Displaying items by tag: SKS Bottle, Geyser Road, John Munter, Ken Horan, Steve Horan, Kate Maynard, Mark Torpey

An aerial view of the SKS Bottle work site off Geyser Road; and work crews preparing the “pad” for construction. Photos by www.photoandgraphic.com. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS – In recent weeks, drivers on Geyser Road definitely noticed when whole stands of trees were cut down and the operators of heavy machinery created an access road to the future site of the SKS Bottle and Packaging, Inc. warehouse.

A 118,000-square-foot facility will be the permanent home for a family business that has grown steadily and moved numerous times since it was first created in the 1980s, says company President Ken Horan.

The new SKS Bottle warehouse will be close to the train tracks on the eastern edge of the W.J. Grande Industrial Park. This week, crews were busy grading the “pad” on which it will be located.

From its existing warehouse in Watervliet, SKS Bottle supplies the multi-billion dollar trade in glass, plastic, metal and cardboard containers, as well as the associated caps and labels. The company does not manufacture the products it distributes to cosmetics, personal care, pharmaceutical and various other industries. 

Horan said he expects the $15 million project on Geyser Road to be completed by late in the summer of 2018. He said the interior of his new warehouse and headquarters will offer a total of 143,000 square feet of space, including two stories of offices.

Horan added that he and his brother Steven are “extremely excited” that the project is coming to fruition for their family.   

Most of the 112 employees at SKS are involved in “pack and ship” activities, Horan said. Other staff members manage the company’s sales, marketing and accounting, or develop in-house computer software used for tracking inventory.

All of the SKS jobs will be transferred from Watervliet to Saratoga Springs. The addition of a half-dozen jobs may be necessary by 2020, Horan said. Plans are also in the works to add 125,000 square feet to the main warehouse at a later date.

Munter Enterprises is the general contractor for the site work, according to Horan.

John Munter Jr., when reached for comment this week, said he and his brother Michael still own 50 to 60 acres of “developable” property in the Grande Industrial Park. Their father, John Munter Sr., had originally owned or sold much of the nearby land.

“We’ve had a very good, steady demand for the past seven or eight years,” Munter said, referring to a recent expansion of business in the industrial park.   

The Horans bought 22 acres for their project. Two smaller properties, on either side of the SKS Bottle access road, are still available for development. 

In a May 25 letter to Kate Maynard, the principal planner in Saratoga Springs, the Saratoga County Planning Board found that the SKS Bottle project would have “no significant county-wide or inter-community impact.”

“The site is relatively flat and comprised of grass and brush with a treed perimeter,” the letter states. “The Geyser Brook runs above the north property line and parallel to [the] eastern boundary and the site gradually slopes down toward the brook. Such conditions result in runoff not being of a major concern.”

In April, according to the planning board letter, the Albany engineering firm Creighton Manning issued a “traffic assessment” for that section of Geyser Road, which is a short distance from the warehouse shared by Artisanal Brew Works and Upstate Distilling Co.

The Creighton Manning assessment indicated that truck drivers who exit the SKS Bottle access road may experience some difficulty turning left on Geyser Road, due to the proximity of a bridge over the train tracks.

The county planning board endorsed the idea of city officials further monitoring the traffic situation if projects for “the other two parcels to be developed” are approved. 

On July 3, Mark Torpey, chairman of the Saratoga Springs Planning Board, signed the official “notice of decision” that allowed construction on Geyser Road to commence.