Category Archives: Construction

By R.J. DeLuke

Construction season this year is seeing a variety of companies in the area involved in numerous projects, sizeable and otherwise, as business moves forward in spite of concerns about the economy.

Rob Holbrook, president of V&H Construction in Fort Edward, said he is optimistic about the construction industry in the region.

“We’ve been straight out since COVID,” he said, though he noted there could be a “cooling off” period on the horizon.

Like others, he said finding qualified workers is still an issue.

“I could use more people. I can’t hire enough qualified people right now,” said Holbrook. 

Dan Washburn, a partner with Hilltop Construction in Hudson Falls, hiring is a bonifide issue. “Qualified workers have decreased and are harder to find,” he said, while noting it is not a new problem, rather one that has persisted for some years.

Nonetheless, “we’ve got a really good crew,” said Washburn.

Of the general state of the industry, he said “for us, it’s very good. We have alot of irons in the fire … It’s a very good outlook for this year and through next fall and into winter.” Projects are already being scheduled for 2024, he said. 

By Christine Graf

It was while working to construct the interior of a third Saratoga CoWorks Space at 92 Congress St. in Saratoga Springs that owners Dorothy Rogers-Bullis and Dan Bullis first discovered Falkbuilt, an interior digital component construction company. 

They were so impressed with the company that they now operate Falkbuilt’s Northern New York branch as part of their own commercial design and furniture company, drb Business Interiors.

“Falkbuilt was the solution that we were looking for,” said Rogers-Bullis. “We wanted better acoustics, better design, and faster lead times.”

Had they not used Falkbuilt for the interior buildout at 92 Congress St., she estimated that the work would have taken four times as long.

Founded in 2019, Calgary-based Falkbuilt has 450 employees and more than 90 branches in North America, the Middle East and India. The interior construction manufacturing company uses next-generation technology to manufacture components efficiently and precisely in their factory. Falkbuilt systems are being utilized in hospitals, offices, and even a research station in Antarctica.

Described as “conventional construction on steroids,” Falkbuilt’s digital component construction combines proven interior construction methods with technology. Its ECHO software, a cloud-computing platform, connects with the technological platforms that are commonly used in conventional construction. The software also utilizes industry-standard design and engineering tools. 

By Christine Graf

With the purchase the Mohican Resort Motel, local entrepreneur Chad Nims has entered the hospitality industry. 

Nims purchased the 44-room resort for $1.7 million after the Lake George property, north of the Outlets at lake George and south of the lake itself, was foreclosed on.

Nims, the owner of Nims Services, established his landscaping and snowplowing company in 2003 while a senior at Hudson Falls High School. As the company grew, he began offering excavating, paving, construction, and trucking services. 

“I had a lot of friends from high school who came to work with me and really helped out,” said Nims. “They played a major role in helping me grow the business during the first 10 years. Over that time, I kept expanding, adding employees, and offering more services.”

“We do everything from paving parking lots to interior construction fit ups. We do demolition for a lot of the malls, and we’ve done a lot of work at Crossgates and Aviation.”

Four years ago, Nims added Tree Care by Stan Hunt and Stan Hunt Pest Control to his business portfolio. He also owns several commercial buildings and approximately 70 apartments.

By Paul Post

Bonacio Construction Co. in Saratoga Springs  helped transform the Spa City with one large, multi-million-dollar project after another since its founding in 1988.

About a decade ago, the Saratoga Springs-based firm turned its attention to Glens Falls.

Now, in one of its most ambitious ventures ever, Bonacio hopes to rejuvenate South Street with a multi-phase project involving new construction and renovating existing structures such as the once-popular Sandy’s Clam Bar, Hot Shots tavern and a business incubator building behind Hot Shots at 36 Elm Street. 

Elsewhere, Bonacio is still quite busy in Saratoga Springs, currently doing foundation and structural work for a new addition behind the former Rip Van Dam Hotel, connected to the adjacent Adelphi Hotel on Broadway, which was rebuilt four years ago for $28 million. The completed project will comprise one large resort with hotel rooms, studios and apartments.

In Glens Falls, “We saw a town that was once a jewel and had won the All-American City Award, but which like a lot of upstate New York communities had struggled through some down years,” said Larry Novik, company development director. “But it was clearly making a strong comeback. We saw a beautiful downtown with a really nice layout and a lot of quality, attractive buildings. We were just excited by what we were seeing.”

The company’s first project in Glens Falls was a new six-story retail, commercial and residential building at the intersection of Hudson Avenue and School Street, near the city’s new parking garage by Glens Falls Hospital.

By Christine Graf

Foothills Builders, a family owned residential construction company, is pursuing plans to build a mixed-use building at 78-80 Main St. in Queensbury.

The company was established in 2013 by Joe Leuci and his father, also named Joe. Since that time, they have built close to 100 homes including two subdivisions in Queensbury and numerous homes in Corinth and Moreau. The proposed three-story building is located on the Northway Exit 18 corridor.

“We’re excited to be what we hope will be the transformation of this corridor between Exit 18 and Glens Falls,” said Leuci. “I think it would be huge for the area if that stretch can be developed.”

If approved, the 25,000-square-foot building will include 7,000 square feet of leasable space on the ground floor. The space can be split up to accommodate at least four tenants, he said.

By Paul Post

A smile crossed Bert Weber’s face when a Cape Cod barkeep urged him to check out a new beer made by Common Roots of South Glens Falls.

“It’s really good, you should try it,” the tavern worker said.

Little did he know that Weber and his son, Christian, own the business, which is one of Saratoga County’s fastest-growing craft breweries. “It never gets old when we go to a spot we’ve never been to, walk in and there’s a Common Roots beer on tap,” Christian said.

The Webers have a $3.2 million expansion plan in the works.

Plans call for acquiring a two-acre parcel adjacent to the brewery, at 55 Saratoga Ave., and building a large facility for warehousing, storage, a separate farm-style brewery that will produce wild-mix fermentation beers, and a large restaurant capable of hosting special events such as weddings.

By Christine Graf  

Real estate investor and tech company entrepreneur Christopher Ramsey and his investment partners have purchased the Huddle Bay Motel and Cottages on Lake George.

Under the name Bolton Landing Beach Resort LLC, Ramsey and his partners purchased Huddle Bay Motel and Cottages for $900,000 on April 14.  The 13-unit 4576 Lakeshore Drive features cabins, motel rooms, and efficiencies.

 The Schenectady native and Siena College computer science graduate is the founder of Virtual Moving Technologies of Schenectady. His company provides moving companies with software that enables them to prepare virtual moving estimates. Virtual Moving Technologies has 150 employees throughout the country with 20 located in Schenectady. Ramsey also owns numerous rental properties in Albany, Schenectady, and Troy as well as 17 self-storage facilities.

According to Ramsey, town and village officials were accommodating throughout the entire purchase process.

By Christine Graf

According to a 2020 survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America, 81 percent of construction firms are finding it difficult to find employees. This trend has worsened in 2021 due in part to extended unemployment benefits that have been made available by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The cost of labor has gone up 25 to 30 percent. It’s putting a lot of people out of business. We’re competing with the government for employees because people are getting paid to stay home while millions of jobs go unfilled,” said Todd Drake, owner of Cornerstone Construction. His company works throughout the Capital Region and the Adirondacks.

“It’s absolutely outrageous policy and fiscally disastrous and quite frankly socially disastrous because it’s creating complacency among people who should be working. Certainly there are those who have been able to find work that they are capable of doing. I certainly get that. But for the vast majority of people, they aren’t even calling. I know businesses—including ourselves—that run ads and get no responses at all. None.”

The origins of the labor shortage started long before the pandemic and can be traced back to 2008 recession when the bottom fell out of the construction industry and skilled workers moved to other professions, those in the industry say. The problem was compounded by a reduction in the number of young people seeking careers in the trades.

“This is not new, and it’s not pandemic related,” said Thomas Albrecht, Sr., president of Hilltop Construction Co. in Hudson Falls, of the labor woes in the industry.

“Three years ago, the age of the average construction worker was 42 years old. They are aging out, and there haven’t been a lot of people to replace them. It’s just a shortage of folks going into the trades industry.” he said.

By Christine Graf

Joe Gross, owner of Gross Electric in Queensbury, has expanded his Warren County real estate portfolio by purchasing 21 acres of land in Lake George.

The land is located off Northway Exit 21 and is adjacent to the 9-acre former Ramada Inn property that Gross purchased in 2015. The Ramada was in foreclosure at the time, and the hotel had been shuttered for 10 years.

“I was fortunate to purchase this 21 acres, giving me a total of 30 acres to work with,” said Gross. “I saw it as opportunity to pursue trying to get some apartments and/or townhouses approved.”

Gross envisions a multi-phase, mixed-use project for the properties. In addition to apartments, it would include several commercial businesses.

“I’m thinking a hair salon, maybe a small deli. Anything we could do to make it like a little bit of a community,” he said. “We would love for the first phase to have some retail commercial capacity and about 100 (residential) units.”

  “I purchased it from the bank with the idea that I could resurrect it (the hotel),” Gross said. “About six months after I bought it, it became the vandalism and party spot for kids from multiple counties. It got to the point where they had broken every window in the place, so we had to gut it so there was nothing left to break on it. All it is now is concrete and metal.”

Gross considered building a new hotel on the property but changed his mind after meeting with town supervisors and other Lake George officials. They alerted him to the need for apartments within the town.