Business

The Downtown Public Market opened today.

Above, Salters Alston, proprietor of Alston's Bone Sucking BBQ Sauce, serves up a mound of his pulled pork.

Between Alston's and the Jackson Street Grill stand, the market is going to be a great place to stop for lunch on Thursdays.

And then you can pick yourself up a few big, plump tomatoes to take home.

The elegant House of K, which sells European clothes for women, is closing its doors.

Located at 97 Main St. downtown, at the corner of Jackson, it has been in business for six years.

It sells dresses, pants, blouses, handbags, costume jewelry and more, in a distinctively upscale venue with black awnings over the windows of the historic building, hardwood flooring and modern, sleek decor inside.

Owner Kamilla Kabel says she's ready to pursue new opportunities and wanted to "stop while (she's) still ahead."

She's been mulling over the possibility since last winter. Then her sales associate got a full-time job, her niece moved here from Denmark and the timing seemed right.

Spending time with her children and family is what she plans to do for the immediate future. She is on the committee for the YWCA's fall fashion show and will be working on that, although unlike previous years, she won't be providing clothes for the show.

"I'm ready for something new," Kabel said. "I wanted to do this as long as I was having a good time. The customers and the friendships have been the best things I've gotten out of it. And I've enjoyed buying and selling clothes.

"I moved here from Denmark and only knew the people my husband knew," Kabel said. "I've gotten to know so many people on my own that I feel like this is my town."

The merchandise is marked down and there will be a farewell party and close-out sale at the store this Saturday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Gift cards and store credits that are still valid -- not expired -- will be honored.

In previous surveys, Batavians have said they would like to see more clothing stores for women downtown. The departure of House of K, makes the void all the worse.

"The House of K has always been a supporter of downtown and it's been a vital business," said Don Burkel, director of downtown's Business Improvement District. "Because she sells women's clothes, that's been an attraction to downtown.

"This will be a loss. I am one of the people who helped bring her downtown, so I'm deeply saddened. Hopefully, somebody will be interested in that (property) as a retail space."

The building is owner by Ken Mistler.

Dr. Alan L. Siegel died Wednesday evening, according to an obituary posted by Michael Tomaszewski this morning.

The 57-year-old Siegel was a partner in University Eye Specialists, located on Summit Street in Batavia.

The obituary notes that Siegel had been under the care of hospice.

According to the company website, Dr. Siegel received his BA from Colgate University, an MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and performed his residency at Boston University Medical Center. Dr. Siegel specialized in cataract, eye muscle and laser surgeries.

No further details are available at this time.

The co-owner of a company that makes an ad-supported map product said he wants to make it clear he takes seriously concerns that his sales reps may have left an impression with some local businesses that his company is working with the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

"We are acknowledging that we are not affiliated with the chamber on this edition," said Matt Vonderhaar, of Cincinnati-based Universal Advertising Associates.

Yesterday, The Batavian reported that chamber officials were concerned that Universal was representing a tie with the chamber in its sales efforts for a map of Genesee County.  The chamber has its own map project, which The Batavian is providing support for on the upcoming edition.

Vonderhaar said his 35-year-old company has been doing business in Batavia for 20 years.

In fact, he said, from 1997 up until June 2008, the chamber had a free ad on the Genesee County map in exchange for distributing the map through the chamber office.

He said Universal produces maps in 42 states, and many of them are affiliated with local chambers. He suggested that perhaps some of his 35 sales reps are conditioned to talk about the chamber connection from those other sales calls.

He said if anyone has any concerns about his reps sales tactics, they should contact him directly through his company's website.

"This is a second-generation business," Vonderhaar said. "We put out a great product. We're very proud of what we do. If anybody has an issue with our business they should call me directly."

When it comes to tax incentive packages, Genesee County has a few advantages over Monroe County, because of programs available targeted specifically for rural counties, according to Chris Suozzi, VP of business development for the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

So when Brothers International announced it was abandoning Batavia, where it was founded in 2001, for Rochester, Souzzi concluded it wasn't purely a business decision.

"In my mind it was more of a personal decision on where they wanted to locate the company," Souzzi said.

We have a call into Travis Betters at Brothers International to get his take on the relocation decision.

Souzzi said he last met with Brothers six months ago and presented a side-by-side comparison of the Genesee County package with the Monroe County package. He said it "opened their eyes" about what Genesee County had to offer and was under the impression they would "stay put in Batavia."

He didn't learn of the decision by Brothers to move until Monroe County put out a press release about the location change.

While the current Brothers location is in an empire zone, to date the company has received no tax assistance through GCEDC, Souzzi said.

A company out of Ohio has been calling businesses in Genesee County selling ads on a map, and Chamber of Commerce officials are concerned that business owners are being left with the impression that the sales effort benefits the chamber.

Lynn Freeman, president of the Genesee County Chamber, sent an e-mail to chamber members yesterday alerting them to the potential confusion.

"I spoke with the company and asked them to desist in tying their promotion to the chamber," Freeman wrote. "Their response was 'We can't control what our customers conclude.'"

The Batavian called the company, Universal Advertising Associates, which is based in Cincinnati, for comment and we have not received a call back.

There is an official map produced for the local chamber by a Rochester-based company, Mapworks, Inc. A portion of the proceeds from ads sold on this full-color map, benefits the chamber.

In the final quarter of 2009, The Batavian was the official sales representative for Mapworks on the chamber map project.

While release of the map is later than expected, it is in production now.

Freeman asks that any time a local business receives a solicitation from a third-party that purports to represent the chamber, business owners contact the chamber office to verify the affiliation.

In an audit of New York's five regional off-track betting operations, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned that OTB wagering has dropped precipitously over the past five years, threatening the viability of the OTBs.

Western OTB comes off a little better in DiNapoli's audit, primarily because the gains in video slot operations are more than offsetting the declines in horse wagering (full Western OTB report (pdf)).

Western OTB Corporate and Branch Operations has experienced a 10-percent ($15.6 million) decline in net handle (total amount bet) over the past five years. And through May 2009, its net handle was down over $5 million compared to the same time the previous year. In addition, live racing and inter-track wagering at Batavia Downs were down 7.6 percent in 2008 from the prior year and have decreased 25 percent since 2005.

However, the corporation’s new video-gaming facility has generated additional revenue for the OTB. As a result, operating revenues increased to more than $21 million in 2008 compared to nearly $17.6 million in 2004, a 19-percent hike. These increases have significantly affected revenue distributions to local governments, which have grown from almost $3.9 million in 2004 to more than $4.9 million in 2008.

In the report on Western OTB, DiNapoli expresses concern that VTL gaming could level off or decline, depending on the economy or changing competitive issues.

The Buffalo News received a written response from OTB President Martin Basinait, who said WOTB is "somewhat more optimistic."

But he said a number of changes can be made in state law to make the OTBs more competitive, such as changing the formula by which revenues are shared with tracks.

Basinait noted other past warnings from the state comptroller's office, including a 2005 report that found the OTB did not properly plan for the possibility of failure of Batavia Downs and the casino. He said the success of the casino has shown it was "not due to happenstance."

Basinait said DiNapoli's red flags about the future economic health of the OTB's casino are "unwarranted."

Brother's International Food Corp., founded in 2001 in Batavia, is relocating its operations to Rochester, the D&C reports.

The 24-employee company has been approved for a sales tax rebate by the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency to relocate to an empire zone structure at 1175 Lexington Ave.

Travis D. Betters told the D&C that his company, which he co-owns,  outgrew its current location.

It's a civil matter, say local prosecutors, after looking at a recent case of alleged damage done to an apartment at 122 Summit St.

The Batavian reported on May 4 that landlord Willard Preston called in police after viewing holes in walls, broken window frames and piles and piles of trash allegedly left by a tenant recently evicted.

Batavia Police Officer Ed Mileham said this evening, following his investigation into the matter and reviewing the evidence with an assistant district attorney, that there is insufficient proof for a criminal mischief charge.

Mileham said he has successfully brought a case to the district attorney's office involving tenant damage to an apartment. But in that case, there was clear evidence that the damage was done in a short amount of time and after the tenant expressed a desire to break a lease.

In this case, the tenant was in the apartment for a year and a half and there's no evidence that the damage wasn't anything more than carelessness carried out over the entire span of the tenant's residency.

Redevelopment plans first published in 2005 for the area of Wiard Plow factory buildings show the section of buildings destroyed by fire being torn down.

However, when The Batavian spoke with Tom Mancuso of the Mancuso Business Development Group, Mancuso said the fire was a significant set back for redevelopment and the buildings destroyed were a key part of the project.

A reader pointed out this seeming contradiction, which we missed at first, so we got a message to Tom Mancuso -- who is traveling -- and Mancuso replied via e-mail:

Our current redevelopment plans for Swan had contemplated demolishing the street front buildings in order to create parking for the mixed use commercial/residential renovation of the 3 story building sections which have now been destroyed.

In view of this loss, we now need to evaluate the condition of the remaining structures, determine what will survive and decide what a feasible redevelopment of those sections might look like (and cost).

In a comment on our previous post, Tim Hens says:

The plan linked from the City Web Site is a "conceptual" plan from 2005. Things have changed in the redevelopment. I have been involved in the process and the Wiard Bldg was not one scheduled to be demolished.

The destruction of one of the Wiard Plow buildings in a massive fire Saturday will have the Mancuso Business Development Group going back to the drafting table, said owner Tom Mancuso on Monday night.

The very structure that was destroyed, despite its deteriorated condition, was a key building in redevelopment plans, Mancuso said.

"There's a lot to sort out and I still haven't processed it all yet," Mancuso said. "We need to understand what steps we need to take. We'll need to take some time and re-evaluate the viability of redevelopment."

Mancuso and the City of Batavia received a grant from RestoreNY for the Masse Gateway Project last year, which is the first phase of redevelopment of the million-plus square feet of industrial buildings that encompass the Harvester Center, the Masse building and the Wiard Plow structures.

Masse Gateway is intended to open an attractive entryway, featuring renovated Masse buildings off of Masse Place, into the entire Masse-Harvester-Wiard complex.

While the fire won't disrupt the Masse Gateway plans, Mancuso said, the building that was destroyed would have been redeveloped as early as phase two, and certainly by phase three.

The building was included in a RestoreNY grant that was rejected by the state a few years ago, Mancuso said, stressing its importance to his redevelopment plans.

"Now we have to move forward," Mancuso said. "I just don't know as we speak what that looks like."

The Wiard Plow building loss was a stunning blow, Mancuso admitted. When the buildings were acquired by the Mancuso Group in the 1980s it was with the intention to eventually redevelop the property, he said.

Mancuso even turned down offers a few years ago from construction firms that wanted to recover the beams in the building. Those developers offered to take the building down at no cost just to remove the heavy timber, but Mancuso turned down those offers because redevelopment rather than destruction was the goal.

"We bought the building to keep it from being torn down, so it is hard," Mancuso said. "It's not the way we wanted to see it go."

As for the bricks, which some people have speculated have some value, he said those evaluations might be overstated, but he would certainly entertain purchase offers for the old masonry.

Even as he takes a look at the viability of redevelopment, Mancuso said he is hopeful there will be a way to move forward.

UPDATE: In a comment on another post, Dennis Wight posted a link to the Masse Swan Village planning document (PDF) available on the City of Batavia's Web site. It clearly shows that the building destroyed in the fire was not intended to be one of the buildings left standing in the renovated complex. When we spoke last night, Tom Mancuso said he was leaving town for a few days. I have, however, left messages for him. I'll try to clarify this issue with him the next time we can talk.

Photo: One of the last photos ever taken from inside the Wiard Plow factory. It was snapped by The Batavian following a 1:40 p.m. fire on Saturday -- six hours before the second, more destructive fire. For the other three final photos available, click here

I was at the Bontrager auction house today talking with Todd Jantzi and looking at all the farm and other equipment being set out for this Saturday's auction when he said, "Come here. I want to show you something."  He said, "I'm really proud of this." and he opened a storage shed and said, "We have a Wiard Plow."

Todd said an Amish gentleman brought it in to be sold at auction, but he doesn't know where the Amish farmer got it from.

As you can see from the picture above, it's in pretty good shape.

Wiard Plows were manufactured in Batavia from the 1800s some time until well into the 20th Century.  You can still find a "Wiard Plow" sign painted on a red building off of Swan Street, behind the Harvester complex.

George Wiard was one of the leading citizens of Batavia in the 19th Century.  This biography says:

Mr. Wiard is one of the progressive men of this town. He has always been foremost in promoting enterprises that tended to the advancement of the educational, moral and religious interests of Batavia. He was for many years a member of the board of education and served five years as its president. He was chairman of the building committee that erected the Baptist church and was one of the committee having in charge the construction of the city water-works. He has been a director of the Genesee County Permanent Loan and Building Association since its organization in 1878 and for the last eighteen years has been the president. Politically he has always been a Republican.

Harness racing isn't want it used to be and probably never will be again, according to newly elected Chairman of the Western Region Off Track Betting Board of Directors Dick Siebert.

In an interview with WBTA, Siebert characterized harness racing as "the cost of doing business." It's the loss leader that under state law allows Batavia Downs Casino to keep its doors open for the much more profitable video slot machines.

"The people that used to come to our parlors, the 55 and older men, are no longer 55 years of age," Siebert said. "Unfortunately, they're dying off. The newer group of people, it doesn't have the interest to them that it did with the old bettor. ... I honestly can't see where harness racing is going to turn around and ever be back where it was in the '50s, '60s and '70s."

He said in 2009, Batavia Downs lost $1.5 million on harness racing while the video lottery terminals brought in $3 million in profits.

To help reduce harness racing costs, more bets will be placed at electronic terminals rather than at the traditional caged window with a person taking the bet.

Meanwhile, Siebert said the Downs continues to work with state regulators on a plan to address deficiencies in some administrative procedures. He said the board is looking to hire a consultant to help address the state's concerns, rather than bring in a management company to take over the Downs' operations, which is one of the state's other suggestions.

Full interview available here (mp3).

One of my favorite parts of Spring in Batavia is charcoal-cooked hot dogs at Jerry Arena's pizzeria on Lewiston Road. I made my first stop of the season there today.