The Erie County Industrial Development Agency has granted incentive packages to 6 developments, helping to spur industrial and commercial expansion throughout the county. John Cappellino, ECIDA executive vice president, hopes that this is a sign of a rebounding local economy.
I Squared R Element Co in Akron will receive $676,000 toward a $5.2 million expansion project, to add a 36,000 sqft warehouse space to their existing facility. The expansion should also allow the company to add 20 jobs.
Derrick Corp will receive $2.86 million toward a $19.5 million expansion project. They are adding a 124,000 sqft plant to their existing 230,000 sqft facility, and creating an additional 36 new jobs.
Ricotta & Visco was approved for a $232,000 package, to help finance a $1.5 million renovation of a century old office building on Main St. This building will eventually become their new offices. They expect to add 3 people to their staff once in the new building.
University Pediatric Dentistry was approved for $90,000 toward a $1.26 million development project, which will help them in the building of a new clinic on Main St, near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Their project is expected to add 20 jobs.
McGard Inc was approved for $482,000 to help finance a $5 million expansion of their manufacturing facility. They also expect to add 20 jobs with the addition.
Full article at [Buffalo Business First].
Four towns in Niagara County may be coming together in an effort to bring reduced cost electric to their communities. Leaders from the Town of Niagara, Lewiston, Porter, and the Village of Youngstown met in a very preliminary discussion on just what it would take to make electric a government run utility in their communities, and what the impact would be financially to the community and the private citizen. Leaders have realized that National Grid is charging 22 cents per kilowatt, which they are purchasing from the New York Power Authority for 1.5 cents per killowatt. Something just doesn’t add up.
Leaders met with Alfred Coppola, who was leading an initiative in the City of Buffalo to put electric in the hands of the government. Among the topics discussed were the successes other municipalities have had, both in New York and elsewhere, as well as the roadblocks he faced along the way. He pointed out Akron, NY which runs their electric utility on a 4 employee crew, and is able to deliver electric at a drastically reduced cost to their community. According to Coppola, Perry’s Ice Cream stays in Akron for that very reason.
Coppola also stated the next step would be a feasibility study, to determine what sort of costs would be associated with taking control of the grid, including purchasing the infrastructure and other necessities. Local leaders plan to meet with consultants in the near future.
[The Buffalo News]
As of March 15, 2011, the Statler Towers have finally changed hands! Mark Croce completed the purchase of the property through his business, Statler City LLC, late in the afternoon on Wednesday. The purchase price was approximately $700,000 – $200,000 of which went toward the purchase of the building and $500,000 went to pay off the back taxes that were owed against the building.
In a small ceremony on the ground floor of the building, the bankruptcy clerk Morris Horwitz signed the deed and handed it to Erie County Clerk Cathy Hochul. Croce is currently working on a comprehensive building renovation plan, to be completed in phases, to bring the building back to life. The property has been sitting vacant since January 2010. Croce is asking for $5.3 million in public funds to complete the immediate emergency stabalization work that needs to be completed. These repairs include fixing the leaking roofs, as well as beginning to stabalize masonry which is crumbling.
Croce’s redevelopment plan calls to immediately get the grand ballrooms and some office space up and running as soon as October, and will then redevelop the remainder of the 18 story building as office and residential space, as the market dictates.
Erie Community College is moving forward with plans to build a new facility at their north campus. The Center for Excellence will be approximately 100,000sqft, and is expected to cost about $30 million to build. Of that $30 million, New York State is expected to kick in approximately $15 million, with Erie County kicking in $7.5 million. This will be the first major development on north campus since 1960.
The Kideney Architects has been selected as the group that will design the structure. They were chosen by a selection committee after a competitive process.
ECC recognized the need to build an expansion to the north campus due to a decline in enrollment, because students were choosing other campuses such as Niagara County Community College, and other state and private schools. ECC North campus is currently supporting almost 7,000 students, which the current facilities can not continue to handle.
