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Pricey Big House project is dead
State Street site to become Paul Mitchell school
Thursday, July 9, 2009
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — The Big House project at 411 State St. is officially dead, to be replaced by a retail store and a cosmetology training facility operated by Paul Mitchell Schools, according to the Metroplex Development Authority.
The Metroplex board Wednesday night approved a financial package with the nationwide company, giving it a $311,400 grant and a $250,000 loan at 5 percent interest to cover opening costs. Metroplex will recoup the grant within four years through the lease of parking spaces, according to Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen.
Paul Mitchell expects to open the school and retail store in February, Gillen said.
The school will be Paul Mitchell’s first upstate and its third in New York. The company is investing approximately $2 million to convert the building into a school; the money is separate from any Metroplex funds, Gillen said.
“This project brings a nationally known retailer and exciting training school to downtown. Paul Mitchell will be a great draw,” Gillen said.
Susan Savage, chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature, said, “The addition of a leading national company like Paul Mitchell to our thriving downtown once again shows how our county-wide economic development efforts are working.”
Paul Mitchell Schools, which operates 107 schools across the nation, is signing a 15-year lease to occupy the basement and first floor of 411 State St. The lease is with the Galesi Group, which purchased the building from former owner Stephen Waite.
The school will employ approximately 50 people within three years, according to Metroplex. It will be open both days and evenings and will offer licensed programs in cosmetology and related fields to more than 200 students. It also will offer advanced courses to help current salon employees enhance their technical and business skills.
Schenectady native Giulio Veglio will operate the school. He owns and operates 10 other Paul Mitchell Schools throughout the United States. Before joining the company in 1987, he worked with Italy’s top designer Jean Michelle, Vidal Sassoon in London and L’Oreal in Paris, according to company information.
Waite will continue to occupy the third floor of the building with his law and other businesses. Galesi and Metroplex will work together to lease the building’s second floor.
The company has also signed a lease to occupy a 2,600-square-foot apartment in the Whitbeck Building on State Street. The company will use the space to accommodate Paul Mitchell trainers and others who will visit the new school.
Metroplex will hold a public hearing on its awards July 22 at 6 p.m.
Waite had until the end of May to pay off a loan with his construction lender and finish the club. When Waite did not close on the deal, the lender sold the mortgage to Galesi, Gillen said.
Waite bought 411 State St., a former Family Dollar store, in 2005 from Metroplex for $300,000. He invested approximately $1.9 million in private financing into renovations. Metroplex provided Waite with a $1 million, five-year loan and a $100,000 grant to help cover costs to remove asbestos. The Metroplex loan comes due in 2011. Metroplex also provided a $250,000 grant to fix the building’s facade. Galesi will take over Metroplex’s loan and will begin repaying it in 2011, Gillen said.......>>>>.................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jul/09/0709_bighouse/

Gee I think we've suspected this for some time, more of our tax money poured down a rat hole by Metroplex.

So the grant he gets to keep? Best not be a negative naysayer about monies down the ratholes and grants upon grants!  

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Schenectady native Giulio Veglio will operate the school. He owns and operates 10 other Paul Mitchell Schools throughout the United States.

Giulio is a very nice guy who owns some hair salons in some local malls. Giulio is or was a good stylist....a long time ago. His salons are second rate and can't compete with other, more modern private owned salons. Which there are already a gazillion of in the county. Time will tell....IMHO

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Beauty school owner sees future in downtown schenectady
Friday, July 10, 2009
By Ameerah Cetawayo (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — A new hair care and beauty training and retail center is coming to downtown Schenectady — a $2 million investment projected to create 50 jobs and give 250 students another option to learn the trade of caring for skin and hair.
The Paul Mitchell school at 411 State St. will be the third in New York and the first upstate.
Giulio Veglio, a Schenectady native who will own the school, said the location should open by February, but he’s not in a rush.
“We want to make it perfect,” he said.
The decision to put a school in the city was largely a result of redevelopment efforts — Veglio said he had a vision of Schenectady becoming a smaller version of New York City’s Times Square.
“Every time I turned around something was going on. I was happy to go in and fill the space,” Veglio said. “We had to be a part of this.”
Paul Mitchell Schools is signing a 15-year lease with major developer the Galesi Group to occupy the basement and first floor of 411 State St.
“This brings new meaning to our downtown beautification project,” Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton said at Thursday’s ceremony marking the announcement.
Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen credited much of the progress made in downtown Schenectady to a united front among Schenectady’s county, city, and business community.
“Everybody is rowing the boat in the same direction,” he said.
Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage said the Paul Mitchell training facility and retail store represents another major investment in the county.
Paul Mitchell is a $900 million company that sells its hair care products in 70,000 salons in 44 countries, she said.
Beginning in 2002, Paul Mitchell began opening beauty schools nationwide — the first in Utah. There are now 107 such schools in the United States.
Veglio owns and operates 10 other Paul Mitchell schools in the U.S. His background also includes working with top Italian designer Jean Michelle, Vidal Sassoon in London and L’Oreal in Paris.
coming home
A larger part of Veglio’s vision for Schenectady is to give back to a place that gave so much to him.
“In school, I wasn’t the smartest student gradewise,” Veglio said, reminiscing on the days he was often sent out of classrooms for not being able to sit still.
Veglio later found out that he had a number of anxiety and learning problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia.
“A lot of people think beauty school is something for people who didn’t do well. That is so untrue,” Veglio said. “I’ve always done it for one reason — the kids. To tap into these kids’ gifts and to see what they’re capable of — that’s what I love.”
Giulio Veglio grew up in Schenectady’s Mont Pleasant neighborhood, going to Hamilton Elementary, Steinmetz Junior High and Mont Pleasant High School.
His mother and father came to Schenectady from southern Italy when he was 5 years old to start their version of the American Dream — leading to Veglio’s fond memories of downtown parades and stores.
He would go on to open up what is now the Zen Hair Studio in Clifton Park in 1993 and become a master associate with the Paul Mitchell company, a company he joined in 1987. The company was founded by hairdressers John Paul DeJoria and Paul Mitchell in 1980, based on a hair care system line of products focused on the method of “hair sculpting.”
Despite his school issues, Veglio said he learned to cater to his strengths as a visionary, and delegate the things he wasn’t good at.
By 2002, when Veglio would leave the area for several years, he had watched the hometown of his warm childhood memories decline, with rundown, dilapidated buildings and crime-ridden areas. Veglio longed to see a different Schenectady.
In December, he did.
The owners of the Villa Italia bakery gave Veglio a tour of downtown Schenectady, one of many places in upstate New York that Veglio was considering.
“We looked everywhere in upstate New York and there’s no place like home,” he said.
From there, a deal was worked out between Veglio, Metroplex and the Galesi Group.
Metroplex’s financial package to Veglio includes a $311,400 grant and a $250,000 loan at 5 percent interest to cover opening costs. Gillen previously said Metroplex will recoup the grant within four years through the lease of parking spaces.
big house out
The building at 411 State St. was originally planned as a second location for the Capital Region’s Big House, a restaurant, dance club and bar. Gillen has previously said the renovations turned out to be more extensive than expected.
Gillen said the building’s former owner, Stephen Waite, “took the project as far as he could.”
Veglio said there are jobs left unfilled nationwide in the beauty industry.
“There’s one thing that a computer won’t do is cut hair,” Veglio said.
The school will offer courses between the hours of 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. during weekdays for full-time and part-time students, Veglio said.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the overall employment for barbers, cosmetologists and personal appearance workers to grow by 14 percent from 2006 to 2016.
About 46 percent of all barbers, cosmetologists, and other personal appearance workers are self-employed, according to the BLS.
Veglio said his school teaches students the skills for the trade but also the ability to craft a business plan and know the importance of giving back to the communities they came from.........>>>>..............>>>>............http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jul/10/school_0710/

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Editorial: Paul Mitchell may be better than Big House for downtown Sch'dy
Monday, July 13, 2009

The Big House — specifically the notion that a restaurant, nightclub or any combination of the two would ever open in Stephen Waite’s building at 411 State St. — has been downtown Schenectady’s Big Joke for years. And so it was hardly much surprise Wednesday when Metroplex officials formally announced that Waite had dropped out of the picture, and a Paul Mitchell cosmetology school/retail shop were in. All in all, we’d say a pretty decent trade-off for downtown and Metroplex.
Mitchell is a first-rate chain of cosmetology schools, and its products are typically sold only in professional salons. Their availability in an exclusive retail shop will help lure people downtown, and once there, they will undoubtedly be inclined to support other businesses — restaurants, the cinema complex, etc. So, too, will the school’s 50 employees and 200-plus students.
Downtown has plenty of bars and restaurants, so the restaurant and nightclub Waite dreamed about opening won’t be missed.
In the meantime, Metroplex will be getting back the money it loaned Waite — it will instead come from the Galesi Group, which took over his mortgage. Metroplex did give Waite a $250,000 facade grant and $50,000 to remove asbestos, but those investments won’t be lost on the new tenant. As for a new $311,000 grant to Paul Mitchell, Metroplex says it will recoup that through the lease of parking spaces to the school’s faculty and students; but in the school’s absence, other motorists would have filled those spaces. Meanwhile, Paul Mitchell is expected to invest another $2 million before opening the building next winter.
The Big House was akin to Boston’s Big Dig for Waite — way past deadline and well over budget. While it’s true that the long-delayed and ultimately aborted project was bad for downtown Schenectady, and for Metroplex’s reputation, he was the biggest loser. Our sympathies go out to him, insofar as at least some of his problems — a building in far worse shape than originally thought and a near-frozen credit market — weren’t of his making............>>>>...........>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jul/13/713_prirnt/

I just heard a "rumor" - completely unsubstantiated - that this project has just been delayed or canceled.  Can anyone provide any insight as to what's happening down there?

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I just heard a "rumor" - completely unsubstantiated - that this project has just been delayed or canceled.  Can anyone provide any insight as to what's happening down there?

"Paul Michell will be a catalyst for renaissance in Downtown" stated Death Ray.

   It made no sense from the beginning and was probably a smoke screen to cover the Big House fiasco. Will check with my many Downtown sources. Look for the "economic downturn hurt funding" BS.

Funny you people should mention this. I was just thinking about this paul mitchell thing yesterday. I wondered what happened to the over $5M, in taxpayer money.

Perhaps someone should contact channel 6 again and have the same guy who checked on the big house, I think Greg Floyd , start checking this out too.

Hey Benny - have them check to see why PaulMitchell hired an asbestos abatement company to remove asbestos when TBH already received a grant to have that taken care of.  That oughta be a hoot to get to the bottom of.

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Hey Benny - have them check to see why PaulMitchell hired an asbestos abatement company to remove asbestos when TBH already received a grant to have that taken care of.  That oughta be a hoot to get to the bottom of.

Good catch mt.

What's with the attraction to Paul Mitchell?  Their products are used in second rate salons.  This will not attract folks to the city.  But the Big House would have done the trick.  Paul Mitchell????LOL

There were 2 beauty schools Downtown for decades. This is all about covering up for Metrograft's Big House fiasco.

  Nothing improves down there-we keep flushing millions down a toilet. They already wasted a million of this building and they didn't remove the asbestos? The Attorney General should investigate this scandal. Disband Metrograft, end the horrible DSIC, cut taxes and watch something better happen.

the fact is that the plex puts out fluff after fluff in their cheerleading newspaper and hardly anything gets accomplished. Except for a few bars. The ONLY thing that the plex has accomplished is 9...NINE...parking lots!!! Now that's a job grabber wouldn't ya say? Now just who is going to pay for the upkeep of these 'lots'?

9 parking lots=9 money losing taxpayer pits. The lastest is an outrage. Another handout to a horrid nonprofit.

  The unbroken chain-Metrograft gives nonprofit money-nonprofit helps DEMS stay in power-nonprofit "workers" help incumbent KRAT campaigns-Metrograft hands out more taxpayer money. Had enough-YET?

  Break the losing circle-Vote ONLY for Brad Littlefield for County Legislator. 14 for Metrograft-1 for the people.