Welch Administration Building, Westfield, New York
A Buffalo-based construction company that’s shutting down will affect projects in Westfield and Falconer.
Savarino Companies issued a WARN notice to the State Department of Labor that it would begin laying off 30 employees on August 18 as the company “terminates work on certain projects.”
According to a statement on their website, the company cites “ongoing and increasing costs related to a project the company’s surety was forced to complete at Alfred State College, a recent termination of work and the company’s inability to obtain surety bonding or acceptance of alternative performance guaranties for $110 million of 2023 work which the company would otherwise have had underway at this time. Without that work, it would not be possible for the company to operate profitably.”
Savarino has filed a lawsuit against the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY” in State Supreme Court in regards to the Alfred State College project. That lawsuit is now in the discovery stage.
The Buffalo company was in charge of renovating and managing the former Welch’s Building in Westfield. The $18 million project had received $1.5 million in Restore New York funds from the state. It also received from the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency a $475,000 Al Tech Revolving Loan in addition to a tax Lease/PILOT incentive agreement, which includes real property, sales, and mortgage recording tax abatements.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Savarino Companies also had been awarded $250,000 from Empire State Development to renovate two buildings in the village of Falconer into a new mixed-use development.
Savarino had applied for $500,000 in Restore New York funding to purchase the Furniture Mart Building in downtown Jamestown, but was not awarded those funds and according to Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk, the building purchase did not move forward.
So did the contractor under bid the dorm project?