Shop In Malta Becomes Exclusive Seller Of Chocolate Moonshine Co. Products Best Western Plus In Saratoga Re-Brands, Renovates; Is Now The Hotel Saratoga

BY CHRISTINE GRAF

After investing approximately $1.4 million in upgrades and renovations, the owners of the Best Western Plus in Saratoga Springs have rebranded the 3292 Route 9 property as The Hotel Saratoga.

The hotel is owned by Pinecone Holdings, a Missouri-based real estate investment and management fi rm. Pinecone CEO Thane Kifer and managing director Drew Kifer own several other hotels throughout the country.

Woodbury-based WNW Hospitality manages day-to-day operations at The Hotel Saratoga. The company was hired to oversee operations of the Best Western Plus after the property was purchased by Pinecone Holdings in August 2019.

According to WNW president and co-owner Robert Jaeger, rebranding discussions began just a few months later.

“The Best Western Plus is a nice mid-level brand, but at the beginning of 2020, we thought it was a good idea to bring the hotel into more of an upscale lifestyle brand. Those plans were put on hold due to the pandemic,” he said.

It wasn’t until the following year that the Kifers revisited the idea with Jaeger.

BY ANN DONNELLY

This summer, husband and wife Doug Dockendorf and Shelly Walker expanded their shop and cafe in Malta by offering gourmet chocolates and fudge and further enhancing the adjacent outside area, Collamer Park.

In 2020, the couple purchased the WigginsCollamer House, which was built in 1835 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. After renovations, the building became the new location of Finishing Touches, where Walker, an interior designer, runs her business and sells furnishings, home decor, gifts, and accessories.

Within the first year, they added two new businesses at the location. They started with a small selection of ice cream, which proved popular, so they expanded as Cookies & Cream and Finishing Touches, with a full range of soft serve and hard ice cream in cones, dishes, sundaes, shakes and more.

Then they opened The Coffee Bar with coffee, lattes, espressos, cappuccino, and locally made baked goods from The Sugar Fairy Bakes.

“Anything you can get at Starbucks, you can get here, but better,” said Dockendorf. One of their specialties is affogato, an Italian-style drink made with ice cream and espresso, topped with chocolate-covered espresso beans.

Now they are the area’s exclusive seller of Chocolate Moonshine Co. gourmet chocolates and fudge, available by the piece or in gift packs. The fudge is made in copper kettles with cream, butter, and imported Belgian chocolate. They also offer truffle bars that are hand-painted with colored cocoa butter.

The enhanced outdoor seating area includes basketball courts, the area’s largest chess board, and other games like Connect 4 and cornhole.

“For us, it’s not about getting customers in and out,” said Dockendorf. “We are developing this as a place for the community. A place for people to go with their kids, relax, see their neighbors.”

They are considering holding events and offering other entertainment later in the summer. They will sell the soft serve ice cream until mid-October and bring out new flavors and products for fall.

“We are looking forward to having fun with Christmas,” said Walker.

Finishing Touches, Cookies & Cream and Finishing Touches, 450 East High St., Malta.

“In 2021, we started to think about what direction we wanted to go. We had to decide whether to re-brand or stay with Best Western Plus,” he said. “We ultimately chose to re-brand to become an Ascend Collection of Choice hotels, an upscale brand.”

Before rebranding, Pinecone Holdings completed an extensive renovation of the property.

The hotel’s 65 rooms and nine suites were completely remodeled, and new bathrooms were installed. All public spaces, including corridors, were renovated and a new fitness center was added. The fitness center features high-end equipment including Peleton stationary bike systems.

According to Jaeger, an artist was commissioned to create original art work for the property.

“We have all new artwork throughout the hotel, and it is centered around the history and culture of Saratoga, It’s original art that was commissioned for hotel, so you won’t see it any other place,” he said.

As part of the renovation, the hotel’s lobby was expanded and includes a new breakfast area. A cafe, bar, and lounge were also added to the property.

“We’re starting with beer and wine, and we will have a lounge menu,” said Jaeger. “We’re in the process of building a satellite kitchen for the lounge.”

The exterior renovation, which includes installing new landscaping, is expected to begin in September.

“Everyone is very excited,” said Jaeger. “Our guests love our new rooms, and the comments we’ve gotten have been fantastic.”

The Hotel Saratoga has limited availability for the remainder of the busy summer tourist season, he noted.

Publication Date: September 8, 2023

“The future of the sites is something that we will be discussing in the next several weeks,” she said.

However, Woerner said she contacted the United Steelworkers union, which represents Essity employees, and “they’ve been told there’s no plan to sell the plant to another business, that their plan is to just mothball the building.”

The United Steelworkers (USW) has sent a letter to Essity urging management to reconsider the decision. “The community needs management to consider alternatives to shutting down in South Glens Falls,” said USW International Vice President Luis Mendoza. “Hundreds of loyal, experienced workers deserve to work for an employer with plans to operate the mill.”

Essity has indicated that it will neither seek a buyer to operate the facility nor allow the USW to look for one.

“We are shocked and disappointed that Essity has made the additional decision not to look or allow the union to search for potential buyers,” Mendoza said. “This decision ultimately leaves these members, their families and the surrounding community in a devastating position.”

Mendoza said that the company’s actions in South Glens Falls are impacting morale at other USW represented Essity facilities.

The USW and Essity are engaged in negotiations over the effects of the company’s decision to close the South Glens Falls mill, covering subjects such as severance pay and recall rights.

The need for more modern, technologicallyadvanced facilities was a major factor in both Essity’s and Lehigh’s decisions to shift operations elsewhere.

The South Glens Falls mill made Tork brand away-from-home paper products such as napkins, bathroom tissue and hand towels found in fast-food restaurants, travel rest stops, hospitals, schools and other institutional settings, all made from 100 percent recycled paper.

“Our product line is evolving and many of the machines in our New York plants do not have the capability to make these more innovative and indemand products,” Ford said. “Essity will consolidate production at sites that make the products that have the highest customer demand. Our U.S. manufacturing plants are located in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin.”

Essity’s U.S. headquarters are in Philadelphia. The company has no other facilities in New York aside from those South Glens Falls, Greenwich and Saratoga Springs, which are closing.

Some observers believe New York’s unfriendly business climate—high tax and energy costs—are also to blame along with a shrinking labor pool caused by a declining statewide population.

“While Saratoga County has the lowest upstate tax burden, New York is a notoriously high-cost state with a regulatory bureaucracy that challenges even the smallest employers, never mind larger ones like this,” said Todd Shimkus, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce president. “Heavy manufacturing in the U.S. and New York state have continued to be challenged by foreign competition, labor rates, regulations and taxes. Now with inflation and cost increases for everything, every business is in a restructuring mode of some sort to adapt and remain successful.”

But he, too, is optimistic that Essity workers will be able to find new jobs fairly quickly.

“Saratoga County leaders reacted swiftly to communicate with organizations like the Chamber as they plan job fairs for the impacted employees,” Shimkus said. “We’ve already had a number of distribution, manufacturing and construction firms call us looking to talk with these employees. The county’s Career Center is coordinating all of this and we’ve pledged to send an email to our entire employer database to invite everyone to help. We never want to see an employer leave Saratoga County, but from a labor perspective we have many jobs available locally as our historic labor shortage persists. As of June, we had more Saratoga Country residents working and fewer unemployed than in years.”

Woerner added, “I don’t think it’s a matter of leaving manufacturing and having to take a lower-paying service job. I hear from manufacturing businesses all the time such as Miller Mechanical, Fronhofer, machine tool businesses, medical device manufacturers, that they need workers.”

And despite the exodus of Essity and Lehigh, Woerner said she believes area manufacturing is still strong. A Canadian company that makes large wastewater pipes, creating 50 jobs, is coming to Grande Industrial Park in Saratoga Springs soon, she said.

“There’s also a lot of start-up manufacturing, a lot of spin-offs of other businesses and young people coming out of RPI and SUNY Albany, coming here that don’t get a lot of attention,” she said. “With the natural resources, quality workforce and quality of life we have to offer, companies find us a very appealing place to locate a business.”

Essity, previously called SCA, purchased the South Glens Falls mill from Encore Paper Company in November 2001. The closing comes as a surprise because the plant underwent a $20 million, 52,000-square-foot expansion upgrade in 2009, highlighted by an $8 million paper converting machine and a new employee service area.

The new high-speed converting winder made hard-wound brown paper towels, the kind commonly found in public rest rooms.

“It’s too early to tell what will become of the existing facility,” said Todd Kusnierz, Moreau supervisor and Saratoga County Board of Supervisors chairman. “As Essity remains the owner, they will be expected to continue to pay any property taxes owed and maintain compliance with any local codes regarding the appearance of the site.”

In 2016, the Essity property had an assessed valuation was $25,590,000. A stipulation Moreau Town Board approved by a 3 to 2 vote on Dec 18, 2017, reduced this in steps to $14 million in 2022, the most recent year for which figures are available.

“Essity has been a major longtime company in our community that has provided good well-paying jobs,” Kusnierz said. “This news is a tremendous loss that will have a devastating impact on the employees and their families. Right now, the primary focus is to help those who have lost their jobs. We have the Saratoga County Department of Workforce Development, the Saratoga-WarrenWashington County Workforce Development Board, the state Department of Labor and the various Chambers all working to identify potential employers for these individuals.”