Week in Review: November 8 – November 12, 2021
Stay up-to-date on business and economic development happenings in the Capital Region with the CEG Economic Development Week in Review. Don’t miss out on the developments that are transforming the region by following us on:
CEG IN THE NEWS
Daily Gazette: Frog Alley brewery becomes classroom for SUNY Schenectady brewing program
Saratoga Today: UMAC Recognizes Military Bases’ Regional Impacts
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Albany vacancy rates signal neighborhoods improving
“Around Central Avenue, scarlet letters stick to the dirty windows of some run-down properties broadcasting a message: Vacant.
About 18 percent of housing units in the Central Avenue neighborhood were vacant last year, according to data from the 2020 U.S. Census.”
‘Sue Kerber on the future of RAD Soap: ‘The sky’s the limit.’
“Sue Kerber started making homemade lotion to treat her son Zak’s eczema after he couldn’t get relief from prescription medicines. From there, she made creams for various ailments. Years later, she took a big leap and started RAD Soap from the kitchen of their home in Cohoes. RAD is short for radical, because the all-natural soaps are different from traditional skin care. Today, her sons Zak and Max are partners in the business, with 14 full- and part-time employees. They have a production facility that makes a full line of products, including 16,000 bars of soap monthly that sell on average for $10 each at their store in Stuyvesant Plaza, Whole Foods and elsewhere.”
Albany Inno – Why this California startup has kept its tech team at Albany NanoTech
“After the startup Menlo Micro spun off from GE Research in Niskayuna in 2016, it set up its business development office and headquarters in Southern California. But it has kept its product development team in the Albany NanoTech Complex.
The startup, which is developing a next-generation electronics component, has had 1,397 square feet of space in the NanoFab East facility since 2018. Earlier this year, the company expanded into 3,458 square feet of space in the building to accommodate plans for growth.”
‘Pavilion Project’ planned at new Art Omi site
“A Columbia County arts center and sculpture park plans to develop a new 190-acre site to host permanent installations of artists’ works.
Up to 18 artists would create their own enclosed “pavilions” that would eventually serve as galleries for their works, giving them the ability to design the space for their pieces from the ground up. The structures, which can be up to 5,900 square feet, would dot the landscape in a rural area of northern Columbia County.”
