Prudential Blake-Atlantic Realtors, a division of Blake Realty, Inc., hosted CIREB's July marketing session at 501 Smith St., at the Backstage Pub and Grill with guest speaker Ray Gillen of the Schenectady MetroPlex Authority. Offered for sale, the building has a total of 3,100 s/f consisting of restaurant and bar on the first floor with additional space on second floor for private functions. Gillen brought the members up-to-date with all things in the city, including Paul Mitchell's lease to occupy 20,000 s/f at 411 State St. They will open both a retail store and training school at the new location. The project represents a $2 million investment in the county. The new location is expected to attract more than 250 staff, students and customers to the downtown area each day. He also spoke of GE's plan to locate its battery manufacturing plant on the GE Energy campus. The $100 million battery factory will bring 350 jobs to the site and expands the company's clean energy initiatives. For more info, visit www.schenectadymetroplex.org. Upcoming marketing sessions * Sept. 10, hosted by Realty USA at the Rensselaer Train Station. * Oct. 1, hosted by CB Richard Ellis/Albany. * Nov. 5, hosted by Albany Management. * Dec. 3 hosted by Windsor Development. Welcome new members: * Broker membership: Seymour Fox, Seymour Fox Realty; and Barbara Hubbell, Access Premier Properties. * Associate membership: Julie Natale-Dwyer, Roohan Realty; JoAnn Potrzuski, Realty USA; and Lisa Wloch, Classic Homes Real Estate. Education: Breakfast Meeting Sept. 21 at CIREB Headquarters 9 to 10:30 a.m. Light breakfast will be provided. Robert Feller, Esq. of the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King will be speaking to the membership on many topics including subdivision & site-plan approval, variances and non-conforming uses, SEQRA and more.