Economic Development Week in Review: April 22-26, 2019
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CEG IN THE NEWS
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Clarkson to boost role in Schenectady-area entrepreneurial community
“Clarkson University’s absorption of Union Graduate College two years ago has been a success and the North Country school plans to expand its profile in the Capital Region, its president said Thursday.
The merger with UGC, he said, gave Clarkson the larger graduate student body it needed as well as science/math-oriented training programs for teachers that will help feed a stream of future engineers into the American workforce.”
GloFo plant sale will bring more work to Fab 8
“GlobalFoundries is selling its former IBM chip plant in Dutchess County to another chipmaker, in a move that could bring new production to its Saratoga County plant, the two companies and state officials announced on Monday.
The 300-mm wafer plant in East Fishkill, which GlobalFoundries acquired from IBM in 2015, is being sold to ON Semiconductor for $430 million, with $100 million paid now, and $330 million by the end of 2022, when the sale will be completed.”
Plug Power is expanding its relationship with FedEx at Albany airport
“The partnership between Plug Power and FedEx is expanding.
The Latham-based fuel cell manufacturer will start supplying fuel cell-powered electric cargo tuggers for use by FedEx at the Albany International Airport.”
HVCC launches new ‘Learn Where you Earn’ program
“Hudson Valley Community College and the Capital Region Workforce Development Board have teamed up with social services organization Northern Rivers Family of Services to offer a new “Learn Where You Earn” program to give employees a chance to further their education right where they work.
Starting this summer, officials said that Hudson Valley will begin offering courses at Northern Rivers’ Albany location that are open to employees of the Northern Rivers Family of Services and its member agencies, Northeast Parent & Child Society and Parsons Child & Family Center.”
Albany unemployment rate falls to 3.7 percent
“The Capital Region’s unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in March from 4.3 percent a year earlier, the state Labor Department reported Tuesday. It’s the lowest rate for March since 2001, when the rate stood at 3.4 percent of the labor force.
The rate wasn’t the lowest in the state; the college town of Ithaca, home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, had an unemployment rate of just 3.4 percent.”
‘Unlimited potential’: Officials optimistic about Fort Edward’s new industrial park
“Just beyond the Champlain Canal, an expanse of rail track, concrete, empty buildings and fencing may look to some like the relics of a Superfund cleanup.
To Neal Orsini, however, it’s a blank slate of possibility.
As president of the Fort Edward Local Property Development Corp., Orsini is one of the owners of the former General Electric Co. dewatering site, which was used to process sediment during the Hudson River cleanup project.”
“The planned Albany Skyway will get another $5 million from the state as part of a multi-million-dollar infusion of funds to Capital Region transportation efforts.
The Skyway grant is part of $27 million announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday for the region and is the largest allocation of 11 projects getting local funds.”
Developer’s Waterfront District in Troy begins to take shape
“Kevin Bette’s plan to redevelop a prime portion of downtown Troy is moving into its third phase, with construction of two new apartment buildings and a multi-level parking garage along River Street north of the Green Island Bridge.
The parking garage is planned for what is now the parking lot that during the 1960s and ’70s was occupied by Carrols Hamburgers and later Scubber’s, a popular drive-in. The garage — which will also be the first stop heading north from downtown Troy on CDTA’s new River Corridor rapid transit bus route — will replace the parking spaces that will be lost when the two five-story apartment buildings are constructed on the riverfront.”
