Rochester's Genesee Brewery announced this morning that the beer business is booming and they're hiring 100 more workers. In a statement, Chief Operating Officer Kenn Yartz says:
“People recognize the quality and value in our Genesee family of beers. That’s driving a lot of our growth ... Soon we’ll be operating seven days a week, around the clock.”
The folks behind Genny Light say their beers saw double digit sales increases across the country in 2010. With the addition of the 100 new jobs, the company's employment total in Rochester will rise to 562.
If you're feeling really beer ambitious tomorrow, you could pre-game Rochester's St. Patrick's Day Parade with a Genesee Brewery job fair that kicks off at 9:00 a.m.
Rail rebirth
Buffalo's WGRZ has the skinny on ambitious new plans for a stunning old building. Yesterday, a group heading up renovation efforts for the Buffalo Central Terminal revealed a master plan for revitalizing the long abandoned art deco icon.
Early indications are that the plans are of the Daniel Burnham variety: "Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood."
The plan calls for loft apartments and market-rate retail/commercial space in the 17-story tower. It would transform the baggage building into a green business incubator to accommodate small business and light industrial uses. The main concourse area would be public space with restaurants, retail and seasonal kiosks. The plan would even restore rail service to the station by tying into the State's portion of the high-speed rail system.
The expected price tag: $75 million.
You can check out the full master plan here.
Plenty of patents
A report from an Albany intellectual property law firm shows that Rochester is a hotbed of innovation patent issuances.
In the last quarter of 2010, 542 patents were issued to Rochester businesses. And it's not just the big boys getting in on the action. About 60 percent of those patents were issued to companies other than Xerox and Kodak.
The Daily Record has the story:
“We think what you’re seeing in Rochester is it has a lot of technology-based companies that have a lot of possibility for growth,” said Spencer Warnick, also a co-founder and managing partner with the [intellectual property law] firm. “With the way things have been going for Xerox and Kodak, you have a lot of inventors — guys who have been laid off — who need something to do.”
According to the Daily Record, national figures for patent issuances declined for the second straight quarter.
