Mensch Capital Partners LLC, which is led by Andrew J. Shaevel and includes Paul Ciminelli and Paul J. Kolkmeyer, have closed the deal on the Westwood Country Club for $2.5 million. Jon Cohen and Todd Sugarman, who are leasing the property, will operate the club. They have launched a major marketing initiative and have cut rates drastically, which has increased membership by about 80 people.
The former Daffodil's restaurant on Maple Road in Williamsville has a new owner. Mike Rizzo, who owns Banchetti by Rizzo's restaurant and banquet facility, closed the deal Monday, paying $700,000 for the restaurant. It was most recently operated under the name Verbena, but has sat empty since 2010. It will likely become a restaurant and banquet facility again.
Check out the real estate listings for Erie and Niagara Counties for the week ending Feb. 3. The median sale price in Erie County during that period was $101,350. The median price for Niagara County was $83,500.
AES is closing its Somerset power plant for up to 6 months. The company is in bankruptcy and owes $600 million. The plant will be auctioned March 26, but no layoffs have yet been mentioned for the plant's 115 workers. The closure has community leaders worried, since many budgets are heavily funded with tax revenues from the plant. The Barker school district's 2012-2013 budget is counting on AES for 38 percent of its funding.
Carl Paladino's company Ellicott Development wants to buy three city-owned parcels to build a medical office. The three small properties are on an empty lot on the north side of St. Paul Mall, located between Best and East North streets. Their estimated total value is $69,900. Ellicott also wants to turn the former Our Lady of Lourdes church into a mixed use-space featuring retail and residential opportunities.
Western New York will have its first LongHorn Steakhouse within the next year. The steakhouse chain just inked a deal to build its first local restaurant at Orchard Park's Quaker Crossing plaza. The Orlando-based company will tear down a former Montana's Cookhouse and construct a new 6,000-square-foot building.
Office Depot confirmed it is closing its locationat 2309 Eggert Road. About 20 employees will be out of work when the struggling office supply store closes its doors at the end of March.
The division will be headed up by Daniel G. Kantor, a veteran business owner and nonprofit executive.
There's new life at a long vacant section of General Motors' Tonawanda plant. GM is opening an on-site training center as it gears up for three new engine lines. It is also going to use the site to put together kits of parts that workers on the engine lines use, to make the process go smoothly.
Longtime general counsel Dominic J. Terranova and bond counsel Nathan Neill, who have served the IDA for more than 20 years, could be replaced. Lawyers from Phillips Lytle or Magavern Magavern Grimm were offered as new candidates at Tuesday's board meeting.
Home sales increased in December. Sales rose 4.2 percent to 774 in December from 743 during the same month the previous year. Sales were up 10.4 percent from November's 701 sales, making it the largest December number since the glory days of 2006 and 2007. Newly listed sales were up 13 percent. The positive sales results are being attributed to the region's stretch of unseasonably mild weather.
Check out the real estate listings for Erie and Niagara Counties for the week ending Dec. 30. The highest price paid in Erie County was $1.27 million, while the average price was $151,137. In Niagara County, the highest price tag was $351,250 with an average sales price of $90,520.
This week's Strategy for Success looks at Nadja Foods, the empire built by Nadja Piatka and the low-calorie, low-fat snacks she sells at restaurant and grocery chains. Piatka traces the steps she took to build her Buffalo-based business even when times were tough and creditors were beating down her door. Today, her recipes are mass produced and sold at such powerhouse corporations as McDonald’s, Subway, Wegmans and Price Chopper supermarkets.
There are signs of new life at a struggling Amherst country club. Westwood Country Club has added 80 new members since it was sold to its restaurant's owners a month ago. Hopes are high that the influx of new people--and their money--will continue, breathing new life into the club and sparking a financial turnaround. Windows on the Green owners Todd Sugarman and Jon Cohen bought the 67-year-old club for about $3 million and have vowed to get to work on renovations and upgrades. The duo discounted membership rates to bring new people in, but so far have only broken even in terms of membership. The club needs to recruit at least 120 more members if it wants to remain viable.
The council is looking for consultants qualified to help it find the right companies to invest in the region and share in the pot of state money. It wants someone who has experience and expertise helping municipalities recruit businesses.
Local business leaders are feeling good about the future, according to a new survey. Upstate New York's private sector businesses reported feeling more optimistic about business conditions.
