Economic Development Month in Review: October 2017
For the Top Economic Development News of the Month, CEG selects news articles about projects or developments that promise to improve and/or transform the Capital Region’s economy, particularly those that related to manufacturing and initiatives outlined in Capital 20.20, a five-year, multi-pronged plan for bringing economic prosperity to the entire region.
To learn about more the Capital Region’s economic development news from the past month, see CEG’s Economic Development Week in Review posts:
Work at Albany’s Wadsworth lab led to Nobel
“Joachim Frank, one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday, did much of the work that won him the prestigious award at the famed Wadsworth Center in Albany during the 1970s and 80s before moving to Columbia University in 2008.
The German-born Frank, who was also on faculty at the University at Albany during his time at Wadsworth, is sharing the Nobel Prize for his work on cryo-electron microscopy with Jacques Dubochet of the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and Richard Henderson of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.”
Rozell Industries to expand in Kingsbury industrial park
“Rozell Industries is planning to construct a new building at its site in the Airport Industrial Park in response to growing demand for the company’s fabrication services.
The business plans to construct a 12,000-square-foot building on one of its vacant lots it owns in the park located off Queensbury Avenue.”
The pitch: ‘Amazon Promenade’ connecting downtown Albany and Rensselaer
“Albany’s pitch for Amazon’s $5 billion second corporate headquarters would straddle the Hudson River, with millions of square feet of office space in downtown Albany and Rensselaer connected by a new pedestrian bridge, water taxis and/or a $43 million aerial gondola.
Dubbed the “Amazon Promenade,” it would appear to be a long-shot bid to lure the world’s largest online retailer to the state capital.”
Ayco moving financial services HQ to Latham
“Ayco, a financial services firm owned by Goldman Sachs, announced it will move its headquarters from Saratoga Springs to a new, 150,000-square-foot office building in Latham, New York.
The building will be developed by Galesi Group on the site of the former Starlite Music Theater on Columbia Street near Exit 7 of the Interstate 87 Northway.”
Fortune 300 gas supplier will build gas plant on GlobalFoundries campus
“One of the world’s largest industrial gas producers has signed an agreement to build and operate a nitrogen gas plant on the GlobalFoundries complex in Malta, New York.
Praxair, a Fortune 300 company with 26,000 employees and $10.5 billion in annual sales, is expected to construct the gas plant and begin producing nitrogen for GlobalFoundries during the first half of 2019.”
As upstate New York jobs growth stalls, Albany among areas bucking the trend
“Buffalo and Rochester are holding back upstate New York’s jobs growth. The Albany area is adding jobs, but not enough to compensate for western New York’s weaknesses, according to a blog post by two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
“Albany’s one of the areas that’s sort of bucking the trend,” Jaison Abel, one of the blog post’s authors, told the Albany Business Review.”
HVCC launches free online manufacturing tech training program
“Hudson Valley Community College and the Center for Economic Growth are launching a pilot manufacturing technology training program that will allow workers to take free online classes to help them qualify for entry-level jobs in the manufacturing and logistics sectors. It also will set them up for additional career training.
The program, called Manufacturing Technology Pathways, was announced Thursday morning at HVCC’s Troy campus.”
SUNY Adirondack culinary program plans downtown move
“The SUNY Adirondack board of trustees is poised to approve a $1.42 million plan to relocate the college’s culinary arts program from Queensbury to the new multi-use building at 14 Hudson Ave. in Glens Falls.
If approved, bids for the project would be due Nov. 8, with construction planned to start later that month, according to the agenda for the college board’s regular meeting on Thursday. The board will vote on the proposal at that meeting.”
U.S. Army invests $41.7M in upgrading Watervliet Arsenal
“The U.S. Army is making a $41.7 million investment in its manufacturing center at the Watervliet Arsenal to better support the needs of U.S. and foreign militaries.
Commander Col. Joseph Morrow said the arsenal has received more than $100 million in new orders over what it had at the same point in 2016, and to support this dramatic rise in readiness requirements, as well as the potential for tens of thousands of more direct labor hours to support future contracts now being negotiated, the Army must invest now to upgrade the arsenal’s mature infrastructure.”
Momentum grows as more investors head to Glens Falls
“Peter Hoffman did not have a single tenant lined up when he started renovating the century-old, three-story brick building at 86 Glen St. in downtown Glens Falls.
Before contractors finished replacing the roof and constructing a new front entrance, the building was full. Hoffman convinced NBT Bank to move its regional headquarters into the building, and public relations firm Behan Communications leased the rest.”
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