AgroChem To Expand Manufacturing Facility In W.J. Grande Industrial Park Affordable Housing Project Being Planned

On Land Near The Saratoga Casino Hotel

BY PAUL POST

Rob DeMarco’s firm, AgroChem, got a toehold in the dairy industry with a foot bath solution that keeps cows healthy and productive.

The product, Healmax, is now one of about 100 hygiene and sanitizing products the Saratoga Springs-based company sells to farms throughout the U.S. and around the globe from China and Japan to Eastern and Western Europe.

“Most people don’t realize just how big the dairy industry is in the U.S. and the world, and how many hygiene-type products are required,” said DeMarco, who founded AgroChem with his father, John, in 2005.

Dairy, with about 3,500 farms, is the largest component of New York’s $5 billion agriculture industry. Nationwide there are nearly 9.2 million milk cows and New York ranks fifth in production behind California, Wisconsin, Idaho and Texas.

In response to fast-paced growth and a quest for more efficient operations, AgroChem has plans for a 25,000-square-foot addition to the firm’s 36,000-square-foot facility at W. J. Grande Industrial Park, which it moved into seven years ago after starting out in a trailer and small rented space.

“We’ve had year-over-year growth since our inception,” Rob DeMarco said. “This building has been great, but we really need more space for finished goods inventory.”

This will allow AgroChem to sell more effectively by picking and shipping from a supply of finished products, rather than making goods as they’re ordered.

“We really need to change the nature of the way we manufacture,” he said.

AgroChem currently has 45 employees and like many companies today, it’s trying to overcome la- bor shortage issues by putting a high priority on finding and retaining good help.

“We need to be more efficient not just to save money, but to save money so we can pay our workers a good wage,” DeMarco said. “We’ll be using technology to become more efficient. We see that as a way to be able to pay our existing workers better. You want to get good people, hold on to those good ones and have them be in positions that you can pay them well.”

The expansion could lead to the creation of five new jobs, not just in production, but front office, sales, and equipment installation as well.

When first proposed three years ago, the project was expected to cost about $3 million. But with COVID-related delays, supply chain issues and the skyrocketing cost of materials, the final price tag might be more than $5 million.

DeMarco said it’s hoped the addition will be completed by the end of this year. It’s already approved, but is going back to city officials for review of proposed modifications to the original plan.

In addition to increased storage, plans now call for a recycling operation so that 55-gallon metal product containers can be cleaned and reused to cuts costs, eliminate waste and help the environment.

Neither Rob nor John DeMarco had a background in farming before launching AgroChem. Rob earned degrees in engineering and management from Clarkson University, a master’s in business administration from New York University, worked in the telecom industry for several years and then switched to financial research. John is a chemist and worked in the chemical distribution industry for many years.

“My father was dabbling in some of these prod-

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BY PAUL POST

By some estimates there are 1,500 unfi lled jobs in and around Saratoga Springs including vital positions such as teachers, police, fi refi ghters, nurses and public works employees.

Part of the problem, local officials say, stems from lack of housing that allows people to live where they work.

A Central New York fi rm’s proposal, called Liberty Saratoga Apartments, could help the situation by providing 212 affordable housing units at the corner of Jefferson Street and Crescent Avenue, near Saratoga Casino Hotel.

“The need is huge,” said Stephanie Ferradino, an attorney for Rome, N.Y.-based Liberty Affordable Housing Inc. “The more housing we have, the better able we are to meet that need. Look at the hospitality industry. So many restaurants now aren’t open seven days per week, in part because they can’t fi nd the staff .”

Ferradino, of Saratoga Springs, said the 250-unit Intrada Apartments off West Avenue had a wait list of 300 applicants last summer.

“They’re full,” she said. “They went to capacity almost as soon as they were built.

Likewise, the new Promenade Apartments on West Circular Street are full with a wait list that exceeds the project’s 63 units, she said.

Ferradino is handling land-use issues for Liberty’s project, which was fi rst proposed and rejected by the city Planning Board several years ago because the company sought a zoning change that would have affected all equine zones within the city. Planners also weren’t pleased with the original architectural design.

The fi rm went back to the drawing board and in late December the city Zoning Board approved a change from rural residential to urban residential (UR-4), which only affects the parcel where apartments would be built. UR-4 accommodates a mix of single-, twofamily and multi-family residential uses.

Ferradino said plans call for 10 three-bedroom apartments, with the remainder split evenly between one- and two-bedroom units.

But groundbreaking might be up to two years away because the recent zoning change is just one of several approvals required for the project to move forward. The next step would be for the Zoning Board to approve a height variance (apartments would be in two four-story buildings) followed by site plan review.

“Once we get site plan approval, we can’t just start to build,” Ferradino said. “Local approval is just one component. Because it’s affordable housing, they (Liberty) need to go through the state to deal with the fi nancing because the state is the entity that loans money for affordable housing.

“Th at really depends on where you are in the queue and how interested the community is,” she said. “Sometimes that makes a difference. There are a bunch of different factors.”

Affordable housing differs from low-income housing in which rents are subsidized. But with affordable housing, rent is controlled based on an individual’s income level, which typically ranges from about $45,000 to $80,000 for this type of project.