February 12, 2019 at
Meeting Live StreamTown of Montgomery Industrial Development Agency
I.D.A. Meeting
Town of Montgomery Government Center
110 Bracken Road
Montgomery, New York 12549
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
6:35 PM
Present: Jeffrey D. Crist, Acting Temporary Chairman
Matthew P. Stoddard, Treasurer and Member
John W. Dickson, Member
Rodney Winchell, Member
Absent: Edwin Williams, First Vice-Chairman
Stephen Rainaldi, Second Vice-Chairman
Also Present: Joseph Joy, CEO
Anthony Zambrotta, Assistant Secretary
Robert Mc Laughlin, Esq. Hodgson Russ Attorneys
Members of the Audience
Suzanne Hadden, Recording Clerk
AGENDA
Call to Order
Stewart Holdings Group LLC – 60-90 Hawkins Drive – New Application
Old Business
Labor Policy – Discussion
Approval of the January 14, 2019 Meeting Minutes
Adjournment
Town of Montgomery IDA Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019
Page 2 of 6
Call to Order
Acting Temporary Chairman Crist called the meeting to order and said on advice from Counsel, we will do our reorganizational meeting on March 11th, at our regular meeting and as everybody knows he was appointed as temporary acting chair at the January 14th meeting. Again, under advice of Counsel, he would like to ask if there are any objections if he continues in that capacity for this meeting? Hearing from no board members he said he would continue to act, and they will move on with the agenda, starting with the Stewart Holdings Group, LLC on 60-90 Hawkins Drive. It is a new application and the applicant is here for that.
Stewart Holdings Group LLC – 60-90 Hawkins Drive – New Application
Krishna Grego, CFO for the Tower Holdings Group and Fergal Conefrey, Managing Director with Time Square Construction were both present for the project.
Ms. Grego said Stewart Holding Group is a company that is looking to purchase 7.7 acres of land behind Holiday Inn and they have gone through the approval process and they have successfully rezoned it. They are looking to build an 81,000 square foot warehouse and displayed a rendering. This warehouse is going to be built by Stewart Holding Group and leased out 100% to one of the managing entities, which is Tower Holding Group. She handed out literature to the board about the company. Tower is a management company that has been operating many operating entities, that have been in business for over 30 years. Tower manages many of the real estate developments and the founder has been in business for 30 years; it’s a family owned business and very much valued. The business as a hole values employees and employee relationships very much and some of the employees including the managing director has been there for over 15 years. She is a founding member for over 15 years and real estate development has been a passion for the founding member and this expanded into general contacting construction management besides installation. A few years ago, they got into facade curtain walls which was geared to commercial buildings, high-rises. There is a potential in the northeast area for them to expand into the more residential markets. The northeast currently does not have that much window specialization for the residential market place and identifying this property would allow them to expand that side of the operation. Currently Tower Holdings Group is leasing a 40,000 square foot area in New Jersey and after they outgrew that space, they have rented an additional 20,000 square feet in Jersey and they have it fully currently working in that town.
Town of Montgomery IDA Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019
Page 3 of 6
Stewart Holdings Group LLC – 60-90 Hawkins Drive – New Application
Ms. Grego continued – They have outgrown that space as well, so, they have looked at this particular site as a potential for them to bring their business from Jersey and invest in the town where they can have employees and driving full-time employment and expand their manufacturing platform as well where they would be taking some of the materials within purchasing from their counterpart in Poland, that manufacturers these highly rated glass curtain wall material and they bring that into the US and gear it toward the residential marketplace by infusing it with silicone and extrusion, which would be considered a light manufacturing aspect and do that manufacturing in this warehouse. So, they will be using it as a warehouse storage as well as a manufacturing unit and they will be still taking their potential buyers out to Poland to showcase their material and they will be able to bring them here into their showroom, just to show them their product line and continue to expand into their commercial high-rise building as well as expand into potentially the residential market. Currently they are in Jersey and they have their lease coming due and they had an option whether to extend the lease and potentially get a bigger space there or move into this town and look to build a warehouse, which is going to be atheistically very nice. They already hired a potential project manager who is based out of Montgomery with $150,000.00 in salary and they are looking to hire and add fulltime employment of anywhere from 35 to 40 employees, making anywhere from $45,000.00 all the way up to $120,000.00 and during the course of the construction and they are looking to talk more about the construction of the project, but they will be hiring local contractors to do the site installation, the concrete and foundation work as well.
Mr. Conefrey discussed the project and said the floor space is split up into showroom, offices, manufacturing and the majority of the building would be storage. It is not your typical looking warehouse because it has a very attractive facade. It has a curtain wall facade that showcases the products to be imported from Poland for their projects in the city. It will also have a brick surround because they also have a masonry company. They hope to get started with the construction by the end of March or early April and they hope to get the construction completed by the end of this year. They do intend to hire all local contractors.
Ms. Grego said they are not a large corporation, they are small family owned and they have been in business for a number of years, but it is through hard work and employee appreciation that they have been able to retain a lot of employees and expand. Given the fact that it’s right off the 84 highway and Stewart Airport, they think it is going to be a very good fit for their model and they will be able to give back to the community. They already have a project manager making almost $150,000.00 right from the town.
Town of Montgomery IDA Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019
Page 4 of 6
Stewart Holdings Group LLC – 60-90 Hawkins Drive – New Application
Acting Chairman Crist asked if any board members had any questions?
Member Dickson asked how many people will be employed?
Ms. Grego said their very conservative 5-year estimate is anywhere from 35 to 40 fulltime employees, making anywhere up to $120,000.00 and with the medical benefits and everything it is another 25% on top of that.
Member Dickson asked if they would be all new employees?
Ms. Grego said these are going to be the new employees, because there is the manufacturing fabrication process that is a little bit unique, they will have to take some of the local employees and train them and potentially send them to Poland to get trained and they will be coming back and training other folks. So, it would be more than local labor, some of them might be moving from Jersey into the town as well, but potentially they are hoping to train the local employees.
Member Stoddard said as you heard some of residents from Montgomery, along with this board are very strongly in favor of local labor building your project. So, you are telling us that you are doing this project with 100% local labor?
Ms. Grego said yes, that is our game plan at this point. We are hoping the entire construction would be approximately 60 employees and that’s almost immediate for the construction aspect and then they will be expanding the operations over the course of 3 to 5 years and because this is a small enough project and aesthetically very appealing, they are hoping the construction is going to be complete, hopefully by the end of this year and that will work nicely with their timeline for their Jersey office as well. Currently the cost of doing business in Jersey is lower for them compared than coming into the town.
A further discussion was held on the glass product produced by the business.
Attorney Mc Laughlin asked for the Public Hearing Resolution for the Steward Holdings LLC Project be considered by the board?
Member Stoddard motioned for the Public Hearing Resolution Steward Holdings Group LLC Project be adopted, seconded by Member Winchell, with the public hearing for the project to be held at a future date. All in favor, all ayes, First Vice Chairman Williams and Second Vice Chairman Rainaldi were absent, motion carried.
Town of Montgomery IDA Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019
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Old Business
Acting Chairman Crist said the board will discuss the Labor Policy next.
Member Stoddard said he was glad to hear that the Town’s people feel strongly about local labor on a local project. He feels for far too long corporations and developers have been coming to Montgomery and building mega-warehouses along with other projects; using cheap out of state labor, while receiving millions in tax incentives. He believes that any company or developer who comes to the Montgomery IDA should realize that the board does not automatically grant tax breaks. If they are fortunate enough to receive these benefits, these corporations and developers must be good neighbors with the Town of Montgomery and the men and women who live and work here. In addition to hiring local men and women the applicant must make every effort to utilize local vendors, material suppliers, subcontractors, professional services from Montgomery and surrounding areas. When these corporations and developers receive local tax incentives, the workers should not be from out of state. We should be fueling our economy instead of viewing other state’s economies. He read a letter that he wrote back in 2013 or 14 when United Natural Foods came to the area regarding the employment of out of state workers, with the majority coming from Tennessee. He said he is not saying that these applications that came in front of us this evening or coming in the future are planning to do what United Natural did, but he thinks the IDA as a board should do something to secure that local labor be used on a local project. There is a Resolution with language in it that he would like to mirror Orange County’s IDA’s policy and also trying to get Wallkill who is going to follow. So, all of these IDA boards are going to mirror one another and if somebody is coming into this area they will have to use local labor on a local project. We are not looking to drive the cost up, but if they are coming to a community be a good neighbor, they should hire local and he feels very strongly on that, but does not know how the rest of the board feels.
Acting Chair Crist opened the subject up for discussion and wanted to make sure that all board members had the latest draft Labor Policy provided by Counsel.
A discussion was held regarding the draft Labor Policy, with a few changes to the draft being noted.
Acting Chair Crist said considering that two members are absent and to give everyone a chance to review the final amended policy, he would suggest for the board to consider this draft Labor Policy at the next meeting.
Town of Montgomery IDA Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019
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Old Business
Member Stoddard motioned for the board members to hold an Executive Session to discuss items with IDA Counsel, seconded by Member Dickson. All in favor, all ayes, First Vice Chairman Williams and Second Vice Chairman Rainaldi were absent, motion carried.
Member Stoddard motioned for the board members to adjourn the Executive Session, with a determination to further discuss the draft Labor Policy at a future meeting, seconded by Member Dickson. All in favor, all ayes, First Vice Chairman Williams and Second Vice Chairman Rainaldi were absent, motion carried.
Approval of the January 14, 2019 Meeting Minutes
The approval of the January 14, 2019 meeting minutes was tabled for the next meeting.
Member Winchell motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Member Dickson. All in favor, all ayes, First Vice-Chairman Williams and Second Vice-Chairman Rainaldi were absent, motion carried.