ABS consolidates in Pioneer Park

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Dec 20, 2002 by Dickinson, Casey J

SYRACUSE - Adelphia Business Solutions (ABS) has consolidated its Syracuse offices at 6007 Fair Lakes Road in the Pioneer Business Park. The Nov. 22 consolidation brings the communications company's 40 employees into a single suburban location. ABS sells local and long-distance telephone service, as well as high-speed data services.

ABS formerly leased 5,000 square feet of space in the One Park Place building in downtown Syracuse. The new office space covers 10,000 square feet, including room for telecommunications-switching equipment, says Barbara Dundon, general manager of the ABS Syracuse office. Adelphia retains its technical offices in the city of Syracuse. The company has switching equipment in the State Tower Building and at 500 S. Salina St. The offices host points-of-presence (POPs) that connect ABS customers to other communications networks. ABS has wired 160 Syracuse buildings for 14,000 customer lines.

The ABS move doesn't change the company's landlord. The Pioneer Companies own ABS' former office building, as well as the 6007 Fair Lakes Road property. Built in 1991, the singlestory building has 30,000 square feet of space. The Pioneer Business Park is also home to Time Warner Cable and several other companies. ABS will host an open house for the new offices sometime next year.

ABS is also opening a six-person sales office in Utica this month, says Dundon. Located at 1101 Broad St., the 1,100square-foot space will also help ABS serve its 2,000 Mohawk Valley customer lines.

In March, ABS filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York. The Canonsburg, Pa.-based company received a $15-million credit line in August from Beal Capital Markets, Inc., of Plano, Texas. ABS plans to emerge from Chapter 11 within the first quarter of 2003, says Dundon.

The company will probably have a new name to accompany its rebirth, she adds.

ABS trades publicly in the over-the-counter Pink Sheets. The company joined the Nasdaq in 1999, but was delisted in April. Former-parent company Adelphia Communications had divested its interests in ABS earlier in the year.

High-capacity, fiber-optic cables have fueled much of the company's business this year. ABS has wired several suburban Syracuse office parks including offices in Beaconfield North Park in Cicero and the Brittonfield Park in DeWitt.

"We're getting many requests for highbandwidth Internet," says Dundon.

Inter-city data lines that give offices direct-data connections are also popular, she adds.

The Sutherland Group will use ABS fiber to connect its 500 customer-service agents to the world when the company moves into new space in Syracuse's Galleries over the next year. Rochesterbased Sutherland is consolidating its suburban Syracuse offices into a 56,000 square-foot space in downtown Syracuse.