Category Archives: Business News

By Helise Stamos

Mario DiSiena has brought his love for antique cars and food together in a new enterprise. Uncle Mario’s Garage, a restaurant and bar, recently opened in Queensbury.  

The building housing the business was formerly Sutton’s Marketplace. Extensive revovations, which took two years, were required before opening. 

“We had repairs that needed to be addressed, but we also reinvented our building into something great,” said DiSiena. “I brought my love of antique cars, motorcycles and trains into my restaurant.” 

Twenty employees work with the DiSiena family to operate the restaurant. Mario’s wife, Diane, keeps the books. His daughter, Emily, greets  customers and manages the multiple floors that display products for sale. His son, Michael, oversees deliveries. Emily’s boyfriend, Steve Lisciani, helps with anything that’s needed. Jeanette Walter, who worked 20 years as a manager at Panzas in Saratoga, is the general manager. 

Empire State University will offer a master of arts in higher education beginning in the fall 2024 term. The online 30-credit degree program is designed to enhance students’ and professionals’ contributions to higher education and prepare them for a broad range of administrative roles and research related to their work.

The program is designed to be flexible and accommodating for full-time and part-time students. Courses focus on contemporary perspectives on careers, policies, administration, history, organization, social justice and educational equality, and data-based decision making and teaching in post-secondary education.

The program provides a graduate-level assessment of prior learning and transfer credits for enrolled students at no additional fee, which can be combined for up to 12 credits toward the degree.

The fully online M.A. in higher education features course offerings such as:

* Economics and Finance of Higher Education

* Administration and Leadership in Higher Education

* Fostering Student Success in Higher Education

* Rethinking Experience and Learning in Adulthood

* History and Philosophy of Higher Education

By Christine Graf

For more than three decades, Lynn Sickles has been serving the community as executive director of the Southern Adirondack Child Care Network (SACN). Established in 1992, the non-profit is one of 35 childcare resource centers in New York state. 

Serving Warren, Washington,  and Hamilton counties, SACN’s primary role is to help parents find child care. 

“If a parent is looking for care, they call us and we put their information into a database that includes all of the regulated child care programs in Warren, Washington, and Hamilton counties,” said Sickles, noting that these services are offered free of charge. 

The database generates a list of child care providers, ones that meet the specific criteria of each parent. After receiving the list, the parent must reach out to the providers to see if there are any openings. 

“We also educate parents on what to look for when they go to visit a program,” said Sickles. “We then follow up with them to see if they were successful in their search. Finding child care remains the number one barrier for them—what many of them are telling us is that there were no openings.”

By Jill Nagy

After several years of relying on vending machines, visitors to Moreau Lake State Park can once again enjoy real food served by real people. Big Tony’s at the Lake opened May 25 and the place has been busy every day, according to Anthony (Big Tony) Schunk, owner of the business along with his wife, Amy.

The Schunks got into the business almost by chance. They did a lot of cooking for Northway Church in Stillwater, sometimes serving as many as 700 people. That led to developing Big Tony’s Meal Prep, their meal prep business out of the local Elks Lodge. People asked if they could have the meals brought to them for parties and large gatherings, leading to Big Tony’s Catering.  A fortuitous visit to Moreau State Park led to an offer to take over the concession stand for the summer. They signed a five-year contract with New York state, beginning this summer. Their eatery is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. They may squeeze in a few more weekends in October, Schunk said. 

The Schunks and a staff of eight keep both the Stillwater and the park businesses going.

By Christine Graf

More than a year after announcing plans to build a new Bass Pro Shops in Clifton Park, the sporting goods retailer has received final site plan approval from the Town of Clifton Park Planning Board. Construction is expected to begin this summer on the 77,000-square-foot store at 400 Clifton Park Center Road.

According to Clifton Park Town Supervisor Phil Barrett, Bass Pro Shops could not move forward with construction until the company received final approval from federal and state agencies. 

“There was a lot of speculation about why the town was holding them up, but it had nothing to do with us,” he explained. “They had to complete a process over and above what was required by the town. As far as the town was concerned, they had satisfied all of our requirements some time ago.”

Bass Pro Shops’ decision to build a store in Clifton Park was the culmination of several years of discussions between the retailer and town officials.

Muroff Hospitality Group announced the sale of The Mohican Resort of Lake George and the 8000 square foot Boats by George Storage Building, located at 1545 State Route 9, Lake George, New York. Both properties were owned by Chad Nims (1545 State Route 9 LLC). The entire property is 4.69 Acres and was recently subdivided to sell the motel property (3.75 acres) to Amit & Payal Kumar and the Boat Storage Building (.94 acre)) to George Pensel (Five Star Marina Properties, LLC).

This well-established, long-time family-owned resort boasts 44 units, ranging in size from traditional guest rooms to 2-bedroom suites, condo-like units, townhouses and a newly renovated 4-bedroom home. Additional amenities include sparkling outdoor and heated indoor swimming pools, game room, business center, basketball court, BBQ grills, fitness center, park like setting, gazebo, guest laundry, children’s playground, housekeeping, and more. The Mohican Resort is only minutes to Great Escape, the Lake George Outlets, Millionaires Beach, Cruise Ships, Village of Lake George, Ft. William Henry, restaurants, shopping, bars and local attractions.