Category Archives: Business News

By Lisa Balschunat

Another phase of expansion is underway at the Queensbury Hotel in downtown Glens Falls.

The owners plan to construct a grand ballroom that can accommodate 400 people for a wedding or similar dinner event, 700 people for a cocktail party and 350 people theater style. 

In addition, the room will be equipped with two breakout rooms. A new banquet kitchen will be built off the ballroom. The facility will be 5,200 square feet.

“We are moving full steam ahead,” said hotel general manager Tyler Herrick.  “When Spruce Hospitality Group bought the Queensbury in 2016 the first thing Zach Moore and I talked about with Ed Bartholomew was the need for a big room to accommodate community events.  Something grander than Heritage Hall, bigger than Great Escape Lodge, but closer than The Sagamore.”

Spruce Hospitality is working with the Phinney Design Group of Saratoga Springs and is presently securing funding for the $2.2 million project through Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Co. Herrick said he anticipates finalizing soon the contract for construction with a local company.

The ballroom will be located right of the hotel’s Ridge Street entrance. He said the project should begin in late August with plans to accept bookings beginning in September 2022.   

“We are really excited about this project, as it rounds out our five-year plan and solidifies what we know in the hospitality industry—that a banquet booking offers a predictable, controlled profit.  Many people think it comes from the bar.  There’s guess work at the bar. There is predictability with an event and a straight percentage that bodes well for our business.”

The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) announced that the 32nd Annual J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award will be presented to Mark Behan, president and founder of Behan Communications.

“Mark Behan exemplifies all that J. Walter Juckett stood for: community, charity and leadership. Mark has long been in the service of so many others in our region through his work on many boards as well as his volunteer commitment in so many other venues,” said ARCC President and CEO Michael Bittel.

The Juckett Award, named in honor of the longtime chairman of the Sandy Hill Corp., is the chamber’s highest award for community service.

Behan iounded Behan Communications 33 years ago. It serves clients across many industry sectors nationwide. Prior to founding Behan Communications, Behan worked in the newspaper industry as a reporter, editor and executive.

Behan serves on the boards of Arrow Financial Corp. and Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Co., the Glens Falls Foundation, the E. Leo Spain Foundation and Kelly’s Angels Inc. For 18 years, he was a member of the board of governors of Glens Falls Hospital and in recent years served as vice chair. He also has served on the Albany Medical Center board of directors.

More recently, Behan has served as a member of Warren County’s Economic Recovery Task Force and as the leader of the Warren County Hospitality Communications Group, a public-private collaboration to strengthen the tourism industry in Warren County.

He is a former member of the board of trustees of The Hyde Collection art museum, the Adirondack Regional Chambers of Commerce, the Economic Development Corp. of Warren County, Crandall Public Library, the Chapman Historical Museum, and St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School. In 1988, he was honored with the Henry Crandall Award from Crandall Public Library.

The Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC) will hold the 50th annual LARAC Summer Arts Festival in City Park in Downtown Glens Falls on Saturday Aug. 14 and  10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday Aug. 15.

The Arts Festival is free and open to the public. It will run Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 10. a.m. to 4 p.m.

Organizers said this year’s festival will feature over 100 exhibitors, including many new and returning artists offering shoppers a variety of products such as jewelry, home items, food items, fine art, textiles, garden decorations, and more.

The festival will also include local nonprofit community booths, arts demonstrations, children’s activities, food concessions, and live entertainment by local musicians.

It will have two stages of live music throughout the two-day event, with music from over 25 different acts.

The Bond, 1786, at 3 Hudson St. in Warrensburg, owned by The Lotus Group of Companies, is now open

The restaurant segment of the property is open five nights a week.

It is owned and operated by the Lotus Group of Companies, also in Warrensburg. It is the  site of the former Merrill Magee House.

The Bond 1786 is the newest hospitality business for Lotus, which also owns and operates Ashes Pub & Ocho Cinco Cantina and The Grist Mill, facilities that are currently under a demolition/reconstruction from a 2020 fire.

“We knew that opening a restaurant during a pandemic would be a challenge, but our chefs and experienced front of house staff have made the opening a smooth and successful one. We are proud to feature a variety of locally sourced products, a delicious craft cocktail menu, spacious seating, live music, themed nights in the pub and local draft selections,” a company statement said.

The Lotus group’s continued commitment to Warrensburg is evidenced by the affordable options and family friendly attitude that The Bond strives for.

With the opening of The Bond, comes the rebirth of a historic Warrensburg building. The property serves as the first boutique hotel in the area. It has spacious outdoor seating and large event space. Rooms are contemporary and cozy .

The team has created a menu that is a mix of classic favorites with some new dishes. Chefs Paul MacPherson and Henk Schoneveld,  created a first-class menu that is big on creativity and bold in flavor.

By Lisa Balschunat

Spruce Hospitality Group, parent company of the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls and co-owner of the Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites, Queensbury, is broadening its business reach to Ticonderoga in a third-party management business arrangement.

Tyler Herrick, president of Spruce Hospitality Group and general manager of the Queensbury and Fairfield hotels, said he and his business partner Zachary Moore, have hired a general manager, executive chef and some 40 employees to serve the food and beverage operation at the Ticonderoga Golf Course.

Located in Ticonderoga on Route 9N, the golf course offers members and the public a golf outing, as well as refined dining at Seymour’s Restaurant, or pub fare at the facility’s tap room.

Seymour’s touts a three-season porch with views of the Lord Howe Valley and Adirondack sunsets.  The tap room features local craft brews and signature cocktails. Pub fare is served on the clubhouse’s lower level, covered terrace and patio.

Herrick said the guests are a combination of local residents, seasonal homeowners and visitors. “We are excited to be a part of it.”

The  golf course is looking to host future Professional Golf Association regional events, he said.

He noted that golf courses nationwide experienced a record year in 2020 during the pandemic and that trend is continuing into 2021.

“We exceeded our expectations opening night serving 200-250 dinners,” Herrick said.  “We’ve advertised locally, but have not expanded yet to a broader reach.”

“Ticonderoga, with the fort, canals, waterways and history, is really a crossroads for new commerce,” Herrick said. “I see a resurgence here as the southern basin is too expensive and individuals and businesses are populating north.  There is so much potential here.”

The Lotus Analytics process optimization and software development company in Warrensburg has launched a company that aims to provide payroll solutions for organizations of any size.

Lotus Payroll Services is part of the Lotus Group of Companies, a diversified business group with investments and involvement in various sectors including technology, finance, hospitality, construction, education, auto parts, auto care, and events management.

According to Ash Anand, founder of Lotus Group of Cos., Lotus Payroll Services starts on July 1.

Anand is a former finance executive with Citibank and General Electric Consumer Finance. He employs more than 120 people through his Lotus Group.

The payroll firm, will work with regional and national clients to help create local jobs and bring revenue into the Adirondack mountains where his firm is headquartered.

Anand said Lotus Payroll Services improves the experience for employers and employees alike.

“Our end-to-end solution leverages high quality customer service, cloud technology, automated data collection, ongoing data validation, and real-time insights to keep your quality talent informed while avoiding surprises at the last minute,” he said in a news release. “Once the payroll run is complete, we are still working by your side to assist with bookkeeping, compliance audits, and whatever else comes your way. This complete solution brings you the freedom to focus on the lifeblood of your organization without stressing about the overhead.”

“Times have changed and so have we. Our ongoing efforts to streamline and simplify against the growing complexities we face have created the comprehensive approach of one unified company capable of taking your organization to the next level,” he said. “You will find our reliability, talent, robust tools, and dedication to service come together in the unique experience you have been looking for in a payroll partner.

The Jefferson Project at Lake George is expanding its statewide leadership role in the study of harmful algal blooms and other water-quality threats this summer with a new $1-million research project on Chautauqua Lake in Chautauqua County, made possible through funding from Chautauqua Institution and a county coalition.

The new research complements The Jefferson Project’s foundational research program on Lake George in Warren County, now in its eighth year.

Both Chautauqua Lake and Lake George are among the 12 priority water bodies identified for special protective efforts by New York state, as part of its harmful algal bloom (HAB) initiative, and are at extreme ends of the HAB spectrum. Officials said Chautauqua Lake has been severely impacted by harmful algal blooms for decades, particularly in its southern basin, while Lake George, widely regarded as one of the clearest and cleanest lakes in the country, experienced its first confirmed HAB last fall.

Officials said the Lake George HAB was relatively small and short-lived, and samples gathered at the time are now the subject of an intensive scientific analysis by Jefferson Project researchers to determine its cause.

Given the two lakes’ widely differing HAB histories, The Jefferson Project’s leaders say the data gathered on both lakes this summer will help them better understand the conditions that lead to the potentially devastating blooms and the actions that can be taken to prevent them. The Chautauqua Lake research began with a pilot program last year.

The Jefferson Project at Lake George combines Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology and powerful analytics with science to create a new model for environmental monitoring and prediction.

The project’s work is centered around a “Smart Sensor Network” that is deployed on lakes and surrounding watersheds to monitor the weather, the streams that feed the lakes, the water conditions from the lake surface to the lake bottom, and the circulation patterns of the water, officials said.

By Mark Shaw

Well with all the signs pointing to COVID-19 being behind us, companies of all shapes and sizes are deciding what the future will hold for them when it comes to where and how to operate.

Technology is at the forefront of that on so many levels. From working from home needs to the new levels in which cyber security is playing a part to protect all of us, these shifts will become the way we work going forward. 

We are seeing companies have three main strategies. The first being bringing people back to the office. We are, after all, social creatures, and this makes sense. The next is everyone will stay working from home. The last being a blend of the two: some work from home and some in office days.

All three of these trends provide different needs for organizations. Going back to the office in many ways is the most secure, everyone is behind the security devices managed by IT professionals, and each have a single-entry point to protect all the employees and their devices. This is what the playbook for firms have been for years.

In the completely remote work from home situation IT Support and Cyber firms alike are changing the way they support these companies. Let’s also be clear these firms should not be the same, mind you. Your internal or external IT support should NEVER be your cyber security firm. If you don’t believe this, watch the news, and study the new laws being introduced globally. A separation of church and state is coming and if your IT firm says it can do cyber security, RUN. They are lining their pockets and exposing you.

Supporting a fully remote workforce is more costly in terms of IT use to ensure that all the employees are secure. We were all forced to adopt the model and did it with a lack of caution in many cases. VPN is not enough to ensure that you are safe. Your employees are often sharing the same internet with their kids’ and spouses’ devices: phones, tablets, and game systems (i.e. XBOX). 

Your company’s data is being mixed in with home activities. Your company laptop is sitting on the same network as a potentially unprotected device. If this remains the trend, you as an employer of let’s say 20 people need to be aware that you are no longer protecting one network but 21 networks—one for each employee and one for your office or cloud-based servers. You have made your attack surface for the bad guys dramatically greater. Thus, leading to the large uptick in all the cyber-crime you are seeing today on the news and elsewhere.