By Susan Elise Campbell

Progress is slow but steady on North Spring Run, a proposed  apartment complex in northeastern Saratoga Springs according to Michael Birkby, senior project director of Conifer Realty. 

The firm is under contract to purchase property at 131 Excelsior Ave. and build 102 apartments in the complex. 

The Rochester-based developer plans to construct two buildings on the 4.2 acre site that had been home to Olde Saratoga Brewery.  The company owns and manages some 15,000 apartment units in four states and has multifamily complexes in the Capital District and parts north.

“We are hoping to obtain site plan approval before the end of summer and move quickly toward a closing,” Birkby said. “Construction may begin as early as the end of this year.”

Birkby said a demolition permit will be needed for tearing down the existing buildings and that the site plan, area variance, and architecture review permit applications were submitted in April. 

By Jill Nagy

Golfers and members of the general public alike are discovering a new restaurant at the Ballston Spa Country Club. 

Iron’s Edge, located at 1366 Amsterdam Road (Route 67) in Milton, serves lunch and dinner seven days a week at the clubhouse and in addition, has an auxiliary kitchen at the turn of the golf course for players who cannot wait until after they finish their round.

The restaurant is owned and operated by Chad Dorrough and Chris McCarthy, who also operate The Hideaway at Saratoga Lake Golf Club in Stillwater. They opened The Hideaway in 2019. Iron’s Edge has been open since April.

Although the golf club is private, non-members can play Monday through Thursday. The restaurant is open to the public everyday. 

The owners see many of the same customers week after week, according to Dorrough, as many of the more than 400 club members make a habit of stopping at Iron’s Edge. He said that is different from their experience at The Hideaway, located on a public course with more of a turnover of players.

By Christine Graf

When Siro’s opens it doors to racing fans this summer, the iconic Saratoga restaurant will have a new executive chef in its kitchen. 

Owners Peter and Jake Spitalny have hired former Jack’s Oyster House chef Elliott Vogel to oversee culinary operations. 

The father/son team purchased Siro’s for $1.2 million in 2019. Since that time, they have made significant investments in both interior and exterior renovations. Last year’s improvements included new exterior stamped concrete and updated kitchen equipment.

“Siro’s is an icon in Saratoga and in the horseracing community, and there was so much opportunity with the physical property to make some updates while preserving iconic signs and color scheme,” said Jake Spitalny. “On the business side, we also saw an opportunity to improve things.”

After purchasing Siro’s, the Spitalnys leased the restaurant to Scott Solomon who was arrested in 2021 for falsifying restaurant documents. The Spitalnys were not involved in his illegal activities and now operate Siro’s themselves. They rely on a general manager, Kevin Decker, who is in his 11th year at Siro’s, to oversee daily operations. Well-known maître d’ Michael Stone returns for his 30th year at the front of house. Their staff of 55 includes newcomer Vogel.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) faced many challenges and also grasped opportunities over the last two years, emerging in 2021 with an economic statement in the black, while making many necessary improvements.

Officials said they anxiously awaited the  return to normalcy in 2022, which is already underway. 

Following a reduced season in 2021, SPAC will welcome back New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for their full productions and residencies. It will also host the iconic Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, a popular concert lineup presented by Live Nation, and the return of Caffè Lena @ SPAC.

“Like so many individuals and organizations, the last two years have tested us mightily, but they have also called upon our deeper wells of creativity, compassion, resilience, and imagination,” said Elizabeth Sobol, SPAC president and  CEO. “Now, in summer 2022, in a full return of a SPAC Renewed and Rejuvenated, we are like our region’s endangered Karner Blue butterflies—re-emerging beautiful and glorious after being cocooned for so long. This splendid re-emergence is accompanied and made possible by a historic and unprecedented confluence of favorable financial factors.”

Skidmore College announced that Jacqueline Conrad will become Skidmore’s new vice president for communications and marketing as of July 5. 

She will be continuing her successful 30-year career in the private and nonprofit sectors, including 18 years leading her own communications firm and the last nine years at Cambridge College in Boston, where she is currently vice president of communications and public relations. 

Conrad’s appointment follows a national search that attracted an array of exceptional candidates from across the country. 

“I am thrilled to welcome Jacqui Conrad to Skidmore and into this critical leadership role,” college President Marc Conner said. “From her leadership in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at Cambridge College and elsewhere, to her impactful work in every realm of higher education outreach and communications, Jacqui is precisely the strategist and entrepreneurial thinker Skidmore needs to lead our talented communications and marketing team. 

“She impressed all of us involved in this search with her experience, her poise, her creativity, and her commitment to being part of a caring and committed community. I am delighted to welcome such a strong colleague, and I look forward with great anticipation to the creativity, marketing expertise, and passion for positive change she brings to Skidmore.”

By Paul Post

Unlike the Marines, area builders need a whole lot more than “A Few Good Men.”

A severe nationwide labor shortage is being felt locally, too, as understaffed firms can’t keep up with customer demand.

Several factors have contributed to the labor shortage. First and foremost, many skilled workers have aged out of the industry and there hasn’t been enough emphasis put on showing kids the careers this field has to offer, builders say.

“During the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, they were encouraged to go to college, regardless of whether or not that was going to benefit them,” said Matt Whitbeck, owner of Whitbeck Construction in Wilton. “So there’s this big segment of the population that feels that if they aren’t using their diploma for something, it was a waste, even though they’re taking on jobs they’re not passionate about or care about. They take them just to pay back student loans.”

In addition, COVID helped give rise to a whole new type of employment that is much less demanding than construction.