Business Leaders Optimistic About Saratoga’s Economic Future, Cite Affordability as a Concern

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Four executives representing the local institutions Arrow Bank, Adirondack Trust Company, Bouchey Financial Group, and Stifel convened last Thursday at the Excelsior Springs Event Center for an economic outlook panel.

Hosted by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, the event aimed to provide timely analysis and projections on economic conditions affecting local businesses and stakeholders, including perspectives on national and global trends and their implications for Saratoga County’s economic climate.

“I’m bullish on our local economy,” said Charlie Wait, Jr., the president and CEO of Adirondack Trust. “I think we have a lot of resilience here, more resilience than we used to have. I think we’re not just a tourist economy anymore. I think we have some light manufacturing. We have GlobalFoundries, so we have the technology piece, and I think that bodes well for the economy.”

“I can’t see how this area can’t grow, but also grow its tax base because the [GlobalFoundries] employees that are going to be coming to this area are going to be higher salaried employees,” noted Ben Chuckrow, a senior vice president at Stifel. “The other good thing is we’re going to have lots of jobs for these kids who are graduating from our great local community colleges. So I couldn’t be more optimistic about the growth of Saratoga.”

David DeMarco, president and CEO of Arrow Bank, said he agreed with the panel’s optimistic assessment but also had concerns about housing costs. 

“Not to get political, I’m not going to talk about affordability, but it’s a big impact,” DeMarco said. “It’s having an impact on our communities. The cost of housing rates are coming down, but…the 10-year yield curve, the longer end, is going up. We’re never going to see the 3% interest rates we saw in mortgages…and that’s going to have a negative impact.”

“I wish there was a little bit more transportation up here so people weren’t so worried about having to buy a house so close to downtown Saratoga; that they could go out and move to areas where the houses were much cheaper,” said Chuckrow. “But people aren’t able to buy those houses because they don’t know how they’re going to get to work because they have to have a car and everything else. Growth is a very good thing, but growth is only really good if it’s anticipated and handled properly.”

Martin Shields, chief wealth advisor of the Bouchey Financial Group, said the topic of affordability was a real concern among his clients, but he also noted that median house prices in the Capital Region were significantly lower than median prices nationally and downstate. 

“I think even from an affordability perspective, we’re in a good spot,” Shields said. “We do have one of the highest levels of college graduates compared to other upstate cities and even across the U.S. and New York State. So, [with] all these factors, it’s really hard not to be positive about this area. I think the big element too, is we don’t see the low lows and we don’t see the high highs. Living in that spot, it’s really beneficial.”

“I worry about the affordability that’s happening right now,” Wait said. “I worry about money coming out of the banking system, going to places like private credit, because that credit is opaque and so there could be a crisis building in there… But even in 2008, this area fared much better than other areas. I think because we don’t experience the high highs, but we also don’t experience the low lows. I think just keeping that steady growth is one of the benefits that we have in this area, and that’s what makes it such a great place to be.”