DeWitt, N.Y. — Gina Calandrelli drove from Niagara Falls, booked a hotel room and spent much of a day last week waiting for a meeting that she hoped would put her company in front of the right people for a payoff that could be years away.
Instead of expecting to land a contract, the president of Huntress Painting went to Drumlins Country Club looking to score a few minutes with the people overseeing some of the biggest construction projects underway in Central New York, including Micron Technology’s factories and the Interstate 81 rebuild. She wanted the chance to position her industrial painting company with 16 employees for work that could eventually send her painting crews 160 miles east to Central New York.
“We’ve been sitting here waiting all day to talk to everybody,” Calandrelli said…