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Jerry Bisgrove Returns to Auburn
Born and raised in Auburn, Jerry Bisgrove returned home for the first time in 12 years in October to announce his plans for what could prove to be the most important economic development initiative in the city's history.
With his success in real estate, Bisgrove has used his wealth to become one of the leading philanthropists in the Southwest. He now wants to help Auburn, Cayuga County, and other regions of upstate New York.
The Stardust Foundation of Central New York plans on committing $15 million in incentives and grants to Auburn and the surrounding area over the next five to seven years for projects ranging from the arts to technology.
“Stardust makes investments that provide opportunities for the citizens of Central New York, and the citizens of Auburn in particular, that will empower them to create an environment that is safe, vibrant, healthy, and sustainable for their children and their children’s children. That's why I'm here,” Bisgrove said.
Stardust has purchased most of the vacant buildings on the easternmost end of State Street, which includes the former Kalet building. The two organizations on the Loop Road end of State Street, the Red Cross and Choices For Change, will remain along with Nash's Art Supply and Niagara Bank on the opposite side of the street. Spirits Tavern may be sold but Yesteryears would continue to operate.
Well-regarded developer Michael Falcone, who lives in Skaneateles, will oversee the redevelopment of the State Street corridor through his Pioneer Companies. His work should begin soon - Bisgrove said the real estate deals for those properties will be finalized by the end of the year.
Stardust is partnering with many organizations, with more working relationships still in development, but none is more important than their collaboration with the Blueprint: A Call to Action initiative.
Supported by state Sen. Michael Nozzolio, the Call to Action's position paper targets seven areas - cultural development, watershed protection, Owasco riverfront development, health care, job development, infrastructure technology, and the Stardust
Entrepreneurial Institute, a project in cooperation with Cayuga
Community College.
Being in tandem with Blueprint's Focus Group, which is working on solutions for the seven initiatives, is crucial to Bisgrove's philosophy of collaboration. He also admitted its leadership accomplished something surprising.
“They talked not about one subject, not one need, but seven. But those seven areas, when you study them very carefully, are very connected,” said Bisgrove, stressing the approximately 25 members of the focus group are from diverse and successful backgrounds. “I've looked at a lot of business plans. This cannot fail. This was so good I had to get a piece of it.”
Bisgrove met with executives from other local foundations recently, including representatives from the Emerson, French and Metcalf foundations, among others. The Emerson Foundation has pledged $500,000 to the entrepreneurial project, which is referred to as The Institute.
“All in the same room having lunch, we tried to understand each other, and try to understand the community as one,” he said. Peter Emerson, who Bisgrove called a good friend and a gentleman, is on the Stardust Foundation of Central New York's Board of Directors. Bisgrove and Emerson are joined by Matteo Bartolotta, Robert Pine, and John
Bisgrove, Jerry's brother, who will serve as president.
While many details still must be finalized, Bisgrove's commitment of $15 million over the next five to seven years - which he termed “incubator dollars” - is divided into the following pieces:
- $1 million for the Stardust Foundation of CNY's operations and long-term programs now being planned;
- $1 million ($200,000 a year over five years) for the Stardust Entrepreneurial Institute, a partnership with Cayuga Community College;
- $6 million in grants for various program and capital investments;
- $4 million for healthcare and human service initiatives;
- $1 million for the Community Foundation of Central New York;
- $2 million to help establish a Creative Corridor between the academic communities in Rochester, Syracuse, and Ithaca, with Auburn as its organizational hub.
Another major component of the Stardust and Call to Action initiative is the arts. The Musical Theater Festival was recently incorporated to expand on the success of director Ed Sayles and his Merry-Go-Round Playhouse and youth theater program.
An 11-person board of directors has been meeting regularly over the past several months, and they've raised $300,000 to do a comprehensive feasibility study in conjunction with a theater consulting firm that will start work in mid-December.
“A detailed plan would be prepared for us by this spring,” said Rick Emanuel, a member of the Blueprint focus group and publisher of The Citizen, who is confident the feasibility of a festival will be green-lighted.
The festival would run for 10 weeks each year, and Sayles has noted that a similar festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada attracts 325,000 annually.
Bisgrove's philanthropy is not about giving money to organizations and then walking away. They are investments. No performance, the money goes away.
“We require a business plan. We require measurements. We require accountability,” said Bisgrove. “There are investments in the power of individuals and their ideals.”
Bisgrove's said, “Grants are wonderful, and we need to have them done.
But we look at things a little bit different.”
“We marry in with those that make grants. To some degree, we're the black hat,” Bisgrove said. “We're the ones that say, we're not buying your long-range plan. It's too short; it needs to be shored up. We'll help you. We'll bring in professionals to help you.
But we don't buy the idea, just give us your money and will take care of it, son. We're entrepreneurial.”
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Stardust Foundation Announces Grants
The Stardust Foundation of Central New York on October 24, 2007 announced more than $500,000 in grants for area arts, education and human services programming, over and above the $1 million previously set aside for Cayuga Community College.
The grants include more than $260,000 for renovations at Auburn Public Theater; $135,000 to keep the Cayuga Health Association's Meals on Wheels program running for three years; and $100,000 to support a feasibility study for a musical theater festival in Auburn.
According to a news release, nine organizations will receive direct "community investments" that seek to improve the quality of life, with two entities receiving matching grants.
The city of Auburn, which had sought a matching grant for the hiring of a consultant for a comprehensive master plan, has until Dec. 31 to accept the terms of a $58,000 grant. The money will fund an updated master plan for the city which includes recent projects and ideas, city manager Mark Palesh said. The current master plan is more than a decade old.
St. Peter and John Episcopal Church in Auburn received a matching grant of $10,000 for the restoration of its historic parish house.
Stardust Foundation of Central New York Executive Director Guy Cosentino said in a news release that there were "several common denominators" in the group of investments. "...one large factor is that we want to reward those who work towards community collaboration," Cosentino said.
Some of the grants are supporting items raised in the "Call to Action: A Blueprint for Our Region," that began in November 2006 to focus on seven major issues. One of those, Cayuga Community College, has already been awarded $1 million through the Stardust Foundation for its Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Recipients of more than $1.6 million in investments and matching grants
- Auburn Chamber of Commerce Foundation $5,000 Tuition assistance for Leadership Cayuga
- Auburn Public Theater $263,174 Theater renovations
- Boyle Senior Center $1,000 Outdoor park bench
- Cayuga Community College $1 million Business and entrepreneurship
- Cayuga Counseling Services $14,000 Medical equipment
- Cayuga Health Association $135,000 Meals on Wheels
- City of Auburn $58,000 Comprehensive plan
- Musical Theater Festival $100,000 Feasibility study
- Neighborhood House $20,000 Child care subsidy
- St. Peter and John Episcopal Church $10,000 Parish house restoration
- Success by Six $25,000 Dolly Parton Imagination Library
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Faith Drives Bisgrove's Vision
Jerry Bisgrove is a man of deep faith, and his work in trying to revive Auburn and Cayuga County will not be just about money and economic development. It will also be about families and the values they pass on to their children.
During his speech at the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce dinner in late October, in which the Auburn native and philanthropist pledged $15 million in grants and incentive money over the next five to seven years, Bisgrove talked repeatedly about values and his belief in God.
At the event, the nearly 400 people in attendance were given information on the Stardust Foundation of Central New York, and it beginnings in Arizona back in 1992. The foundation's mission statement is very clear about what is important to Bisgrove. It's broken down into three sections - Individual Responsibility, Spiritual Values, and Partnership with the Community.
"Jerry's entire mission in life in life is helping the underprivileged. One of his mainstays is helping the working poor, families that have trouble staying ahead," said Robert Pine, a long-time friend of the Bisgrove family and a board member for the Stardust Foundation of Central New York.
The greatest example of that spirit is the South Ranch affordable housing community, the largest project of its kind ever undertook by Habitat for Humanity. Located just five miles from downtown Phoenix, in one of the hottest housing market in the nation over the past decade, South Ranch is a thriving community with close to 200 Habitat for Humanity homes built for the working poor.
It has proved a remarkable success story. While the high school graduation rate for the parents at South Ranch was below 60 percent, Bisgrove is extremely proud that their children are now graduating high school at more than a 95-percent rate after having found greater stability in their neighborhood of brightly-colored homes.
Bisgrove once considered becoming a priest, attending a seminary in Rochester for nearly a year before changing direction and enrolling at Niagara University. Niagara is a religious-based school, and its mission follows the work of St. Vincent de Paul, a 17th century priest who served the poor and oppressed.
One story is telling of Bisgrove's depth of faith. When the Stardust Foundation was about 18 months old, a well-known university dean - who Bisgrove smilingly declined to identify - came into his office "and he made a major, major mistake." The dean tried to convince Bisgrove to change his mission statement.
"He thought it was extremely important to get God out of the mission statement," said Bisgrove, who then recalled why the dean thought it best. "He said, 'That word causes too many problems. And how do you interpret God? So, if you really want to market this thing pure, you've got to get God out of your mission statement.'"
"And I love academia, I really do. But, in this case, God stayed and academia left."
"Jerry's a very humble and caring man, Pine said. "He's also a very religious man, as are his brother and I. Not that we're evangelists. We don't promote. But I certainly believe in God, and I believe there is a reason everything happens."
Bisgrove graduated from Niagara University in 1968. Nearly 40 years later, he donated $5 million to the school, the largest gift in it history. His Stardust Foundation has provided more than $60 million to various organizations since its inception in 1992.
Since its inception, Stardust Real Estate Holdings has developed 132 subdivisions in Arizona that have a total of more than 75,000 building lots. All of the profits from the Bisgrove's real estate ventures are spent by the Stardust Charitable Group.
Earlier this month, the Arizona foundation donated $25 million for engineering and scientific research to help establish Arizona as a leader in high-tech growth. The Stardust grant will be matched by the state. For his efforts, Bisgrove was termed a "visionary" in an editorial by The Arizona Republic newspaper entitled "Our brilliant future."
He is so well-regarded in Arizona that he's the first recipient of two prestigious awards established by a pair of the state's most influential institutions. In June, Bisgrove was one of two executives given the Transformational Leadership Award by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The year before, Bisgrove was awarded the first-ever President's Medal of Excellence from Arizona State University.
In a statement, ASU President Michael Crow said they honored Bisgrove for "acting on his vision through an unwavering commitment to social and economic development in Arizona."
The Bisgrove family is certainly well-known in Auburn. Gerald "Jerry" Bisgrove is the youngest of four children. His father, John, owned the successful Red Star Express Lines trucking company.
At 14, Jerry started working on the docks at Red Star. His father insisted he graduate college before being any management position might become available, and Bisgrove considered becoming a priest and spent six months at a seminary in Rochester before enrolling at Niagara.
Now based in New Jersey, Red Star was sold in 1987 for more than $100 million to TNT Limited of Sydney, Australia. Bisgrove and his wife, Debi, moved to Arizona, in a town called Paradise Valley just outside of Phoenix, in 1991. The following year, he started the Stardust Cos. and their goal was simple - take the profits from their real estate ventures and use them to help others.
"The market in 1986, a sale had to happen to Red Star," said Bisgrove, citing deregulation in the trucking industry as a major factor. "But that forced another beginning, and that beginning was Stardust companies."
While it is often a cliché, it was certainly true that you could hear a pin drop during Bisgrove's speech. Speaking to a crowd that was filled with many long-time friends, Bisgrove frequently became emotional.
His father was "a pretty simple guy. On Sunday morning, after church, you light a candle." His mother taught him kindness and respect; his older siblings looked out for their kid brother.
To people to whom "much has been given, much is expected," Bisgrove said. "I have been blessed with financial resources. But I have been truly blessed with the understanding that the greatest resource in the world is family and friends."
His beloved wife, Debi, died in January. She was his partner in forming the Stardust Foundation, and the ache of missing her was obvious. "She was my teacher. She was my soul mate. She was the essence of my values," Bisgrove said.
"The first challenge I'd like to give you - bring your children home, bring your grandchildren home. You have the power. You HAVE the power," Bisgrove said. "I know you've got the power because I'm looking from the outside in."
Pine certainly believes Bisgrove's vision and talents could build Auburn into a boom town itself over the next five years. Pine has known Jerry and Jack Bisgrove for more than 30 years. An accountant and financial expert, Pine is also on the board of directors at Cayuga Community College and CCC's foundation. He did work for Red Star Express Lines, when they were based in New Jersey, beginning in the 1970s.
"We're not in the business of just giving money away. It's got be a partnership. This won't be annual annuity type things, there has to be buy-in from the recipients. And it has to be for community projects," said Pine, who was quick to contradict some in the community who expressed cynicism over the Stardust initiative's chances of succeeding.
"If this area pays attention, and signs on and gets the momentum going, this could be a transformative process," Pine said.
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