Marcella to open downtown Schenectady appliance store January 20, 2009 at 3:26 pm by Eric Anderson, Deputy business editor
John D. Marcella & Son Appliances will build a retail store and distribution center in downtown Schenectady, the Metroplex Development Authority announced this afternoon.
The company, founded in 1953, already has a store in Colonie and a store and two facilities on Crane Street in Schenectady, all of which will remain in operation. The Crane Street buildings will be the company’s main service center and discount outlet center.
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Metroplex will provide a $250,000 facade grant and $400,000 loan at 5 percent interest, and will realize $150,000 from the sale of a one-acre lot to Marcella. The authority, which receives revenues from sales tax, expects to quickly recoup its investment because of the large volume of sales generated
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The $2.4 million, 16,750-square-foot store will be built on Broadway on the south edge of downtown by Highbridge Development, owner of the Broadway Commerce Park. Construction will begin in the spring, with the store expected to open in the autumn.
Heard about this a year ago. John didn't want to leave Crane Street but it has deteriorated terribly. More shell games, creates no new jobs and creates no new sales tax. Final nail in the coffin for Crane St, which used to have a great furniture store and Polish bakery.
Heard about this a year ago. John didn't want to leave Crane Street but it has deteriorated terribly. More shell games, creates no new jobs and creates no new sales tax. Final nail in the coffin for Crane St, which used to have a great furniture store and Polish bakery.
You are right. Another few hundred thousands dollars for yet another relocation!!! No added jobs and no added sales tax. And no return on our tax dollar....again!
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SCHENECTADY Appliance seller to build $2.4M facility John D. Marcella plans distribution center and store BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
John D. Marcella & Sons Appliances, a major fixture in Schenectady County, plans to build a $2.4 million retail store and distribution center on lower Broadway near Interstate 890. The project also includes construction of a 200-foot-long road that will connect Van Guysling Avenue, now a cul-de-sac, to Broadway. Local developer John Roth, president of Highbridge Development, will build the 16,750-squarefoot facility on sites that contained the former Dorp Salvage and a three-story building. “Any win in the city right now is phenomenal. It is a win to bring them closer to the city,” Roth said. The Metroplex Development Authority will receive $150,000 in compensation for helping to pay for the demolition of Dorp Salvage, said Chairman Ray Gillen. “When we did our deal with Roth on Dorp Salvage, we got royalties for the sale of those lots. We are recouping our money,” he said. Metroplex will provide the project with a $250,000 facade grant and a $400,000 loan at 5 percent interest. Metroplex receives its revenues from sales tax. Marcella will receive a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement through the city of Schenectady Industrial Development Agency, Gillen said. Marcella will pay 50 percent of the assessed value of the property in the first year under the PILOT agreement. The PILOT agreement will increase 5 percent per year and reach full value after 10 years. The new facility represents an expansion for Marcella’s company, Gillen said. Marcella was not available for comment. The company operates two facilities on Crane Street and a store in Colonie; all will remain open. “He will be adding people, but this is not a jobs project,” Gillen said. “He is a major producer of sales taxes in the county, and it is very important it to retain those dollars here.” Marcella is ranked among the top 80 appliance dealers in the United States and is a leading seller of major appliances and video and audio equipment, Gillen said. “The company is known in the Capital Region and beyond for its great prices and outstanding customer service,” he said. Roth said that he hopes to break ground on the project this spring. The city planning commission is expected to review the project in February. Metroplex is applying for a grant from the state’s Industrial Access Program to build the Van Guysling road extension. The city would own the road after it is built. Gillen said the road will open lower Broadway to further development. Roth said he is working with a prospective tenant to build a 35,000-square-foot facility opposite the Marcella center. “We will get it approved and 100 percent shovel ready and be able to take it to market,” he said. Gillen said the Marcella project is the largest retail investment in downtown in years. “It brings another great name, like Mallozzi’s, to ......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00900
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Downtown wins, Mont Pleasant loses
Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
It’s no secret that the neighborhoods of Schenectady — like Mont Pleasant, for example — continue to decline even as downtown Schenectady gets rebuilt and begins to look quite snazzy. It’s also no secret that the immediate mission of the Metroplex Development Authority is to promote the rebuilding of downtown, a mission at which it is visibly succeeding. But does Metroplex have to succeed in the rebuilding of downtown at the expense of the rest of the city? Does it have to move businesses out of the neighborhoods to make downtown bustle? That’s what I wonder when I learn that John D. Marcella & Sons Appliances is getting a $250,000 grant, a $400,000 low-interest loan, and a 10-year break on property taxes to move its appliance store from Crane Street in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood a short distance downhill and across the street to Lower Broadway. Huh? It’s the same question I asked in 2003 when Metroplex gave a $235,000 grant and a $235,000 loan to help move Cornell’s restaurant from Van Vranken Avenue in the Goose Hill neighborhood just a few blocks to North Jay Street and a hoped-for Little Italy on the edge of downtown. Does it make sense to deprive residential neighborhoods of their larger and more successful businesses and leave blight behind? You go up and down Crane Street, and you see empty storefronts and dilapidated houses just as on Van Vranken. The one big success there, until now, has been Marcella’s, at the site of the old Polish National Alliance hall, if anyone remembers that. Which is exactly the problem, according to the owner, John Marcella. It has become such a woebegone area that customers are reluctant to shop there, so he’s been doing a bigger business at his Albany branch than at his Schenectady home base, to the extent that he was contemplating closing the Crane Street store and moving to Fuller Road in Colonie — until Metroplex offered him a deal. “But won’t your departure just accelerate the decline of Mont Pleasant?” I asked him. “I totally agree with you,” he said. But then, what is a businessman to do? He says his major suppliers — like Whirlpool, Maytag, GE — have been leaning on him to move to a higher-traffic area where they would be willing install the classy displays that they are not willing to install on dumpy old Crane Street, where probably few passersby have the wherewithal to buy a washing machine anyway. Besides, he is not moving everything. He is going to keep his other store on Crane Street, the “scratchand-dent” one that sells slightly damaged or used appliances, and he’s going to keep his three warehouses there also. Or at least he’ll keep them for five years, which is part of his deal with Metroplex. He also has a gentlemen’s agreement not to board up his soon-to-bevacated store but to try to fi nd a tenant for it. “He was looking to relocate,” Mayor Brian Stratton said. “We’re absolutely thrilled that he’s going to be staying. A more negative story could have come out, that he was not only closing the store but moving to Colonie.” But you see the dilemma: The only way to keep a strong business in Schenectady is to give it money to move out of a dumpy neighborhood, and that makes the neighborhood even dumpier. The city sort of can’t win for losing. And for added irony, Crane Street is part of the designated “service area” that Metroplex is supposed to be helping just as much as Lower Broadway is. “You take the steps you have to take to retain him,” said Ray Gillen, chairman of Metroplex. “Every effort was made over months to try to retain the operations in its current location.” Please note, Marcella’s is not just some little refrigerator-and-stove joint. It was recently ranked 88th in the country in terms of sales volume, which Marcella told me was $14 million. It’s a big operation for a small city like Schenectady, and especially for a neighborhood business district like Crane Street. Marcella said he generates something like $800,000 a year in sales taxes, half of which redounds to the county, which is one reason why Schenectady was anxious to keep him anywhere at all within its boundaries. And he pointed out that the $250,000 grant he is .............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01100
This is exactly what's been happening for a long time now, lure businesses out of the towns with tax breaks and grant money and then Metroplex claims that it's creating new jobs and a larger tax base IMHO.
Good piece from Carl which echoes my earlier post. Let's cut the blarney here. Death Ray has trying for years to get Marcella's Downtown. John, who is a great business leader and loyal Mt. Pleasant person, resisted. His new store on Karner Rd in Colonie is doing great. The choice was leave the City entirely or move to Broadway by 890. They made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
This is the end of Crane St as a business district. It creates nothing. No new jobs, no new sales tax revenue. More customers will go to Colonie. The new location will not help any other struggling Downtown business. My family has been loyal customers of Marcella's for generations and we will continue to be in Colonie. This is another Villa Italia and yet another indication that Metrograft has completely run out of ideas.
I'm surprised that Marcella's didn't consider relocating to lower Erie Boulevard. I recall years back that there was an appliance store (Carl B. Liss?) near Sears and Wallace and Armor. It would seem to be a good fit for the area
I agree with others that the departure of Marcella's retail operations from Crane Street will only accelerate the decline of Mont Pleasant. I also agree that this relocation does not appear to result in permanent jobs being created. There will, of course, be temporary construction jobs.
Carl Strock is on target by stating that, again, the Schenectady Metroplex has done little more than to attract existing businesses from the other areas of the county to downtown Schenectady.
Despite what I view to be wasted public revenues, I wish John success in his endeavors. He is a gentleman who has always treated my family and me very kindly and fairly.
Marcella's will continue to do great no matter where they go. They have a wonderful reputation that precedes them. But I am also surprised that they didn't consider Erie Blvd. Maybe it wasn't and option.
I buy things there too. But how is this different than Villa Italia and Cornells?????
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Well, we've seen them rob Peter to pay Paul. This is now robbing Paul to pay Paul. I hope they like the paycheck...that was originally stolen from them.
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Heard about this a year ago. John didn't want to leave Crane Street but it has deteriorated terribly. More shell games, creates no new jobs and creates no new sales tax. Final nail in the coffin for Crane St, which used to have a great furniture store and Polish bakery.
