make Warren County an outstanding place to live, work and vacation.”

Supervisor Geraghty was nominated to return as chair of the board by Lake Luzerne Town Supervisor Gene Merlino. 2024 will be Supervisor Geraghty’s seventh year as chair of the board, as he also spent four years as chair between 2013 and 2016.

By Susan Elise Campbell

A new venue in the heart of downtown Glens Falls is now open for groups of 30 to 40 people for parties, corporate meetings, reunions, and small receptions. 21 Ridge Street Event Space has a “modern Adirondack feel” that marketing and sales manager Ian Quillinan said makes the space “feel homey and comfortable.” 

The owner of the business, Chris Laing, purchased the building more than a year-and-a-half ago. It has two apartments upstairs and more than 1,800 square feet on the first level with a full kitchen occupying nearly a third of it, Quillinan said. In the past the ground floor housed an eatery and prior to that, a brewery and other types of businesses.

“The owner was thinking of ways to use the building but was not interested in operating a restaurant,” Quillinan said. “An event space was a new idea to utilize the open spaces for rental and provide a kitchen for food preparation.”

Mike Bannon of Saratoga Signature Interiors was brought in to redesign the event area because “his strong suit is the modern, Adirondack lodge style,” Quillinan said.