This thread is for any development or construction going on in Upstate New York, outside of the city limits of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, and Syracuse (those cities have their own threads). Other places where development and construction should be talked about in here:

Mid-sized cities:
Albany
Utica
Binghamton
Elmira
and so on

Smaller cities:
Ithaca
Jamestown
Rome
Troy
Glens Falls
and so on

Larger towns:
Watertown
Kingston
Olean
Auburn
Lockport
Batavia
Plattsburgh
and so on

Other things:
College towns (Geneseo, Alfred, Brockport, Potsdam, etc)
Indian Reservations and casinos
Road projects
Resort towns (Ellicottville, Lake George, Adirondacks, etc)
and so on

If there are developments or construction projects outside of the city limits of cities that have "Development News" threads (Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse), and those projects are not tied to that city, then those projects probably should go here. If they have something to do with that city (extending light rail from Rochester to Irondequoit, for example), then it can be placed in the city thread. Use your own discretion as to what thread it should go in.

If there is enough interest in a particular city, then that city will be spun off and will get it's own thread.

I'll get thigns started with an article I read while in Buffalo last week. I actually used US 219 both on my way up and on my way back, so I could tour Cattaraugus County. I noticed signs north of Ellicottville and at the southern expressway terminus at Springville stating "Route 219: started 1979, finished ??", dedicated to the victims of the expressway expansion.

Route 219 expansion finally starts
Crews begin clearing way for push to south


Reports of the extension of the Route 219 expressway southward have been arriving for so long that residents have taken an “I’ll believe it when I see it” approach.

Well, they can finally see it.

Work has been going on since the last week of March on extending the expressway southward from where it currently ends at its intersection with Route 39 in Concord.

“They’re clearing brush and trees where the new expressway will be,” said John Wind, the project’s construction supervisor. “When it gets dry, they’ll start the earth work.”

It’s a modest start to what is planned as an $85.7 million project that will include 11 bridges, including an impressive pair of spans over the Cattaraugus Creek gorge.

The work is planned to take three years. Wind said most of the ground moving will take place this year, with the structures going up in 2008 and 2009.

The project calls for a 3.5-mile extension of the expressway, crossing over the current Route 219 north of Cattaraugus Creek and ending at Peters Road in the Town of Ashford — where the next stage will eventually start.

“It’s going to be a long haul for the village [of Springville] and town,” said Concord Supervisor Gary Eppolito. “The construction is going to be disruptive, but Cold Spring Construction, the Department of Transportation and Erie County Highway [Department] have all been working with us to ease disruptions.”

Cold Spring, an Akron company, won the bid for the project.

Among Eppolito’s and Springville Mayor Bill Krebs’ concerns have been high numbers of gravel trucks driving through the village to the construction site, Eppolito said.

Many of the trucks will be detoured around the village, he said.

Other aspects of the project include the building of a construction road from near the Scoby Hill dam, use of the equivalent of 7.7 million shredded tires as embankment material and creation of a 64-acre off-site wetland complex in the Town of Ellicottville as the mitigation for loss of wetlands due to construction.

The wetlands will include trails to allow public access.

One of the first signs of the work will be the closing of the park-and-ride lot at the Route 39 intersection Monday. It will be demolished soon after.

http://media.buffalonews.com/smedia/2007/04/06/06/985-bn-20070406-D001-route219expansi-98009-MI0001.standalone.prod_affiliate.50.jpg
Construction activity is under way south of Springville on the 3.5-mile extension of the Route 219 expressway into Ashford.

http://www.buffalonews.com/102/story/47914.html

This should have happened years ago. Between 1990 and 2005, $130 million was appropriated by Congress for this highway but NYSDOT instead opted to spend it on widening and extension of the Long Island Expressway (LIE). It's a major piece of the national "Continental One" corridor of Miami to Toronto and everything in between; one of four proposed "I-67" designations. Talk about further violating the Interstate numbering convention, as if I-99 wasn't bad enough.

More info:
AARoads (http://www.aaroads.com/high-priority/corr21.html)
Road to Ruin (http://www.taxpayer.net/TCS/RoadRuin/md.htm)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_Interstate_Highways)

The economic impact raises some questions though. What impact will future I-99 have on the 219 expressway? After all, one of the reasons for the US 219 extension is to connect Buffalo and Toronto with Washington DC and Baltimore, yet there is already a pretty direct route from Baltimore to Rochester in place, with several sections of that road being upgraded to Interstate. As it is, you can take I-83 from Baltimore up to York PA, then take US Route 15, which is partial access and in some places limited access, all the way up to Williamsport. From Williamsport to Painted Post NY will be the future I-99, and the I-86 and I-390 complete the connection to Rochester. US 219, on the other hand, goes through Maryland way at the western end, about 110 miles from the DC metro, and only 40 miles from Morgantown WV. Trucks and travelers would have to swing a 90º turn to head towards DC, which they kind of have to do anyway if they take the US 15 route through Central PA. Unless there was a more direct expressway into the DC metro, how would the US 219 route be so much greater than the future I-99/US 15 route?

Probably not too much greater. I can't even think of when I'd use it; when I go to SC I usually do I-90 to I-79 to US-19 to I-77 (though I think next time I'm going to try Geneseo to I-390 to I-86 to US-15 to I-81 because I just like that way more).

I'm also not sure how committed Pennsylvania is towards upgrading 219. Most of the expressway length of 219 is in PA, but it's essentially all south of I-80 and I thought I read somewhere once that there are no current plans for any expansions in PA; almost as if it's off the table. Which would bring into question the need for NYS to upgrade it to I-86. From a personal standpoint, I'd rather see NY-400 extended to I-86 somewhere near Angelica or something.

I think it might hold more value just towards opening up some of these areas to highway access, similar to the "Appalachian Highway System". Even in PA with I-99 fully built, I can still see a need for a sort of Bradford to Pittsburgh connection; there really isn't much in terms of highways in the NWern portion of the state.

Did you go through the new I-86/US-15 interchange in Painted Post recently? I was last through there 2 years ago (2 years ago yesterday, in fact), and they were actually in the process of lifting the huge girders for one of the new flyover ramps. I thought that was really neat to see.

PA must have more little stub expressways and "future" corridors than any other state!

I did use the Painted Post expressway exit to get onto I-86. Route 15 doesn't even go into Painted Post anymore; Going to or from I-86 at that intersection only takes you to southbound US 15. You have to go one exit over to get into Painted Post. I'll always remember that traffic light for the entrance ramp for I-86 (NY 17 back then). That would be the way onto westbound I-86 instead of the overpass. I was always curious to see what was straight ahead in Painted Post, as that angle gave me the impression that there was a dense, tree-lined downtown.. It turned out that it only looked dense because of a factory and another building acting as a "facade" for the town (as I found out last year to my dismay).

Extending Route 400 would be a good idea on paper. That would provide access to expressways already in place. It would be easier for me to get to Buffalo as well. Upgrading US Route 20A would be another good idea, althoguh that would never happen either. Of course, there would be a trade-off for me for Route 20A: I could get to Buffalo faster, but I like the scenery along that road as it is right now.

While on the subject of I-86, when do they plan on upgrading everything to Interstate standard? Are they working on the section that goes around Elmira? What about the work they need to do in the Catskills?

I do like 20A as well. I practically live off of it, but I like it around Geneseo especially. US 20 and NY 63 aren't bad either.

The section around Elmira was under construction each of the last two times I've been through there (2 and 3-4 years ago). During that timeframe, a new interchange was built and opened at Kahler Road (right at the airport), and there was some pretty massive construction going on around that horrible stretch of traffic lights in Horseheads (which still isn't as bad as US 19 through Summersville, WV, if you know what I mean). I'm curious to see how they're going to make that work. Other than that, there are a few minor at-grade intersections just to the southeast of Elmira, and I think that's all that's left up to "Kamikaze Curve" immediately west of I-81 in Binghamton, for which I think there is a project in the works.

As for the Catskills portion, I'm not as familiar. I do know that there is a very large project in design (it may be u/c by now for all I know) around Hancock. I know this because the company in Elmira I interviewed at (the reason for being out there 2 yrs ago), Hunt, had the design contract for it and they actually showed me the plans for it; had I been hired there it would have been my primary assignment for some time. (At least until they opened their Rochester office to which I would have been relocated.) As for the rest of it, I know it's high priority. Maybe 20 years or so, considering how long it takes a project of this magnitude, assuming it's already well into the pipeline?

It's interesting to look in Streets & Trips or something at the roadway alignment and see all the minor bypasses, relic interchanges, etc. which over time have been stitched together into what it is now. NY 17 is a very interesting road in that respect (and a very pretty road too IMO).

As a side, I didn't get that job because I had my interview/job offer/acceptance of the job I'm at now earlier the same day, and I went to that one just out of courtesy. (Though I more or less blew off one in Binghamton, though I was running late and figured I probably would have been and they were aware).

plattsburrgh, batavia & watertown are cities, not towns.

plattsburrgh, batavia & watertown are cities, not towns.

Well they should rename that last one Water City because it's so confusing. I also don't understand why there's a Midtown in Manhattan. Shouldn't it be Midcity? And what about all those downtowns? Downtown Los Angeles surely is a blasphemous name for the center of a megalopolis of 4-million people. I will also spit at anyone who I hear referring to Detroit as Motown rather than the more appropriate Mocity and I fully insist that the post-Apartheid government recognize Cape City as the rightful name of "Cape Town." :bash:

plattsburrgh, batavia & watertown are cities, not towns.

Newark Delaware is a city as well, but I would never call it that informally.

New Yorkers (the City) often use the word "town" to refer to NYC. And if they're just a town, I guess the rest of us are just..."hamlets" or "corners" or something.

New Yorkers (the City) often use the word "town" to refer to NYC. And if they're just a town, I guess the rest of us are just..."hamlets" or "corners" or something.

If NYC is a town then anything else is nothing but a molecule

except Birmingham. duh!!!

Newark Delaware is a city as well, but I would never call it that informally.

in new york state, there is a significant difference between a town and a city. the city of oneida is about 12,000 people but is incorporated while amherst is around 110,000 but still is an unincorporated town.

what about the "Town" of Hempstead on Long Island with a population of over 700,000.

in new york state, there is a significant difference between a town and a city. the city of oneida is about 12,000 people but is incorporated while amherst is around 110,000 but still is an unincorporated town.

Actually, the odd thing in NYS is that towns incorporate just like cities and villages, one reason why annexation is next to impossible in NYS. Just another totally screwed up part of NYS government.

The New York Rangers' AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack, are probably going to move. Glens Falls has been mentioned as the prime location. Glens Falls is in New York, so there are probably a good amount of Rangers fans, or it would be able to make a good amount of Rangers fans up there.

Future Of Team Not Yet Decided


An hour after the Wolf Pack were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday night, a team official used his cellphone to snap pictures of the Civic Center ice.

Was it a sign of the Pack's possible departure?

The overriding question hovering over the franchise is whether it will be around for an 11th season. A group headed by real estate developer Larry Goettesdiener will run the Civic Center, and the departure of Madison Square Garden puts Hartford's hockey future in limbo.

Pack general manager and coach Jim Schoenfeld said negotiations are taking place between Goettesdiener and MSG, which lost the contract to operate the Civic Center, but he wouldn't elaborate. Though both sides have been mum, indications are they are close to a multiyear deal to have the Pack stay.

The team drew an average of 4,563 fans during the regular season and 2,674 for four playoff games.

Keeping the Pack wasn't Goettesdiener's stated desire in his bid presentation to the Connecticut Development Authority, but he changed his position as options dwindled.

The Rangers and Florida Panthers, expected to join with the Buffalo Sabres in Rochester, N.Y., are the only NHL teams without an AHL affiliation for next season.

If Goettesdiener can't reach an agreement with the Rangers, he likely would have to settle for an ECHL team. AHL officials would like a decision by their spring meetings May 14-15.

If MSG and Goettesdiener reach an agreement, Ken Gernander, an assistant coach for two seasons after being the Pack captain for eight, is likely to succeed Schoenfeld as coach. Schoenfeld didn't expect to coach when he arrived in 2003 but decided to in order to assist player development the past two years.

Schoenfeld said he's under contract to be GM next season and is still coach. Gernander, 37, didn't speculate on becoming coach but praised Schoenfeld for the guidance and responsibilities he gave to Gernander and assistants Ulf Samuelsson and J.J. Daigneault, which included speaking to the media after games.

"Schoeny has a ton of experience and has done great job with the young group we've had," Gernander said. "Experience is pretty invaluable, and Schoney has always made it clear that he wanted to help the assistants. He knew there was a lot of building to do, and I've had a lot of valuable learning experiences like getting a sense on how players are feeling and how to effect change. Schoeny is great at using discretion and thinking outside the box."

Would he like the job?

"I'm in it because I like it," Gernander said. "I like where I am, too, because everyone got along great and always is afforded input into decisions. You have aspirations of doing it, but you never really know how prepared you are until you've done it."

Is he ready to be a head coach?

"You think you are, but it's like a rookie goalie: Is he ready to play?" Gernander said. "You think you're confident in your abilities, but until you're tested, you just never know. Like any player, you're going to have some growing pains and can have all the dry runs you want. But you're going to make mistakes, and that's probably where you're going to learn the most and have to take responsibility for what you did or didn't do."

The Rangers and Pack have plenty of personnel decisions, and they started Monday with exit meetings between players and coaches as the Civic Center ice was removed.

The most pressing decisions are on players such as captain Craig Weller, who indicated he's headed to Europe, Jarkko Immonen, Dave Liffiton, Bryce Lampman, Dwight Helminen, Jake Taylor, Marvin Degon, Francis Lessard and possible future captain Dale Purinton, who missed the last two games of the playoffs because of a wrist injury sustained in a fight in Game 5.

The Pack are likely to have a new captain. Weller is considering playing in Germany or Austria.

"It's kind of bittersweet," Weller said after his exit meeting. "I've really enjoyed my five years here, but it might be time to move on and get a chance to see the world, playing hockey."

Purinton would seem a logical choice to succeed Weller if he's re-signed. He has played nine of his 10 pro seasons in the Rangers organization, was part of the Pack's only Calder Cup title in 2000 and, with his wife and new son, has a new home in Colchester.

"I owe everything in hockey to the Rangers and would love to be captain or a player-assistant coach," Purinton said. "And I'd love to work with Kenny. I've always respected him as a player and a coach."

http://www.courant.com/sports/hockey/wolfpack/hc-wolfpack0501.artmay01,0,6108943.story?coll=hc-headlines-sports

The New York State League is a small independent baseball league that will start this Summer and will field 4 teams: the Utica Brewmasters, Rome Coppers, Oneida Barge Bucs, and Herkimer Trailbusters. the season will run from July 3 to August 31.

The league's website (http://www.nystateleague.com/)

I know it's not a biggee, but downtown Ithaca needs a boost like this.
Here's a pic of the parking garage(on the left) taken just before construction was complete:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/206/494269183_afacf99464.jpg?v=0

btw, there's some readers comments at the bottom. Ithaca is a crazy place.:nuts:


Firm rents space in Cayuga Green garage
From Journal Staff Reports

ITHACA — The commercial space in the two-year-old Cayuga Green parking garage built across Cayuga Street from the Holiday Inn is getting its first tenant, the Ithaca Downtown Partnership announced Thursday.

The tenant is the financial firm Merrill Lynch, which will consolidate its two current downtown offices into its new location, which will comprise about 5,600 square feet.

The garage opened in June 2005, but Merrill Lynch will be the first tenant in the rentable commercial space of slightly more than 20,000 square feet. The lack of tenants had been a source of frustration for city officials.

The new, larger facility will feature state-of-the-art technology and a classroom for workshops, educational programs and meeting rooms. Merrill Lynch in Ithaca employs 19 people and expects continued growth. In 2006, it acquired Advest/J.S. Barr and had maintained that firm's former location along with its own East State Street offices.
Merrill Lynch chose the downtown location over other options in part because it offered two-way street access and ample parking for clients on-site, said Senior Resident Director and Wealth Management Advisor Richard Prybyl

“We are growing and like what is shaping up in downtown Ithaca. We are delighted to be part of new growth and vitality of downtown,” Prybyl said. Merrill Lynch has had an Ithaca presence since 1991.

Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Partnership, hailed the announcement.

“We are pleased that Merrill Lynch has chosen downtown as their preferred location to grow in the years ahead. We are likewise excited that leasing on the Cayuga Green and Cayuga Garage projects has now officially begun and are optimistic about the future of these key projects,” he said.

Construction on the space will begin immediately and will be completed by Labor Day.






Originally published May 11, 2007

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Refreshing thoughts about Ithaca branc. There are so many nice things here to enjoy. I especially like the warmer weather here. The relatively extreme and growing taxes and fat government are what finally got me. The city's use of eminent domain against our neighbors is a disgrace IMHO. And then there are the ridiculously easy to maintain pothole problems!. Good and bad, like everywhere else.

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 8:39 pm

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when discussion came about this being a white elephant in the press a while back, talk was about this space having retail. As I have watched city negotiations stemming from the past administration as well, I see the new development not to be mixed. the commons area was to be promoted as upscale retail, wall street type workers and eateries. The most successful communities have both affordable retail blended in. this was not the vision from Alan Cohen's administration as well as up to the present. this vision services the high end ithacans, as you can see in the luxury apartments and high rents. this is not sustainable! No, I do not feel happy about todays announcement!

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 7:54 pm

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First of all, this is relative. Secondly, the old offices are next to that tourism cash-cow known as Ithaca Commons (just across the street, in fact). Will it be commercial offices? I dunno. Personally I'd expect something more along the lines of retail to move in to the space to be vacated by Merrill Lunch, but that's just my thought.

There's alot of negativity for a city that's shielded from the economic horrors that the rest of upstate has to deal with. At least Ithaca has the education and tourism going for it, plus the third-fastest growing county in the state (look up the census online if you want to check). Ithaca has advantages other places don't, and they need to use it to their benefit. I would like to see downtown continue to develop in the near future (I'd also like to see them cut taxes, but I'm not holding my breath).

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:32 pm

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why do you think the old space will not be difficult to re-rent?

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 12:55 pm

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Well, the primary purpose of the project was to create more parking downtown. The scondary purpose was street-level commercial space, which hasn't been selling that well because most places don't want to rent out of a parking garage on the edge of downtown.

Personally, I will take this as a good event, because the space that Merrill Lynch leaves behind probably won't be too difficult to fill relative to the parking garage tenant spaces.

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:24 am

Here's a few more fairly recent projects which are either complete, or will be complete soon.

Downtown:

The Seneca Place project (completed about 1 1/2 years ago). Part office building, part Hilton Garden Hotel

under construction
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/158/357510365_326dbfe0ea.jpg?v=0

nearing completion
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/494269195_98360e465b.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/494205188_989e215d56.jpg?v=0


Gateway Plaza Phase 2(upscale apartment building)

under construction
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/162/361948284_0e441396ae.jpg?v=0

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/361948290_b642a042a2.jpg?v=0

Finished product (not my pic, from Visiteur @ SSP)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8549/0001441nx2.jpg

A pic (from Visiteur again) which shows the reconstruction of the Green stree garage (which will have a movie theatre on the street level). In the parking lot across the street from the garage construction a new apartment building is planned.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1272/0001442ty4.jpg



In the Collegetown neighborhood, here's a construction pic (a bad one for sure) of a new apartment building:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/494250953_739499c414.jpg?v=0

Completed building (the second from right towards the center of the pic)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/361939988_720e78de27.jpg?v=0

^^ Is that all going on in Ithaca?

I remember seeing pictures of this last year at the Upstate NY American Planning Association conference. There are some nice developments going on in Ithaca, as there should be with the Colleges there.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/494205188_989e215d56.jpg?v=0

Matt, those are some of the downtown projects (except for the one apartment building in Collegetown) which have occurred over the last year or two, or are going on now. I'll try to post some other stuff happening in and around the city soon.


bjfan, That was a big project for downtown, and the developers (Ciminelli) are from Buffalo.

btw, here are some projects in the owrks for Cornell University. There's more so I'll try to get them in another post.

Hope you don't mind so much stuff from Ithaca.





Current Projects
Life Sciences Technology Building
Project Description:
Building will integrate life sciences with physical, engineering and computational sciences while providing a campus-wide access to state-of-the-art technologies. Please visit http://lifesciences.cornell.edu

Construction to begin August 2005
Anticipated completion date: September 2007
Projected size of 265,000 gsf
Project Budget $157,000,000
Architect: Richard Meier & Partners, NYC, NY
Live Webcams: East Camera, West Camera

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/image/stpm/pdc_stpmprojects_clip_image002.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/image/stpm/pdc_stpmprojects_clip_image003.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/LSTBPhoto1-2.5.07.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/LSTBPhoto2-2.5.07.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/LSTBPhoto3-2.5.07-1.jpg

Project Team:

Jim Pung, AIA, NCARB, Senior Project Manager
Darlene Hackworth, Project Manager
Susan Drew, Senior Project Coordinator
Brian Brown, Construction Manager





East Campus Research Facility
Project Description:
A facility connected to the Vet College , to house research and teaching animals.

Construction to begin September 2005
Anticipated completion date: August 2007
Projected size of 79,000 gsf
Budget: $55,000,000
Architects: Ballinger Architects


http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/image/stpm/pdc_stpmprojects_clip_image005.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/STPM_ECRF_PhotoNo_1_3_21_07.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/STPM_ECRF_PhotoNo_2_3_21_07.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/STPM_ECRF_PhotoNo_3_3_21_07.jpg

Project Team:

John Keefe, PE, Project Manager
Marcela Frink, Project Coordinator
Art Thompson, Construction Manager





Uris Hall Animal Facility
Project Description:

Construction to begin April 2007
Anticipated Completion Date December 2007
Project size of 11,000 gsf
Project Budget: $7,200,000
Architect: CUH2A Architecture, Engineering, Planning

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/UrisBldgPhoto2.5.07.jpg

Project Team
Mike Swartwout, Project Manager





Physical Science Building

Project Description:

Construction to begin June 2007
Anticipated Completion Date September 2010
Project size of 197,000 gsf
Project Budget: $140,000,000
Architect: Burt Hill, Inc Architects/Engineers with Koetter Kim & Associates, Architects

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/PhysicalScienceModel2.5.07.jpg


Project Team:
Gary Wilhelm, Executive Project Manager
Mike Husar, Project Manager
Ruth Howell, Sr. Project Coordinator
Greg Crossett, Construction Manager





Animal Health Diagnostic Center
Project Description:

Construction to begin February 2008
Anticipated Completion Date May 2010
Project size of 125,000 gsf
Project Budget: $56,000,000
Architect: CUH2A Architecture, Engineering, Planning

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/ADHC.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/ADHC2.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/ADHC3.jpg

http://www.pdc.cornell.edu/eng/STPM/img/ADHC4.jpg

Project Team:
John Keefe, Project Manager
Sue Hartman, Sr. Project Coordinator
Art Thompson, Construction Manager

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A proposal for the Ithaca Gun factory property. The old factory is still there, and there are hazardous waste concerns. I hope something happens. The developer had previously proposed a 7 story apartment building, but that was rejected for blocking some homeowners' views of Cayuga Lake.



http://suprfile.com/src/1/78pw0kn/IthGunProp.jpg

Ithaca Gun owners, city move closer to agreement
Framework established for funding, acquisition of land near Ithaca Falls
By Jennie Daley
Journal Staff

ITHACA — The City of Ithaca and owners of the former Ithaca Gun property have reached preliminary conditions for an agreement on remediation and redevelopment of the contaminated vacant site.

It's unclear when negotiations will be finalized, but the draft framework includes applications for state demolition funds and city acquisition of land overlooking Ithaca Falls with the eventual goal of cleaning the entire area and redeveloping the former factory into offices and apartments.

Unanswered questions in the negotiations include exactly what type and extent of remediation will be acceptable and what the fate of the iconic Ithaca Gun smoke stack might be. The question of timetables is also still under discussion.

Preliminary agreement has been made that property owner Fall Creek Redevelopment will give to the city a portion of its property overlooking Ithaca Falls and adjacent to city park land. The Fall Creek Redevelopment partners then would help the property enter into the New York State Environmental Restoration Program. Known as ERP, the program funds 90 percent of the cost of investigation and remediation of municipally owned properties and 100 percent of mitigation for adjacent properties.
The ERP would be expected to address lingering contamination, primarily from lead shot manufacturing, at the top of the hill. The lead is thought to be left over from an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup that stopped short of the hilltop. Under the draft agreement, Fall Creek Redevelopment will pay the environmental consulting expenses associated with that application, as well as cover the 10 percent local match required by the program.

Fall Creek Redevelopment includes North Carolina veterinarian Wally Diehl and O'Brien & Gere, an international environmental consulting firm based in Syracuse.

On the owners' behalf, the city preliminarily agreed to resubmit an application for RestoreNY grant funds. The grant would provide funding for the demolition, asbestos abatement, remediation and public access improvements. The Ithaca Gun site was included in the city's RestoreNY application last year but was a secondary priority to work needed at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center. Neither was funded.

A memo to the Common Council Planning and Development Committee from City Attorney Dan Hoffman said the city was told by state grant-funders that “the Ithaca Gun project could be a strong contender in a future funding round.”

Demolition would have to begin with a certain time frame after the grant was awarded. Fall Creek Redevelopment has applied to the city Building Department for a 180-day extension on the demolition order that came due March 17. Representatives from the Building Department did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment on the status of that order.

The tentative agreement also includes a stipulation that the property remain taxable for at least 10 years after completion. A timeline would be put in place for site redevelopment into offices and apartments.

Hoffman said the hope is that final terms of an agreement can be in place before the next round of RestoreNY funds becomes available. While there is no date set for a grant announcement, it is expected sometime this spring.


jdaley@ithacajournal.com




Originally published April 25, 2007

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And just when we all started to really enjoy the graffiti art of our local residents, the city has to go and allow for a clean-up and (don't shoot the messenger here) development of the site (finally).

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:39 am

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Fate of the smokestack

Standing high above its Lake Street home, the Ithaca Gun smokestack has long stood as landmark on East Hill. City officials said that Fall Creek Development, which owns the former factory site, has indicated willingness to donate the stack to the city as it does not want the responsibility of maintaining it.


Leslie Chatterton, historic preservation planner with the city's Planning Department, said it is still under discussion whether the city would accept such a gift. Questions about public access to the site and its structural integrity would need to be answered first.


“There is interest in it and recognition that it does have some kind of landmark quality to it,” Chatterton said.


A memo from City Attorney Dan Hoffman noted that the stack may be the lone, intact reminder of the neighborhood's industrial history.


Some discussions of the smokestack's future have included turning part of it into some sort of visitor destination, though funding for such an endeavor remains uncertain.


— Jennie Daley, Journal Staff

Gun factory on left in the middle, GunShop apartments to the right of factory, and part of Cornell at top of pic:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/494241032_de98641718.jpg?v=0


And here'a a pic from maithaca on flickr of the smokestack:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/465817562_a2fc203295.jpg?v=0

damn, I haven't been to Ithaca since 1998 when I went to visit the Cornell campus...next time I'm on my way down to NYC I'll have to stop by and see some of these developments.

Just checking around the net and found a couple of interesting sites for Binghamton, NY. Here's a pic of the city I took a couple of years back:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1059/bngny45072mu.jpg




Here's a site with a bunch of good info on it:

http://www.cityofbinghamton.com/dept-planning.asp


And here's one for some new lofts in an old bldg down near the tracks (btw, the developer is only 24 yrs old):

http://www.arisedev.com/

I'll try to track down some stuff about the Binghamton University.

Here's a bit of good news for Elmira, which could certainly use a boost for a downtown mired in vacancy. (Sorry no pics of the building in question)

Printable version

FOCUS: DOWNTOWN ELMIRA
New owners have big plans for Iszard's
May 2, 2007
Post Comment
By G. Jeffrey Aaron
jaaron@stargazette.com
Star-Gazette

JENNIFER KINGSLEY/Star-Gazette
Richard Gerard of Elmira recently purchased the Iszard's building in downtown Elmira with two partners and plans a movie theater, conference rooms and more in the landmark.


The strongest selling points for the Iszard's building in Elmira's downtown were its three stable tenants, its central location and special high-capacity T-1 fiber optic lines.

But even with those perks, the $1.1 million deal to buy the four-story landmark building at 150 N. Main St., scheduled to close early this month, was helped along by a small Hevista replica of the former department store that was mailed to one of the new owners by his local partner.

Elmira attorney Richard Gerard said his two partners, Harry Gasthalter and Lawrence Katz, both of New York City, traveled to Elmira in late winter to view the building after Gerard mentioned it as a possible investment opportunity.

"We went on a tour of the area and they saw that my wife and I are very much into Elmira. I showed them a natural gas well and they began thinking maybe upstate New York has potential, but they were still ambivalent," Gerard said. "I bought a model of the building and sent it down. Harry's wife saw it, liked it and I believe that helped sealed the deal."

In the eyes of Gerard and his partners, the building's biggest drawing card is the two specialty fiber optic lines that were installed by its former owner, which make the building attractive to businesses that rely on digital communication.

"Any major corporation could use (space in the building) to back up their main offices. Other potential tenants are architectural or engineering firms because they have huge digital demands for their drawings," said Gerard. "The building would also be of interest to a lot of what we call the digital outsource companies, like call centers, drafting firms, document reviewers for lawyers. That's all being done on a computer basis and it's moving to India. Why go to India when you can go to Elmira?"

Before moving to Elmira in 2005, Gerard -- among other things -- operated a real estate brokerage firm in Manhattan. Gasthalter was one of the clients he put together deals for.

One, in particular, involved selling property in New York City for $6 million, which Gasthalter wanted to invest in an upstate land deal. He and Gerard looked at an unimpressive property along Cayuga Lake. But the reaction was different when Gasthalter saw the Iszard's building.

The former department store was sold in the 1990s to the McCurdy & Co. After the Rochester retailer ended operations there in 1993, the building sat vacant for five years until it was purchased and renovated by a local partnership that included John Bouille Sr., who now lives out of state; Thomas Wheeler of Wellsburg; and James Wheeler and Bruce Haskell, both of Elmira. The partners, however, defaulted on the building's mortgage and it was purchased by mortgage-holder Chemung Canal Trust Co., in 2006 during a foreclosure sale.

It is presently occupied by American Customer Care, Excellus BlueCross Blue Shield and Weiler Mapping. Its second floor is currently vacant.

"Buildings like that are hard to come by and even harder to build or replace," said Gasthalter. "This one has four elevators, a nice lobby and we intend to finish the renovations that were started there. If we tried to do this in New York City, the costs would be prohibitive, about $400 to $500 per square foot. New York has become very expensive, and the return is small."

At first glance, Gasthalter said, he was troubled by the state of Elmira's central business district. But among the vacant commercial buildings, he also saw a few bright spots like Strathmont Plaza and First Arena. He also saw the benefits offered through the state's Empire Zone program as an incentive for luring new tenants into his new building.

"If look at North Main Street, you don't see any devastation, but there's really nothing to induce people to come into the area. The Iszard's Building has a large nucleus of employees, but the lack of activity is forcing them to go someplace else to spend their money," said Gasthalter. "I'm not a city planner or economist, but if you have people, they need services. So to me, if you have a good foundation, you can build a good home."

With the partners on board for the project, their next step was finding a bank to back the purchase. Six lenders, four local and two others in Rochester, were contacted. All were interested, but the terms offered varied widely; interest rates between 7 percent and 9 percent and repayment periods ranging between three to 10 years. There were also different requirements for cash collateral, said Gerard.

The three partners finally decided to go with HSBC in Elmira, which offered the lowest interest rate and the longest repayment period. They are also forming a limited liability corporation with Gasthalter as the majority partner. Katz and Gerard will be listed as minority partners.

The purchase of the Iszard's building and the plans to continue its development are "encouraging steps for downtown Elmira," said Jennifer Herrick, the city's new downtown development director.

"I believe the new owners are committed to participating in the revival of downtown by their plans for the historic building," she said.

"These plans can only drive traffic to the downtown area. Elmira Downtown Development's commitment to the new owners will be assisting in making that happen. Anything that will drive traffic downtown is great for the community, Elmira and the Business Improvement District. The purchase of the Iszard's building, the Riverside Florist project, Roundin' Third and New York Sport Fitness (on West Water Street) are all steps in the right direction."


I did find this pic of downtown at Wikipedia (hope it's not too large):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/ElmiraFromJerusalemHill.jpg

Here's some info regarding Geneva, NY (I'll add some downtown pics soon)


Central Business District Revitalization Program

The "Central Business District Revitalization Program" will expand the NYMS components to the rest of the fifteen (15) block Central Business District, and will add a Rear Facade Demonstration Program to the overall City revitalization strategy.

Facade Improvement Program

A 70 percent grant/30 percent private match program will be made available to property owners desiring to upgrade facade conditions throughout the business district. Assistance will be limited to $14,000 per storefront with adjustments for double storefronts and corner buildings. A projected 10 storefront facades will be upgraded as part of this program.

Rear Facade Demonstration Program

A Rear Facade Demonstration Program will improve the rear facades of buildings that front on Exchange Street, and whose very deteriorated rear facades face State Routes 5 & 20 and the Geneva Lakefront. The City will design and implement a coordinated series of improvements to these buildings that include masonry, window, access, painting, and screening improvements between the Canal & Exchange Street project boundary to the north and Elizabeth Blackwell Street to the south. The 70 percent grant/30 percent match assistance program will be utilized.


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Downtown Development

With the assistance of a $2.7 million federal HUD grant, the City made considerable improvements in downtown infrastructure. All downtown streets and sidewalks have been improved, more diagonal parking spaces have been added, and old curbing and drainage systems have been replaced. Decorative lampposts have been installed, and brick accents have been placed along sidewalks to complement the historic atmosphere of Geneva’s downtown. Improvements will continue through the turn of the century.

The driving force behind downtown revitalization is Geneva’s Business Improvement District.

The Business Improvement District (BID) was formed in 1986 to promote an attractive and economically viable downtown that is high in quality in appearance and design, safe and attractive to property owners, business people, renters, and shoppers. The organization addresses problems that focus on:


Architectural Design and Preservation
Economic Development
Business Recruitment, Business Retention, Marketing, and Promotion

Established in 1986, the organization has a thirteen member board with the following representation: 7 property owners; 2 retail tenants; 1 Downtown Geneva Business Association; and 3 public officials (City Manager, City Controller, City Council). It also has a four member executive committee and ten other working committees:


Banner Committee
Beautification Committee
Commercial Design Advisory Committee (CDAT)
Downtown Retail Ventures (DRV)
Holiday Decorations Committee
Light Up Geneva Action Committee
Parking Committee
Retail Recruitment Committee
Scarecrow Committee

The staff includes a full-time Executive Director, a part time Administrative Assistant, and a part-time Maintenance Supervisor.

The BID has been actively involved in a number of downtown projects:


The UDC Commercial Revitalization Facade Program, completed in October 1995, made low-interest monies available for facade improvements to 14 properties in the downtown area.
The Targeted Improvement Loan Program also provided monies for property owners wishing to make improvements but not eligible for the UDC program.
The Rear Facade Program, funded by a $6,500 grant from the New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), provides architectural renderings for downtown business owners interested in making exterior improvements to buildings whose rear facades face Seneca Lake.
The Gateway Improvement Project, made possible by three years of funding through a City of Geneva Small Cities grant, has also produced designs for downtown facade and streetscape improvements.
The Covered Way Alleyway Project, funded by the City of Geneva’s HUD/Small Cities Block Grant Program, provided for the renovation of a historically significant pedestrian corridor which links the downtown business district to the municipal parking lot located at the rear.
The Downtown Revitalization Loan Program provides loan assistance to businesses and property owners for interior and exterior improvements, working capital, and equipment to promote increased profitability and employment. The City of Geneva and the three downtown banks have provided a loan pool of $300,000.

The BID has partnered with the City of Geneva to establish a retail “incubator” at 494 Exchange Street in downtown Geneva. The incubator, known as the Micro-Enterprise Center (MEC), was made possible by $30,000 in federal funding obtained through the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program. Since 1995, the MEC has provided new and innovative retail outlets which have been well-received by area consumers.

The BID and the City are also providing direct assistance to new small businesses in the downtown area through the Downtown Retail Ventures Program. This program provides grant funds (up to $1,500) for rental subsidy or other related start-up expenses targeted to businesses relocating to downtown Geneva (BID). The objective of this fund is to create employment and benefit low-income persons. In addition, this program provides the entrepreneur with qualified professional and thorough technical assistance in the area of small business management and business plan consulting services.

For more information on these and other projects, please contact the Geneva Business Improvement District.
(789-0102), e-mail: genevabid@verizon.net)

****************************************************************

Geneva Business Improvement District

The Geneva Business Improvement District was formed to promote an attractive and economically viable downtown (18.5 acre designated area) that is high quality in appearance and design, safe and attractive to property owners, business people, tenants, shoppers, and visitors. Our organization addresses programs that focus on: architectural design and preservation; economic planning and development; and business recruitment, retention, marketing, promotion and unification.




Downtown Revitalization Loan Program

Purpose:

DRLP provides loan assistance to business and property owners located in downtown Geneva. Local banks offer reduced rate loans to property owners and commercial retail tenants located within the district (BID). Loans are provided for interior improvements, facade front and rear, working capital, and equipment to promote increased profitability and employment.

Function and Goals:

To strengthen the commercial base in the BID by stabilizing
existing businesses and attracting new ones.
To create new and retain existing jobs for primarily low and moderate income persons in small retail and commercial enterprises.
To stimulate new private investment within the BID revitalization area.
To enhance structural characteristics of existing buildings.
All loans are packaged in cooperation with the City of Geneva staff and are funded through the City of Geneva's Revolving Loan Fund.

Property Improvement Preferred Plan (PIPP)

Collaborative efforts between the GBID, Community Bank, NA, First Niagara Bank, National Bank of Geneva, and The Lyons National Bank led to the development of a special rate loan program offering special incentive to GBID property owners. The program requires a $5,000 minimum request for a project with a maximum of $25,000 for individual property owners and up to $50,000 for owners planning projects on multiple downtown properties. This program's goal is to stimulate continued renewal in downtown.

New York Main Street Program




The Geneva Business Improvement District Management Association, Inc. (GBID) is undertaking a comprehensive facade and building renovation program along two blocks of Castle Street and one block of Exchange Street, in the heart of the City's business district. A NYMS grant of $200,000 was received.

The program will provide 50 percent grant assistance to property owners desiring and willing to improve a deteriorated and/or blighting facade. Building renovation assistance will be extended to property owners that need to upgrade seriously substandard building conditions in the Targeted Service Area.

The Target Area consists of buildings that are eligible for inclusion on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, and all work will be done consistent with historic design standards.

For more information, contact the Geneva Business Improvement District at 315-789-0102 or e-mail: genevabid@verizon.net .

^^ Are they going to build anything in Geneva, or refurbish existing buildings?

There are a lot of little things going on in New York. Eventually this thread will take off as more and more things surface.

I was browsing through websites for New York cities and eventually came across this website. Looks like there is going to be a big redevelopment of the riverfront in Troy.

http://www.hedleyparkplace.com/index.html

the price chopper in east utica got new cash registers. biggest development in the past 5 years.

LOL

Thanks jmancuso, first time I laughed today....

Just found out I will be in my old home town of Potsdam NY (for a wedding) in August, so I will snap a bunch of pictures of what I still believe to be the nicest downtowns ever built.
Not sure how much development up there these days other than a controvercial Wal Mart, but I will at least show off some pretty buildings.


Also I know there was a plan for a Casino and Nascar track near Massena and an Indian reservation up there.

Cheers

I'll be waiting for the pics of old Madstop. I spent 5 years there in college, you are right, it is a VERY nice little downtown. Not much going on outside of it, but in terms of activity I'd place it ahead of probably any other place up there.

Hey, they did get a new police station a few years ago, replacing the old Raymond St one that looked like a diner!

Well I will be there for 4 days, and I just really hope I remember to get pictures of the old Train Debot, and Trinity Church on the island.

I know I will get Market street and some of the universitys.

First time my father saw that, he wanted to buy it. :lol: It was vacant at the time, and then by the time I graduated, there was an Italian restaurant in it (I think). Very nice, in fact I just turned up a bunch of pictures of them moving it in 1980 for the Potsdam "bypass" (you know, the bypass that dumps you straight into downtown) at history.nnyln.org. Every once in a while I've gone back, but usually just to go to a Clarkson game and leave immediately thereafter - basically like a 10-hour driving day plus a hockey game.

Speaking of which, now that Clarkson's how many year goal of consolidation on the "Hill" is essentially complete, it'll be interesting to see what re-use some of the downtown campus buildings will see, particularly the massive Snell Hall. If that's going to remain under University ownership, or they'll sell it, whatever? I have no idea, just a rush of all these things that were going on when I left.

My parents actually almost bought the Depot too, HAHA. it was like 100k to buy, but then that Itallian place moved in and everyone realized how nice it was. They were going to live in it and run a restaurant as well. lol


But the parents still own a house up there (out by SUNY), and I think I know about the downtown campus. last I heard some internet companies, or at least tech based companies were using part of the downtown campus. its like an incubator for tech companies. I do not thing anything too successfull however. Also I think the town is taking some ownership of those buildings in general. I certainly am far out of the loop, but that is I belive what my parents have told me.

The biggest problem is that those buildings really are only good for education. they are poorly designed for retail or office or apartments or anything but education. Who knows someone will figure it out.

Brief update on the projects for Ithaca College.



Williams outlines IC building projects
Gateway office building to break ground today
By Tim Ashmore
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Three major building projects Ithaca College developed in 2002 as part of its campus master plan are all supposed to be under way or completed by 2008, according to Ithaca College president Peggy Williams.

Williams was the keynote speaker at the Tompkins County Area Development annual meeting Thursday morning at the downtown Holiday Inn. Local business owners, politicians and members of TCAD gathered to listen to recent progress made in Tompkins County and the challenges TCAD hopes to address in 2007 and beyond.

TCAD President Michael Stamm said the group has helped Ithaca College with several projects. Most recently, TCAD issued the school $28 million in tax-exempt bonds, which will help them get lower interest rates on the funds they have to borrow to construct the new administration building, he said.

“We pursue tax-exempt bonds aggressively for our local not-for-profits because we understand what an enormous impact they have on the (local) economy and have a significant impact on the quality of life,” Stamm said.
Last week, the college received approval from the board of trustees to continue with plans for a 130,000-square-foot athletics and events building, Williams said. The new athletics facility would be unique in the Ithaca area by providing athletics facilities as well as a venue available to the community for various events.

“This is a very exciting facility for us,” Williams said. “It will be used mostly for on-campus events, certainly during the school year, and then obviously as a complement for hosting events related to athletics, a speaker for whom our Ben Light Gymnasium is too small, and community use.”

The college also began construction on a $20 million, 40,000-square-foot business school building on May 12, 2006, and the project is scheduled to finish in November 2008. The business school facility will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) level platinum. Platinum is the highest LEED standard; the college's facility will be the only platinum-level business school in the country, Williams said.

Construction on the new Gateway building, a 60,000-square-foot building adjacent to the new business school, breaks ground today. The new facility will provide space for enrollment services and executive offices, Williams said. Currently admissions, bursar and the registrar are at one end of campus while the financial aid office is at the other, and institutional research is in another building. The project is scheduled to be finished in the fall of 2008.

TCAD also laid out three major five-year goals at the meeting. Stamm said TCAD is committed to increasing and diversifying the housing supply, improving the workforce and revitalizing commercial districts such as the downtown area.

These new goals are part of the new TCAD economic development strategy that was rewritten this year for the first time since 1999.


tashmore@ithacajournal.com

BTW, here's a virtual tour of the proposed sports complex for Ithaca College mentioned in the article above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zHAXiK6PU

:banana:

I've actually only been to Ithaca once, but it was a nice community to drive through. Had Ice Cream out by the lake, and enjoyed the views of both sides of the lake rising up towards Colgate, and Ithaca, just a very beautiful location for a city.

GE to build mammography machine plant in Rensselaer Technology Park

The Business Review (Albany) - 1:11 PM EDT Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Sen. Majority Leader Joseph Bruno announced on Wednesday that GE Health Care plans to build a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in the Rensselaer Technology Park in North Greenbush.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), of Fairfield, Conn., will invest $125 million in the project, and the New York state Senate will invest $10 million.

The site will employ 150 people, with 50 of those positions coming from GE Global Research in Niskayuna. Positions at the plant will pay $65,000.

The plant, which will make digital x-ray mammography machines, will open in fall 2008.

Upstate firm to make pink flamingos (http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/88680.html)
By Mark Jewell - ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated: 06/01/07 6:55 AM

http://media.buffalonews.com/smedia/2007/06/01/07/724-0601flamingo.standalone.prod_affiliate.50.jpg
Associated Press/Pink plastic flamingos can be found on some lawns in the Buffalo area.

BOSTON — The original pink flamingo lawn ornament, the symbol of kitsch whose obituary was nearly written after its central Massachusetts manufacturer went out of business, is rising phoenix-like from the ashes and taking wing to upstate New York.

A manufacturer that bought the copyright and plastic molds for the original version plans to resume production in Westmoreland, which is south of Rome in Oneida County. HMC International LLC will pick up where Union Products left off last year when it shuttered its Leominster plastics factory after 50 years of flamingo making.

J.C. Waszkiewicz, head of family owned HMC, said Thursday he expects retailers buying his firm’s flamingos wholesale will appreciate subtle design differences between knockoff versions and the original by Don Featherstone, who studied art before Union Products hired him in 1956 to expand its lawn ornament lineup.

“Once I began discussions about buying Union Products, I started examining the different products on the market, and I realized Mr. Featherstone created a great-looking flamingo,” said Waszkiewicz, whose firm closed on its purchase of Union Products in April for an undisclosed price. “There are other people who have tried to capitalize on his design, but none that I’ve seen hold a candle to the quality and detail he created.”

Waszkiewicz’ firm expects to resume Featherstone flamingo production by Labor Day.

The ornaments hit the market in the late 1950s when the color pink was in vogue, and America’s exploding population of suburbanites sought to add flair to their lawns. The flamingos typically sell at $10 to $20 for boxed sets of two — one standing nearly 3 feet high with its head held proudly erect, the other bending over as if munching on grass. Their legs consist of spindly metal rods that can be planted in the ground. The Featherstone originals have their creator’s signature etched into the bird’s plastic rear end.
Hey, it's development!

A projects on the outskirts of Ithaca, I hope it happens.


Board to consider townhouse plan
Development off Route 96 would feature 106 units
By Jennie Daley
Journal Staff

ITHACA — A proposal for a 106-unit townhouse development will come before the Town of Ithaca Planning Board Tuesday.

The proposal is the latest iteration of plans for property that stretches down the slopes behind the Finger Lakes School of Massage and Lakeside nursing home.

The neighborhood, as drafted, would be a cluster development, meaning the homes would be built closer together than required by typical zoning regulations to maximize space use. The resulting neighborhood will cover significantly less land than one built using traditional zoning.

Construction is intended to focus only on the northwest corner of the 111 acres owned by Holochuck Homes.
A letter in materials presented to the town indicates that the Finger Lakes Land Trust and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation are interested in approximately 79 acres of the land not intended for development. Much of that land is already a part of the town's conservation zone, which was created last year.

Part of the outside parties' interest in the land relates to the Black Diamond Trail, which runs through a small portion of the property. Purchase of the land would create the potential for offshoot trails from the Black Diamond to locations like the Museum of the Earth.

Two entrances off of Trumansburg Road, also known as Route 96, will provide access to the development. Sue Ritter, assistant director of planning for the town, noted in a memo to planning board members that it would be worth considering what type of impact the development would have on traffic along Route 89. Location of the entrances was another issue Ritter mentioned, since the current configuration of one entrance creates an off-set intersection with Bundy Road.

Stormwater management, affordable housing, intrusion onto the conservation area's buffer zone and sidewalks were other considerations Ritter pointed out in her memo.

The development will be subject to environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review, and sketch plans will be discussed at the planning board's meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Town Hall, 215 N. Tioga St.


jdaley@ithacajournal.com

Originally published June 1, 2007




And on the other side of Cayuga Lake just to the north of Ithaca:



Developer Brings Luxury Living to Lansing
Written by Dan Veaner
Friday, 25 May 2007
When you hear the word 'development' it isn't uncommon to think of cookie-cutter homes packed as closely as possible with little parks sprinkled as sparsely as possible. But one development in the Village of Lansing is breaking every imaginable stereotype. When the 'Heights of Lansing' is completed it will have 85 town homes and 12 single family homes on the 34 acres. "I'm going to try not to make it look like a development," says developer Ivar Jonson. "It will be very Mediterranean. There will be five single family homes on the circle, and they'll all look Mediterranean on the outside and inside. This is completely different from what we've done before in Ithaca."

The town homes reflect Jonson and his wife Janet's taste and aesthetic ideas to take advantage of Ithaca's unique beauty. The front door opens onto a staircase leading to a great room on the second floor. That space includes the living room, kitchen and dining room. It features a wall of arched windows and a fireplace, with another large glass door opening to a balcony on the other side. "One thing about Ithaca, it's such a dark, gloomy place to live," Jonson says. "That's why you need a lot of light. The most important thing to me was the light coming from both sides. It you didn't have the light coming in from both sides you wouldn't have this effect."

The effect is a large airy space elevated to maximize the view toward the lake on the west side, and a wooded area on the east. Though town houses are typically narrow, these have been carefully designed to make their large rooms seem ever larger, with 11 foot high ceilings and a master bedroom suite that includes a Jacuzzi tub with its own fireplace. Downstairs are two more bedrooms, one of which is suited for a home theater, and a two-car garage. Each bedroom has its own bathroom, with an additional half bath for guests upstairs. A private elevator joins the two levels, and a patio juts into the yard in back.

The Jonsons take a personal interest in every aspect of the design and construction. "Everybody needs a great staircase," Janet says, also noting that when her husband didn't like the facade on the building he tore it down and replaced it. "We didn't like the facade's look," she says. "So we changed the outside look. That's what a good builder he is. He saw his mistake. He said, 'I don't like it. I'll change it.'"

The couple started working on the project five years ago, spending $300,000 (not including the cost of the land) to develop the idea before breaking ground. The first building containing four town houses is nearly complete, with a second one nearly framed. Two of these units are already sold. The couple plans to complete 10 town houses and three or four single family homes this summer. Even when all the buildings are complete they won't begin to cover the 34 acres allotted to the project. "More than half is open lands," says Janet. "That's what Ivar really believes in."

Jonson has been built about 500 homes of all kinds and price ranges in the Ithaca area over almost 30 years, including the Janvar project that is also in the Village of Lansing. "I've done a lot of scatter homes," he says. "Expensive, inexpensive."

This project, the second phase of Lansing Trails, features upscale homes, with town houses listing at $374,000. "Only the best for these places," he says. "To build affordable housing now is almost impossible because the land is so expensive. The County and everybody makes it so expensive." The Jonsons took a lot of the ideas for the town houses from their own home, employing architect Daniel Hirtler to design the project based on the house he designed for them. "Everybody should live like us," Janet says.

At a ribbon cutting Tuesday morning Chamber of Commerce Director of Membership and Public Relations Doug Levine noted, "A recent study in Tompkins County says that we're in dire need of 3,000 housing units as of right now. You are filling that void with this project. These are beautiful new housing units, a great new addition to Tompkins County."

Jonson says that by the time the project is completed it will cost around $50 million, making it the largest housing project currently in Ithaca area. It will feature 4.8 acres of open space, 5.37 acres of parks with 4310 linear feet of walking trails and 4330 linear feet of sidewalks that will connect to existing Village sidewalks. The homes to the west will be purposefully lower so that they won't spoil the view from the town houses.

But statistics can't describe the sense of luxury and space, of light and glorious views. These homes are not like other homes in Ithaca, yet they take advantage of the area's best features. And despite their proximity to the airport and Village shopping areas, they are serenely removed from the bustle of daily life.

----

Cortland County, NY was hit hard by industrial closings in the past, but appears to be making a comeback. Here's a web site for a new resort lodge/spa/development:

http://www.hopelakelodge.com/welcome.aspx




And here's some news on the business front:


Cortland County Business Highlights

Cortland County's commitment to economic development has been dramatic. Within the past two years, the County has seen more than $90 million in new industrial investment, attracted $10 million in federal and state grants for business and workforce development, and generated $8 million in SBA finance activity for small business expansions.

In fact, Cortland County is one of Upstate New York's success stories. Last year Cortland County was responsible for New York State's fourth largest industrial investment - a $38.5 million expansion by BorgWarner Morse TEC that will create 300 new jobs. In all, Empire State Development calculated that the total impact of economic development projects in Cortland County last year alone was $343 million. (Source: ESD Major Projects Report, Spring 2001). In March 2002, Cortland was recognized by Site Selection Magazine as one of the top 50 small towns in the United States for corporate facilities.

Cortland has accomplished this remarkable success by creating a coordinated, community-based approach to development that has produced a quality environment to live, work and invest. This has happened through the creation of public-private partnerships between local, county, state and federal government, and by focusing on these principles of development:

Successful historic preservation that takes advantage of Cortland's beautiful turn of the century architecture, and works to maintain village centers and historic downtowns as vibrant business districts with a sense of place that suggests Americana at its best
Successful adaptive reuse of older industrial buildings, encouraging reinvestment in older city and village centers
Successful development of cultural and recreational amenities, combined with resource protection
Successful development of intermodal transportation facilities
Successful brownfield redevelopment projects
Successful capital planning for infrastructure development
Successful development and implementation of farmland protection programs
Successful development of 21st Century infrastructure, including education/industry partnerships, and technology and telecommunications development
Successful focus on small business development, including financing, technical assistance and training
Successful interagency interaction and intermunicipal collaboration planning to deliver planning, development and human service delivery
Successful community consensus building about quality development



Recent community development highlights include:


The Cortland County BDC/IDA launched the Tioughnioga River Waterfront Development Project -- a multiyear effort to develop hiking, fishing, canoeing and kayaking along stretches of the 30 mile scenic waterway that is the headquarters of the Susquehanna River that eventually feeds the Chesapeake Bay. The project involves corporate partnerships with Cortland Line and Grumman Canoes, two well known outdoors companies located in the county. In addition, a major component of the project will be resource protection, including floodplain and habitat issues for the river.
Through the involvement and coordination of Empire State Development, Congressman James Walsh, Senator James Seward, Assemblyman Marty Luster and the BDC/IDA, BorgWarner is currently making a $38.5 million industrial investment in Cortland County, resulting in 300 new jobs. One of the reasons BorgWarner made its decision in Cortland County -- and not in Michigan or North Carolina which were other sites being considered -- was that the company was impressed by the mobilized community response and the levels of local, county, state and federal partnerships involved. From the initial company inquiry to announcement, the deal was closed in eight weeks which is extraordinary for a transaction of that size. The project has become a success story for doing business in an upstate community.
The 433,000 sq. ft. former Smith Corona facility is now more than half full with 14 new companies occupying 250,000 sq. ft. of industrial and warehousing space. Pall Trinity Micro recently made a 70,000 sq. ft. expansion, moving its Houston operation to the facility.
The Cortland County IDA broke ground for a new "Finger Lakes Business and Technology Park" and successfully attracted an anchor tenant, Photon Vision Systems, to build a $4.6 million corporate headquarters for its digital imaging operations. The new corporate park has created an upscale campus-like environment that is particularly suited to companies in the information technology, software development, research and development, and bio-related sectors. The park is at the nexus of a technology rich region that boats three New York State Centers for Advanced Technology within a 30-mile radius. The New York Center for Advanced Technology in Software Engineering at Syracuse University, the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Biotechnology at Cornell University and the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Integrated Electronics at Binghamton University are major regional assets that will support the sustainable development of this appropriately small scale technology park in Cortland. These CATS are producing leading edge breakthroughs in applied research, and already have established connections with many Cortland companies in terms of technical assistance and training.



Through a partnership between the Cortland County IDA, Cortland County Planning Department and the Cortland County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, an innovative new model has been created in New York State for farmland protection. The IDA created a new entity, the Cortland County Agricultural Development Corporation, to administer nearly $2 million in funding for farmland protection through grants from New York State's Farmland Protection Program under the Governor's Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act. The IDA is facilitating PDR's to more than 500 acres of farmland in the Homer-Preble Valley and working with the farmers to develop conservation easements that will forever protect the farms and allow owners to reinvest the PDR money in new technology and create new value-added niche product lines, as well as explore avenues for agri-tourism. This is the first time in New York State that a farmland protection initiative has been undertaken through an IDA as opposed to an environmental group or land trust. The partnership is so novel that the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the American Farmland Trust have become excited about using it as a model to demonstrate how economic development and conservation communities can come together to both protect land in an important agricultural corridor and stimulate agribusiness development. Agriculture accounts for nearly $43 million of economic activity in Cortland. This partnership model is now encouraging other farm families to work together and assemble a critical mass of properties to submit for future rounds of funding through PDR programs.
A community-based partnership has turned around a major brownfields site that was the gateway for more than 50 years to the Cortland community. Located at exit 12 of Interstate 81, Contento's was a 14-acre, seven-story high scrapyard that had been an unattractive entrance approach to the community. Through the efforts of local officials, and with the support of Senator James Seward and Congressman James Walsh through state and federal funding sources, the IDA acquired the development rights and recently successfully cleared 10,000 tons of scrap from the property. The IDA formed a local development corporation to manage the process and conduct Phase I and II environmental assessment work which was recently competed. Based on those findings, the County is now developing a community-based strategy for reuse.



Working in partnership with the New York State Department of Transportation, the County undertook a $4 million multimodal project last year. The effort involved the NYSDOT, NYS&W Railroad, the IDA and a number of Cortland County businesses who came together to create an intermodal facility to both relieve truck traffic from local roads and create enhanced competitiveness for companies who can more cost effectively utilize rail to ship their goods. Working through NYSDOT's Industrial Access Program, the county received a $1 million combined grant and loan which leveraged an additional $3 million in private sector investment to rehabilitate a rail line and create the intermodal facility. At the same time the project produced a quality-of-life outcome for local communities and downtowns, shifting heavy truck traffic to rail. The new intermodal facility is taking 16,000 trucks a year off Interstate 81 and off narrow local streets that wind through historic downtown communities. The IDA will be working with the NYSDOT and NYS&W Railroad to create a second intermodal center in 2001.
Cortland County is justifiably proud of these tangible examples of ways in which our communities are leveraging resources through creative partnerships involving local municipalities, with the assistance of partners from multiple state agencies. The community has become a national model for small town development.




Recent business expansions include:


Marietta Corporation

Marietta Corporation -- The corporation, founded and headquartered in Cortland County, announced an expansion of its relationship with the Andrew Jergens Company to become Jergen's exclusive manufacturer of retail soap bars. The contract positioned Marietta as one of the top manufacturers in North America, competing head to head with leading soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, Dial Corporation, Unilever and Colgate Palmolive. The expanded corporate demand required Marietta to enter into a lease for an additional 100,000 sq. ft. in its Cortland facility, and resulted in significant additional hires. Marietta is making a $14 million new investment in Cortland, acquiring the former Rubbermaid facility, resulting in the creation of 90 new jobs.
Borg Warner -- BorgWarner Morse TEC, Inc., a subsidiary of corporate parent BorgWarner (headquartered in Chicago, Illinois), completed a deal to invest $38.5 million over five years to relocate part of its fast-growing engine components production to a 133,334 sq. ft. former industrial facility in Cortland. The investment will create up to 300 new high-paying manufacturing jobs, as well as retain 1500 jobs in the Cortland-Tompkins corridor. Cortland County competed aggressively against Charlotte, North Carolina and Coldwater, Michigan for this investment.



Impact Sports Equipment

Impact Sports Equipment -- ISE recently purchased a 70,000 sq.ft. building in Cortland to relocate its plastics extrusion manufacturing operation from Endwell, NY. ISE was formed in 1996 and has almost doubled its sales across product lines that include equipment for baseball, hockey, volleyball, soccer and other sports. ISE recently signed Derek Jeter of the Yankees to a multi-year endorsement deal and licenses the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc.'s name. The Cortland operation doubles the company's previous space.
SUNY Cortland -- The College, which is the largest employer in Cortland County, has recently completed more than $53 million in new capital projects, including a state of the art new $14 million stadium complex that will be a showcase for both Cortland County and Central New York. The stadium will host the 6,000 participants for the Summer 2002 Empire State Games. Student enrollment is up to an all time record, and the College was recently awarded a $1.75 million Title III grant to develop four new majors that will infuse technology across the curriculum.


Saulsbury Fire Rescue

Saulsbury Fire Rescue -- Since its new association with Federal Signal, Saulsbury Fire Rescue's volume of vehicles built in 2000 increased by 77% over 1999, and Saulsbury projects another 70% this year. To support this expansion, the company added 70 jobs last year and another 25 to its production team by the end of the first quarter of 2001. Saulsbury won the contract to replace many of the FDNY and NYPD fire and rescue vehicles destroyed in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Paul Bunyan Products, Inc. -- The company, which manufactures wooden pallets and other specialty wooden packaging and crates, recently retired a $1.75 million bond with the IDA and at the same time completed a $600,000 capital project for its pallet retrieval, repair and recycling operations. Sales revenues were up significantly this past year and the company recently invested another $500,000 to expand its corporate offices and accommodate a growing demand in the Northeast for its new product line, premium colored landscape mulch.


Pall Trinity Micro

Pall Trinity Micro -- A global leader in the field of high tech filtration systems for the aerospace, health care and environmental fields, Pall Trinity added 140 jobs over the past year, now employing 790 people. In addition, the company made a significant capital investment with a 70,000 sq. ft. expansion into the former Smith Corona facility to absorb its Houston, TX manufacturing and distribution operation which was relocated to Cortland. Additionally, the company relocated its Massachusetts operation to Cortland. The company completed an $11 million contract for General Electric for two major high purity water filtration systems for its two-unit Lugmen Nuclear Power Station in Taiwan. In addition, the company recently purchased a new $300,000 state of the art machine that has applications for the semiconductor industry.
The Cortland Companies and Cortland Cable -- The firm, which specializes in the manufacture and custom engineering of cables and ropes for the marine and aerospace industries, expanded with the acquisition of Puget Sound Rope, based just north of Seattle, and the acquisition of Cortland Firbon, BX, based in London, England. The company also signed a major contract with the US Navy this past year.


Albany International

Albany International -- The world's largest producer of custom-designed engineered fabrics that are essential to the paper-making process, Albany International's Cortland plant supplies 45% of the world's market with monofilament. The company just completed a $2.5 million investment in a new world-class R&D Center, expanding the production line at its Cortland facility.
Monarch Machine Tool -- When its parent company threatened closure, local management mounted $8 million in private capital investment and acquired the company at the end of 2000. The company developed a new product line, Unisign and recently signed the largest order in its history, successfully delivering a major order for defense giant Lockheed Martin. The company is now making another major $750,000 capital investment in internal technology.
Dairy Development International -- After the recent development of a $500,000 agribusiness office complex by its affiliated company, FARME Institute, Dairy Development International just completed construction of a new $8 million new agritechnology commercial research facility as a joint venture with DeLaval, Sweden. DDI is the only private company of its kind in the country which does applied research on the way feeds are used as energy by cattle in their production of milk. New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets Nathan Rudgers was on hand for the grand opening ceremony in Fall 2001.


Photon Vision Systems

Photon Vision Systems -- PVS just moved into a $4.6 million new corporate headquarters in Cortland that includes a high tech design center with clean rooms and prototype fabrication. The company, which was formed in Cortland in 1997, designs and delivers semiconductor sensor chips for imaging devices such as digital cameras, scanners, bar code readers, endoscopes, machine vision systems, space imaging and other applications. PVS also closed in 2000 on a $9 million venture capital deal with JK&B Capital, a Chicago-based venture firm and CLAL Electronic Industries of Tel Aviv, Israel. PVS's semiconductor integrated circuit imagers are manufactured by leading semiconductor foundries worldwide. The company will be adding nearly 75 jobs over the next three years.
Wetstone Technology -- A cyberforensics and computer security firm with contracts with the US Airforce and other federal partners, Wetstone Technology is making a $1.5 million investment in Cortland, locating its new corporate headquarters in the heart of downtown, and hiring 75 highly paid computer security experts to introduce a new cyber timestamp technology. Wetstone received international media attention for its work with federal agencies on steganography / de-encryption technologies following the 9-11 terrorists attacks.
Graphics Plus Printing -- A creative, multimedia printing company, GPP expanded nationally with contracts with the aerospace industry, and established a subsidiary company, GPP design group. The company made an $800,000 capital investment in new technology last year, installing the most advanced large format color press on the market. The new equipment is expected to generate $30 million in new sales..
Indacom Tooling Group -- The company, which is an outgrowth of the design engineers and toolmakers from the former Smith Corona, has experienced rapid growth since it was launched last year in Cortland. Indacom Tooling signed major contracts last year to make plastic injection molds and sheet metal parts for applications in the fast food industry and the biomedical industry.
Bestway Enterprises -- One of the largest dealers of treated wood products in the Northeast, Bestway Enterprises recently completed a $1.7 million business expansion. Bestway Enterprises, a longtime family owned business based in Cortland County, is a wholesale lumber company that processes lumber products and distributes them to 350 retail lumber yards through the northeast.


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CORTLAND COUNTY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION /
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

Linda Dickerson Hartsock
Executive Director

info@cortlandbusiness.com

37 Church Street
Cortland, New York 13045
Phone: (607) 753-5005 Fax: (607) 756-7901

© 2006 Cortland County Business Development Corporation

It seems to me that those lodges and indoor water parks seem to be pretty big in New York and other mountainous areas like the Poconos. Where else are there lodges like that in New York?

^ I don't know for sure Matt, but I would imagine there's a ton of lodges in the Catskills (remember the movie "Dirty Dancing"?), and probably quite a few in the Adirondack mountains area.

4,000 new units would have quite an effect on the Ithaca metro.


Ithaca Town Board reviews plans for affordable housing
By Timothy Cama
Special to The Journal

The Ithaca Town Board on Monday reviewed and discussed the Housing Strategy for Tompkins County, and plans to consider a resolution of support for it at their July 9 meeting.

The goal of the strategy, as presented to the board by Commissioner of Planning and Public Works Ed Marx, is to help provide around 4,000 new housing units in the Ithaca and Lansing area, with at least half of them specifically affordable housing.

One of the key problems for affordable housing is that developers rarely have any incentive to build it, Marx said at the meeting, when higher-income housing could be built in the same place.

The first point of the four-point strategy is for municipalities to offer zoning incentives, such as density bonuses, to developers. The strategy stresses that zoning changes are the authority of municipalities, and that municipalities must work together for these zoning incentives to work.
The second point is to establish a Community Housing Trust, in which major employers, government, education institutions and other groups would acquire and own land on which low-income housing could be built.

Point three focuses on employers, and asks that they provide low-interest financing and other forms of assistance to employees who purchase homes in areas identified for low-income housing. This would encourage the growth of such areas, and increase efficiency.

Lastly, the strategy recommends that a Community Housing Affordability Fund be established, to help keep low-income housing affordable.

Town Board members generally spoke positively of the strategy.

“I'm delighted by this,” said board member Herb Engman.

Board members inquired about alternative strategies, such as buying rural land and selling it to a developer, or selling individual plots to households who could then build on them.

Marx was generally open to other options, reminding the board that households should always be given options about their housing. But he also brought up the fact that it takes a lot of time and money to develop infrastructure, while many areas within the City and Town of Ithaca and the Village of Lansing already have such infrastructure.

Marx hopes to gain approval for the strategy from the Town Board, the County Legislature, the City of Ithaca Common Council and the Town of Lansing Board, as well as groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and Better Housing for Tompkins County before moving forward.

Not much (maybe I'm grasping for news), but this should make the ride near Elmira a bit smoother.



Horseheads awaits opening of I-86
By Jeff Murray
Gannett News Service

HORSEHEADS — Three years, nearly $60 million and lots of headaches after the first foot of earth was moved, the Route 17 Horseheads overpass is one month away from completion.

When the work is finally done, Route 17 traffic can pass over Horseheads nonstop, which in turn will enable interstate designation to extend deeper into Chemung County.


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For beleaguered Horseheads businesses that have suffered through the confusing maze of traffic delays, detours and disruptions, the end can't come soon enough.

“It's been rough. We've been getting lots of complaints. Customers have been stuck in traffic,” said Sandy Kubler, assistant manager of Tractor Supply Co. in Grand Central Plaza. “It's making it hard for employees. They've got to leave very early to get to work. I'm hoping once it's done it will get a lot better.”
The Horseheads overpass goes over three at-grade intersections in the village and will remove one of the last remaining bottlenecks along state Route 17, which will also be known as Interstate 86. The project is expected to improve traffic flow and safety, and help spur economic development in the area.

Several businesses along Route 17 in Horseheads that lost customers when the overpass project started went out of business, but many of those empty buildings should soon spring back to life, said Horseheads Mayor Patricia Gross.

“The former Montana Bread, we know that will be Rico's Pizza. There's an Express Mart coming into where HEP Sales and the car wash were,” Gross said of Grand Central Avenue near Route 17.

“People have looked at the Agway property. I'm not sure where that stands now. So I think once the project is finished, you'll see more people looking at those sites.”

Gross is also pleased with the job the state Department of Transportation and contractor Lane Construction have done in making the overpass aesthetically pleasing.

Nevertheless, not everyone is happy with the look of the new structure.

“It took away our view. It looks like we're in prison now,” said Guy Ruggiero, manager of Giuseppe's Pizzeria in Grand Central Plaza. “We see a big wall.”

One lane of the westbound side of the new overpass opened to traffic recently, meaning westbound vehicles can now pass through Horseheads without stopping.

The other side is still closed, meaning long delays remain through Horseheads — for now — for eastbound vehicles.

“Eastbound is still a couple of weeks away. We've still got to complete the concrete barrier along the eastbound side on the righthand side,” said project manager Ron Majesky. “We're definitely in the stretch run. I'd love to get traffic up on it.”

The official completion date is still July 17, Majesky said.

Owners and managers of many nearby businesses that have struggled to cope for the past three years are hopeful that completion of the overpass will make life easier for them.

“Because of this construction, it's really hard for our business,” said Nima Maisuria, manager of the Motel 6 on the south side of Route 17. “Because of the wall, there might be some customers who have come and lost us. It's really hard. They are really confused. After everything is done, it should be good, we hope, for our business.”

John Overacker, owner of Convenient Food Mart at 2104 Grand Central Ave., said his regular customers have found ways to keep coming, despite the construction.

Overacker hopes the completion of the overpass opens the door for some new patrons.

“I don't really know what's going to happen until it does, but I feel we'll be getting more people from across the highway that we didn't get before, because they didn't want to come across all that truck traffic,” Overacker said. “I think it's something that needed to be done, and it's about time they did it.”

With completion of the Horseheads project, Interstate 86 can extend to the Elmira Water Street exit, said Ted Bennett, chairman of the I-86 Coalition.

But Bennett is more concerned about the fate of the last Route 17 project in Chemung County — the Elmira-to-Chemung access control project.

“We are behind on that section. The funding is there. DOT is ready to start acquiring property, designing and putting out for bid. But we've been held up by federal agencies,” Bennett said. “We haven't been able to get a record of decision because they haven't been able to satisfy whatever the Federal Highway Administration and Corps of Engineers wanted. Everything seems to be going along now but we have lost a couple of years at least.”

There will probably be some sort of formal dedication ceremony to mark the completion of the Horseheads overpass, Majesky said.

That's fine, but it's just as important to keep pressing ahead with the next phase, Bennett said.

“(Horseheads) is probably one of the single most important projects west of Broome County. And I'm not making light of that but again, I hope because we've done this important project that we aren't going to let up on the rest of it,” he said. “As far as I'm concerned, the next ribboncutting ought to be when it's all the way to Orange County.”


jmurray@stargazette.com

The completion of I-86 through the Southern Tier is pretty important. Elmira and that area was one of the more developed areas that the expressway didn't go through yet. Now all that will be left are some areas through the Catskills, right?

The completion of I-86 through the Southern Tier is pretty important. Elmira and that area was one of the more developed areas that the expressway didn't go through yet. Now all that will be left are some areas through the Catskills, right?

Yeah, the Southern Tier plans to do a marketing blitz upon the completion of I-86. Almost 10 years ago my geography professor invited a guest speaker to talk about this topic among southern tier topics.

The plan is to steal industry and trucking business away from the Thruway corridor and lure them to the I-86 corridor. This speaker seemed pretty enthused about the fact that I-86 will be toll free and with the Tolls on I-90, all the new industries, distribution centers and trucking operations will set up shop in the Southern Teir as opposed to Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, etc..

That speaker pissed me off as he acted like everyone was on his side....:mad2:

A bit of new news.


rendering

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/6346/cornelldaycarebn6.jpg

site of building (near perimeter parking lot for Cornell)

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/91/cornelldaycare2rz9.jpg



CU day care awaits permit
Center to have expanded capacity, inclusion of infants, toddlers
By Jennie Daley
Journal Staff

ITHACA — With municipal approvals in hand, Cornell University is waiting for a building permit to get started on its new Pleasant Grove Road day care center.

To be used by university employees and students, the new building will take Cornell's day care capacity from 32 students to 158. It will also add toddlers and infants to its enrollment, along with the preschool students it currently serves.

Cornell views this project as an important development as it prepares for the retirement of up to 600 faculty members over the next 10 years or so. Presumably the new hires for those positions will be younger than those they're replacing and have younger families, increasing the need for day care. Lynette Chappell-Williams, director of the office of work force diversity, equity and life quality at Cornell, said the university is behind its counterparts in terms of day care options and needs to expand them to remain competitive.

For Tompkins County the development is a welcome addition to day care options since there is an on-going shortage of day care providers, particularly for infants.
Many of the details of the operation, like cost and how enrollment will be determined, have yet to be addressed because it's early in the development process. Chappell-Williams said a committee of faculty, students and staff was formed to look into such questions.

In the meantime, groundbreaking is scheduled for September with an opening date in September of 2008.

When it opens, the facility will have three wings for the three age groups and observation rooms in each wing. The observation rooms will allow for the continuation of human development studies that have been an integral part of the day care center.

The facility will implement some green building features such as a partially planted roof to reduce runoff and implementing energy efficiency measures. Construction of new parking spaces was limited to about 25 spots, including drop-off spaces, by having employees park in the adjacent A Lot.


jdaley@ithacajournal.com




Originally published June 19, 2007

Yeah, the Southern Tier plans to do a marketing blitz upon the completion of I-86. Almost 10 years ago my geography professor invited a guest speaker to talk about this topic among southern tier topics.

The plan is to steal industry and trucking business away from the Thruway corridor and lure them to the I-86 corridor. This speaker seemed pretty enthused about the fact that I-86 will be toll free and with the Tolls on I-90, all the new industries, distribution centers and trucking operations will set up shop in the Southern Teir as opposed to Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, etc..

That speaker pissed me off as he acted like everyone was on his side....:mad2:

I for one would look into setting up operations along a toll-free Interstate. if I was driving west from New York City or Connecticut, I would definitely take I-86 over driving up to Albany and then taking I-90. Of course, there may be people that already do that.

Once that US Route 219 expressway is completed down to Salamanca, there will be a direct connection from Buffalo to I-86. With I-390 going straight to Rochester, I-86 could lure some businesses to that area.

^ good point Matt.

I've even taken I-86 to I-88 when going between Buffalo and NH. It's just a nicer ride. The one advantage the Thruway does have, however, is that it's straighter, flatter, and generally more "open".

That said, NY 17 still has a ways to go in some areas. There's the mentioned access control project just east of Elmira where there are several minor at-grade intersections, and then the "Kamikaze Curve" just before I-81 at Binghamton. Then there are still some significant chunks following the Delaware River which still need to be upgraded.

^ Yeah Sabre. No doubt it's a work in progress, but it'll certainly help the southern tier region of NYS.

Some interesting background info on the greater scheme of the I-86 project (Corridor 'T') (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_86_%28east%29), given that it's within the area generally considered to be "Appalachia".

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/ADHS_September_30%2C_2005.png
Appalachian Development Highway System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Development_Highway_System)
In 1964, the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission (PARC) reported to Congress that economic growth in Appalachia would not be possible until the region’s isolation had been overcome. Because the cost of building highways through Appalachia’s mountainous terrain was high, the Region had never been served by adequate roads. Its network of narrow, winding, two-lane roads, snaking through narrow stream valleys or over mountaintops, was slow to drive, unsafe, and in many places worn out. The nation’s interstate highway system had largely bypassed the Appalachian Region, going through or around the Region’s rugged terrain as cost-effectively as possible.

BTW, anybody who has driven it should agree with me, I HATE Corridor 'L'.

BTW, anybody who has driven it should agree with me, I HATE Corridor 'L'.

Agreed!

Are all of those going to be Interstates? (I don't want to take this thread off-topic too much though.)

Not sure; I know several are already. As for all of them I don't know.

Again, not huge news, but it certainly won't hurt the downtown area to have a potential draw like this.


State approves Ithaca wine center
From Journal Staff Reports

ALBANY — The New York State Assembly Thursday approved legislation to authorize the licensing and operation of the Finger Lakes Wine Center in downtown Ithaca to promote the region's wine industry, primarily to tourists.

According to the bill, which now goes to Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the center would be in the Cayuga Green development on the block bounded by Cayuga, Clinton and Green streets and Six Mile Creek.


The center would have wine tastings, give out information on regional wine tours, hold classes on wine, sell wine and host functions such as wedding receptions and business meetings.

“The wine industry is a mainstay of the culture and economy of the Finger Lakes,” said Sen. George H. Winner Jr. (R-C, 53rd District), a sponsor of the measure. “Anything we can do to further promote it and help it grow is a good investment for the future success of our region. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to help support the Finger Lakes Wine Center, which is a fantastic vision of so many community and business leaders in and around the Ithaca community.”
The legislation (S.6268) is sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-125th District.

The state budget for 2007-09 already has $100,000 for the wine center, which has been sought by downtown and tourism advocates since at least 2000.






Originally published June 22, 2007

This would be a good start on the 4,000 needed housing units in the Ithaca area(see post #46). Hope it happens.



Town panel set to discuss Carrowmoor
From Journal Staff Reports

ITHACA — The Ithaca Town Board committee charged with looking into zoning for a 400-unit green village on West Hill is in the early stages of its work.

The group's third meeting will be today, and the three-member group will continue to look at what zoning issues need to be considered for the development, tentatively called Carrowmoor, said Jonathan Kanter, the town's planning director.

The committee is looking to see what issues would be involved with granting the project “planned development zone status.”

The planned development status allows the town board to create an individualized zoning district with regulations specific to the site. The nearby EcoVillage at Ithaca was created with such regulations.
Carrowmoor, estimated to cost $70 million, was proposed by developer John Rancich and designer Steve Bauman.

Construction of the project would meet green building standards set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The vision is to include features such as rain harvesting, underground parking and non-toxic building materials.

Kanter said the two issues brought up so far for zoning are the inclusion of affordable housing in the project and what kinds of traffic impacts there would be from a development of this scale.

The discussion will continue when board members Herb Engman, the group's chair, Pat Leary and Will Burbank, get together to discuss the subject at 4:30 p.m. today in the town hall, 215 N. Tioga St.






Originally published June 25, 2007

I guess some folks just don't realize it can take a while for leases to finalize, especially with government agencies involved.
:|

Here's a pic of the garage (completed about 2 years ago). It has about 22,000 sq ft of space available on the ground level:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/494230908_c3588866c9.jpg?v=0



06/27/2007
This Space for Rent
By: M. Tye Wolfe


The Cayuga Green Project, initiated more than five years ago mostly under the aegis of former Mayor Alan Cohen (I) and Council member Dan Cogan (D-5th Ward), seems to be entering its final phase - leasing its massive amounts of office space off Cayuga Street.
To this point though, only one lease in committed [Merrill Lynch], with another known lease to come [the Finger Lakes Wine Center].
In March, Jennifer Kuznir, economic development planner for the city, projected that the ground floor would make $60,000 annually, starting this year, as well as sales tax revenue of $48,000. Also, the intial plans were for most of the space to go to retail ventures. To this point, the wine center, which is a tourism-based project, is as close as the space will come to attracting strict retail tenants [how much sales taxe revenue, then, would be lost].
Thys Van Cort, Ithaca's director of Planning and Development, said these projections remain accurate, but the income is arriving later than anticipated. "The delays are the nature of the beast in any project like this."
Asked how this might affect the budget this year in terms of lost revenue, Van Cort said.
"I wouldn't want to put a number on it."
But Phyllisa DeSarno, Deputy Director for Economic Development, said the reason for the delay in tenants did not stem from lack of interest. Leasers simply could not enter until the final lease agreement was signed earlier this year between the Ithaca Urban Rewewal Agency and Bloomfield Schon Development.
"That lease agreement was needed before tenants could be brought in to the building," she said.
"Their project is so complex and there is so many things that have to be ironed out, it's just really difficult to get a project like this going," said Van Cort.
DeSarno said last week that she and Gary Ferguson of the Ithaca Downtown partnership have been showing the retail space in the Cayuga Garage on a "very regular basis."
"There have been many potential tenants interested in the space and there still are," she wrote in an email.
"Merrill Lynch will be starting construction on nearly 6,000 square feet for their new office there. A letter of intent will be coming forth for approximately 3,000 square feet for The Wine Center."
DeSarno added she is speaking with two other businesses that would be using more than 3,000 square feet of space. "This space has been shown to all sorts of businesses and we expect to have tenants soon," she said.
The rental fee would come between $16-18 per square feet of space. But, she stressed, these fees are just a starting point and can be negotiated to some
degree.
Rental fees for the square-footage under the garage will, generally, be in the high teens with a "triple net lease" - meaning the rent includes a portion of taxes, maintenance, and insurances, based on the portion of square feet the tenant occupies in the building. However, commercial leases can be flexible depending on the amount of space and the amount of build-out for the tenant.
- M. Tye Wolfe

A different kind of ground breaking ceremony (after all, it is Ithaca).




Ritual clears way for monastery
Buddhists bless ground; construction starts this week
By Topher Sanders
Journal Staff

ITHACA — The monks of the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies performed a ritual ground ceremony Wednesday, preparing the way for heavy construction to begin on Ithaca's new monastery.

About 50 people braved the rain Wednesday to witness the ceremony. The 15,000-square-foot monastery is scheduled to be built off Route 96B. It will be able to support 25 to 30 students at a time. Construction is expected to begin this week and to be complete within two years.

“The Tibetan community has been excited about this project for sometime,” said Jeanine Rose Mollica, administrator for the monastery. “And as a Buddhist practitioner it's of particular significance so we can begin building. The permit from the (Town) of Ithaca is of legal significance; this ceremony is of spiritual significance.”

The ceremony is a way for the monastery to ask spiritual permission to build on the property.
“Each place has its own god or goddess, so we pray for them to help us,” said Ngawang Dhondup, assistant administrator of the monastery.

His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama of Tibet is scheduled to visit Ithaca Oct. 9-10, when he will bless the new monastery. The current site of the Namgyal Monastery at 412 N. Aurora St. in Ithaca is the Dali Lama's seat of his personal monastery in North America.

The day selected for the ceremony was no coincidence. An expert from the Tibetan Astrological Institute helped the monastery determine that Wednesday would be the most auspicious day to conduct the ceremony

“Hence why we are standing here in the rain,” Mollica said.

The monks spent about 30 minutes carefully preparing a plot of land so colored sand could be used to depict a Naga, a being with both animal and human attributes that protects the land.

After laying down a foundation of white sand, the monks used bright orange, maroon, blue and green colored sand to depict the Naga.

Witnesses stood transfixed as the monks worked on their creation.

“I'm here because these are people of peace and these are people who are interested in the goodness of the entire world,” said Jeanne Stone, who drove from outside of Rochester to witness the ceremony. “I think how one starts any project is very important, and it's important for all kinds of people to show up here.”

When the sand depiction was completed, the five monks began to chant prayers while one monk periodically chimed a bell.

Witnesses were handed pieces of earth and asked to throw the earth beyond the construction boundaries as part of the ceremony.

When the prayer was over, the sand depiction was mixed into the earth.

The monks were encouraged by the onlookers.

“We hope that this land will be very beneficial for our spiritual practices,” said Tenzin Gephel, a monk with the monastery. “So that's why everybody came here. Maybe they are also saying the prayers, too.”


cbsanders@ithacajournal.com




Originally published July 5, 2007

Maybe this is the reason development is so slow in Upstate. ;) :colgate:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PlgkcmezQ0

:lol:

:lol: I could only watch a little of that, what city is that?

Nice! Gotta love that he gave shout-outs not only to his hometown of Syracuse, but also to Binghamton, Albany, Watertown, Ithaca, Utica, Elmira, Cortland, Schenectady, Rochester, and Buffalo. I'm sure all the homies in Jamestown, Batavia, and Geneva feel pretty left out. Should I post some Rochester hip-hop videos here too? Maybe a whole thread dedicated to upstate hip-hop? LOL. Funny stuff.

May be the worst music i've ever heard

Maybe this is the reason development is so slow in Upstate. ;) :colgate:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PlgkcmezQ0

:lol:

Thanks! That was funny.

Syracuse homies. Gotta love'em.---- It's hard to believe I went to school with people like that. Every other word is: Yo man, what's up.....

Watch out for those Cuse city girls...they're crazzzzy!:)

Now that everyone has seen Syracuse's Hood, here's the flip side....... affluent suburban Fayetteville/Manlius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVcK95h4tjA

Minor pro hockey lands in Jamestown
Business First of Buffalo - 9:27 AM EDT Friday, July 20, 2007

The City of Jamestown has been granted a franchise in the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League, a minor professional circuit based in Canton, Ohio.

The franchise, the MAHL's fifth, will play its home games at the Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. In addition to receiving a franchise, Jamestown will also the league's all-star game next February.

The MAHL franchises include the Mon Valley (Belle Vernon, Pa.) Thunder; Indiana (Pa.) Ice Miners; Valley Forge (Oaks, Pa.); and Wooster (Ohio) Warriors. Teams play a 50-game schedule.

yay another minor league hockey team comes to Jamestown, hopefully the league won't fold this time.

yay another minor league hockey team comes to Jamestown, hopefully the league won't fold this time.

Unfortunately I think this league will fold. Most of those cities are in the middle of nowhere. I have never heard of Oaks or Belle Vernon before. I assume Oaks is near Valley Forge, and so that would be a suburban Philadelphia team. The team should be marketed as a team for nearby West Chester, though, instead of just the suburban area of Valley Forge/King of Prussia. Belle Vernon looks to be near California, but not much else in that area. I guess it could be suburban Pittsburgh but is it too far away? Also, York PA was awarded a team in the league recently. Jamestown and York seem to be the most stable cities in that league in my opinion.

Wasn't the OHL considering putting a team in Tonawanda? I think I posted the article myself when I came across it. If the MAHL is looking at small markets for teams, suburban Buffalo is as good of a place as any other place in the region. A team in Cattaraugus County, like in Olean, might do well, but the population is very low in that county. If the population was higher, a team there might be more successful like the Elmira Jackals, who are moving up to the ECHL this Fall. Also, a team in Niagara Falls NY might be a lower risk, considering the population of the Niagara Falls area and the county.

(As far as Pennsylvania goes, I think the Belle Vernon team would be better if it were located closer to Pittsburgh, like in McKeesport or somewhere. Williamsport might be a nice market for the MAHL as well.)

^idk, all i remember was about 4 years ago (2003), Jamestown was awarded a "minor league" hockey team...it last one year then the league folded. I was so pumped to come home from college and see the Jamestown Spartans or Trojans or whatever they called themselves.

Big (at least for Ithaca) downtown project moving forward.


Planning board OKs Cayuga Green condos
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Cayuga Green Condominiums received final approval from the Ithaca Planning Board at its meeting Tuesday night.

Site plans call for a six-story building holding 44 units, directly behind the Tompkins County Library. The project is part of the larger Cayuga Green at Six Mile Creek Development, which also includes an apartment building, a parking garage and the Six Mile Creek Walk, which is already completed.

Board questions centered on parking, construction impact and aesthetics.

Ken Schon, who represented the development group Bloomfield Schon + Partners at the meeting, said that parking for condo residents would be guaranteed.
“We won't build this building without this right,” Schon said. “You can get people to come out of the burbs, but only if they have suburban amenities.”

The plans call for condo owners to rent, not own, zero to two parking spaces per unit.

The one-, two-, and three-bedroom units will all have private balconies. The ground floor will house an enclosed courtyard, lobby and amenity space.

Vehicle access to the Cayuga Green at Six Mile Creek Development will come off Cayuga Street.

The development has been in the making for several years; environmental review and preliminary site plan approval occurred in February 2003.

Schon told the board that residents are eager to see the condos finally go up.

“Everybody's been saying, ‘When are you gonna cover that ugly concrete block wall?'”

Schon said construction for the condos is still a long way off, but groundbreaking for the apartment building in the Cayuga Green development will start in the next few weeks. The next step is to secure a building permit.

The board also granted preliminary site approval to TDL Group Inc. for construction of a Tim Horton's restaurant and drive-through at 339 Elmira Road. The location is the site of a former Salvation Army building, which would be demolished to make way for the new business.

Tim Horton's is a Canada-based drive-through with an emphasis on coffee and baked goods, but they also offer sandwiches. There are 2,723 restaurants in Canada, and 339 in the United States, and most locations are open 24 hours a day, according to its corporate Web site.

Lou Terragnoli, the developer building the restaurant, said he first sought approval from the board in April 2007, and has made site changes based on their recommendations.

The board also moved forward on Cornell's proposal for the Herbert F. Johnson Museum addition, voting to make the city the lead agency for environmental review of the project.

JoAnn Cornish, deputy director of planning for the city, said the primary concerns in the environmental review are with “grading, drainage and erosion control plans,” as well as information about tree removal and bike rack locations.

Planning Board chairman John Schroeder said he was impressed with the aesthetics of the Johnson Museum addition.

“I've heard nothing but positive impressions of this proposed building,” he said.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com


Originally published July 25, 2007


Here's a pic (the condos are the building on the left, a new apartment building is the 5 story bldg toward the center - ground to be broken soon):

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1354/898490917_78b1ed2e88.jpg?v=0

And the beat goes on in Ithaca.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/888647689_54b8481cee.jpg





Milstein plans reveal tension between city, CU
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — When it comes to University Avenue at the edge of the Cornell University campus, the city of Ithaca and the university each want the control, and neither wants the responsibility.

The decades-long history of disagreement over the road is coming to the forefront because of Cornell's proposal to build a new building, Milstein Hall, over the top of University Avenue.

Milstein will become part of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, physically connecting Sibley and Rand halls, and jutting across University Avenue toward the Foundry.

The plans for Milstein were designed by famed architect Rem Koolhaas, and his Office of Metropolitan Architecture. The building gets its name from Paul Milstein, a New York City developer and philanthropist who donated $10 million to the school.
City attorney Dan Hoffman says the primary source of contention has been “disagreement over who is ethically responsible for paying for necessary repairs, particularly if they're expensive repairs.” And according to Hoffman, University Avenue “is in need of a lot of repair.”

According to Shirley Egan, Cornell associate university counsel, Cornell — not the city — owns the underlying title to the street.

And while Hoffman didn't go so far as to agree, he did admit, “we haven't come up with evidence to the contrary.”

But ownership is not the only legal issue to be reckoned with.

Regardless of who owns the title, the city owns a public right-of-way along the street, which guarantees the rights of pedestrians, bikes and cars to continue using it, a right that Cornell does not dispute.

“The question is how wide is the public right-of-way and how high above the road does it extend?” Hoffman said. “And does the proposed Milstein Hall encroach upon the public right-of-way?”

Bill Gray, superintendent of public works for the City of Ithaca, said his biggest initial concern upon seeing the plans for Milstein Hall was the overhead clearance between the street and the building.

Gray said he was reminded of an incident in November 2002 when the city had another structure over a highway — a sign bridge over Route 13 — and an inattentive dump truck driver ran into it with his dump body raised.

“It took the whole sign out,” Gray said.

That incident was part of the reason that Gray told members of the Board of Public Works, in a note before their July 11 meeting, “I am not happy about the idea of building a structure over a city street.”

“We're not in New York or Boston where land space is so important or valuable that you have to deal with this normally,” Gray said.

Cornell planners have argued that the particular design they want for Milstein Hall is important because it will help connect the three separate buildings that house Architecture college departments — two of which are south of University Avenue, and one of which is north of it.

“It programmatically connects the different buildings that are part of the same college and will create a very nice area back there,” Egan said. “It'll create a bus stop, a transportation hub, a bike lane, so there's a very good reason programmatically all the way around to fix up that area.”

Despite his safety concerns, Gray said he sees where Cornell is coming from: “This is not inexpensive for them. The fact that they want to go to this complication is probably an indication of how they feel about it.”

Cornell apparently feels so strongly about Milstein, it's even willing to forget its 25-year-old dispute with the city and pay to rebuild part of University Avenue.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published July 24, 2007




A detail view looking to the southwest shows Milstein Hall extending out over University Avenue towards the Foundry Building at the lower right. The dome of Sibley Hall is visible in the background and the corner of Rand Hall is at the left.

Points of concern

At its July 11 meeting, the Ithaca Board of Public Works voted to delay approval on Cornell’s plan to build Milstein Hall out over University Avenue. Board members listed various issues that prevented them from making a decision, including:


* Concern that approval would set a precedent allowing other property owners to build over city streets.


City attorney Dan Hoffman said this would only apply to streets the city doesn’t own. “The area of concern is limited. And it doesn’t include the downtown area. In my opinion it’s not a worry.”


* Concern that approval would be seen as a “gift” of the air above the street from the city to Cornell.


Shirley Egan, Cornell associate university counsel, and Hoffman both said that because Cornell owns the underlying title to the street, it also owns the air rights. Beyond the traditional area owned by the city as a public right-of-way, “anything above that up to the clouds is owned by Cornell,” Hoffman said.


* Concern that approval would diminish the public right-of-way.


In its plans to construct Milstein Hall, Cornell also plans to add a bus stop, a bike lane and an additional sidewalk, all of which will become part of the city’s public right-of-way. “The public right of way will actually be widened in the area, so that’s something that the city gets from Cornell,” Hoffman said.


The height of the public right-of-way would be diminished, stopping where Milstein Hall begins, at about 15 feet.

Sorry, but it seems I'm about the only one adding to Upstate development thread. Anyway, here's an article on a possible big development in Ithaca: hundreds of housing units, kind of creating a whole new neighborhood.


The area for the new hood is the wooded section in the center left,

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/977622591_62d8353ad0.jpg?v=0


Developer wins approval of Southwest committee
Council to hear proposal for 600-unit residential area tonight
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — It's recycling on the grandest scale: The City of Ithaca hopes to turn a former dump behind Wal-Mart into a neighborhood that urban planners across the country will want to emulate.

Ithaca Common Council will hear a presentation at 7 tonight on a possible 600-unit residential development in the Southwest corridor of the city. The area being considered for the entirely new neighborhood is west of Lowe's and Wal-Mart and south of Nate's Floral Estates mobile home park.

“This is the largest development opportunity the city has seen since Simeon DeWitt,” said Scott Whitham, chair of the Southwest Selection Committee, referring to the 18th-century surveyor who is credited with being one of the founders of Ithaca.

The Southwest Selection Committee was formed by Mayor Carolyn Peterson in December 2006 to study the area and to send out a request for qualifications from development groups across the country.
Four development groups responded, the selection committee chose McCormack Baron Salazar, and tonight the committee will present Common Council with its official recommendation to make the St. Louis, Mo.-based development group the preferred master planner and developer for the Southwest Area Urban Neighborhood.

“It's not one's usual development site,” Whitham said. He said the challenges to making the area attractive to potential new residents include its proximity to the railroad track and to heavy commercial activity, and the site's history as a city clean-fill dump.

But city officials believe the planned neighborhood's affordability, social, racial and economic diversity, and environmental sustainability will attract residents.

Officials plan for 30 percent of the housing to be permanently affordable to low-income people, meaning heavily subsidized. Another 20-30 percent of the housing will be “workforce housing,” for residents with lower-middle class incomes and will be partially subsidized. The remaining units will be higher-end “market housing,” which will be fully self-supporting.

The number and mix of apartments, condominiums and houses has not been determined.

City Planner Lisa Nicholas said the city is still at the stage of “ideas and goals. There's no design yet.”

Common Council member Maria Coles, D-1st, who was a member of the Southwest Selection Committee, said she was drawn to McCormack Baron Salazar's commitment to mixed-income developments.

“Ghettos are not only where poor people live; ghettos are also places where rich people live,” Coles said. “We are always better off when we are integrated on every level.”

Planning Director Thys Van Cort said subsidies for the development would come from state and federal grants and not from local taxes, which he said are already “tapped out.”

“There's no way to build this kind of housing without deep subsidy,” Van Cort said.

Mayor Carolyn Peterson said the proposed neighborhood would “meet multiple needs.” The housing would help fill a county-wide shortage of affordable housing. It would create a neighborhood close to downtown and near existing public transit locations.

“It also serves the broader goals of urban density rather than sprawl,” Peterson said.

Common Council tonight will hear the Southwest Selection Committee's recommendation to make McCormack Baron Salazar the preferred developer. The developers themselves will give a presentation at a joint meeting of Common Council and the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9.

Common Council could then vote, likely in September, on whether to approve the group as preferred developers.

Van Cort estimates that the first residents in the neighborhood could potentially move in 2-4 years from now.

The council also plans tonight to vote on whether to authorize a preferred developer agreement with developer Steve Flash, who hopes to build a 100-room hotel and 15 condominiums on the west side of Inlet Island between the Route 89 bridge and The Boatyard Grill.

Flash was named as the preferred developer 10 months ago, but authorization of an agreement with him has been delayed by concerns about the size of the project, whether hotel workers will be paid a living wage, and the purchase price of the land, which is owned by the city.

The piece of property on Inlet Island requires significant environmental cleanup, which Flash has agreed to complete, provided that the cleanup cost is deducted from the price of the land.

The city's appraisal of the land puts its fair market value at approximately $500,000. Flash estimates that cleanup costs will come in “closer to $600,000.” Flash also plans to apply for a state Brownfield Program tax subsidy, which could reimburse him for 10 percent of his total project costs for cleaning up and building on the former environmental problem site. He estimates that the project will cost $17.6 million, meaning he could potentially receive $1.76 million in tax credits from the program.

Council member Shane Seger, D-1st, has been an outspoken opponent of this plan.

“It seems to be that only one entity should be providing incentives for cleaning up the land, either New York state or the city, but certainly not both,” he said by e-mail.

Flash contends that both incentives — purchasing the land at no cost and receiving the Brownfield subsidy — are necessary to complete proper environmental cleanup and to create an economically viable business. He also noted that he has not and may never receive any Brownfield money, as the grants are competitive.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published August 1, 2007

^^ Interesting. It seems like Ithaca is seeing some nice growth for a small town. I assume that Cornell can take some or most of the credit for helping Ithaca grow?

That new neighborhood area looks nice from the air, but if it was a dump then it must be ugly at ground level. The new development will be nice I bet.

^ Cornell is the major employer and education the major industry in Ithaca and Tompkins county. Cornell is going through a construction boom for the last several years, and will contiue for at least 2 or 3 more years.

The old dump has long been bulldozed and covered over. I've not seen any renderings of the new neighborhood, but will post some whenever they come out. The new hood will be isolated on one side by a Cayuga Lake inlet/flood control channel, on another by a trailer park, and on the last 2 by big box/fast food establishments.

Salamanca is getting another midrise.

Allegany casino planning to expand
2nd hotel tower, event center set


The Seneca Gaming Corp. plans to build a second hotel tower, with additional gambling space, at Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca.

The Seneca’s casino company intends to spend $130 million on the project and another $40 million for conversion of the temporary casino building into a state-ofthe- art event center.

“[This] demonstrates the Seneca Nation of Indians’ commitment to providing a premier gaming and entertainment experience to our patrons, while continuing our investment in the people and economy of Western New York,” Seneca Gaming Chairman Barry E. Snyder Sr. said of the three-year-old facility.

Design work on the hotel tower, which is expected to offer 200 guest rooms, is just getting under way. It will join the 11-story, 212-room hotel that opened in late March as part of the $160 million permanent casino complex.

The second hotel building also will include 30,000 square feet of gaming floor, bringing the total gambling space at Seneca Allegany to just under 100,000 square feet of slot machines and table games.

The new hotel tower and expanded gambling area are slated to open in mid-2009.

“The existing hotel has been a great success, with an occupancy rate that’s way over 90 percent. We need more rooms,” said Seneca Gaming spokesman Phil Pantano.

The event center project will see the 120,000-square-foot temporary casino building, which opened in 2004, transformed into a venue for concerts and other large-scale gatherings with room for 1,700 attendees.

The Seneca Nation also has announced it has formed a boxing commission and will begin staging tribal-sanctioned boxing events Aug. 31. While the first matches will be held at Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, the Allegany center is expected to host boxing events when it opens early next year.

The overhaul of the now-idle temporary casino building also will include creation of administrative support space, as well as extensive exterior upgrades and landscaping.

To date, the Senecas have invested $278 million to develop and outfit the Salamanca casino and resort.

Details of the additional investment in Seneca Allegany were contained in the gaming corporation’s financial report for its third fiscal quarter, ended June 30, which was filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Seneca Gaming reported a revenue gain of $14.9 million, or 11 percent, for the threemonth period.

Revenues in the third quarter of 2007 totaled $149.2 million, compared with $134.3 million in the prior year’s quarter.

Seneca Gaming credited opening of its luxury hotel in Salamanca, along with the continued popularity of its hotel/ casino complex in Niagara Falls, with driving revenues upward. Increased slot machine revenues at Seneca Niagara Casino — $83.2 million, up 11 percent from $75.1 million in the third quarter of 2006 — were a key factor.

Increased labor and benefits expenses, an increase in New York State’s slot machine exclusivity fee, from 18 percent to 22 percent, and costs related to the opening of the temporary Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo, affected the uptick in revenues.

The tribal gaming operation’s profits for the quarter totaled $29.3 million, a 4 percent increase compared with $28.3 million in the same period in 2006.

The financial impact of Seneca Buffalo Creek operations won’t be known until fourthquarter results are posted in early November. The comparatively small, 5,000-square-foot, slots-only casino opened July 3 and drew 49,000 patrons in its first month.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/142940.html

I hope this means more talls (relatively speaking) for the Ithaca area.


CU presents outline of master plan
Most development will be kept on main campus
By Aaron Munzer
Special to the Journal

ITHACA — Build up, not out.

That was the theme of the conceptual version of Cornell University's Master Plan that was presented last night to the city's Planning and Development Board for revision and comment.


Since April 2006, the university has sought input on the plan from different Tompkins County communities. Mina Amundsen, the university's planner, said the outreach process has been largely successful and has been important in identifying how to best limit potential impacts.

“The idea is to not just look at planning inside our (university) cocoon, but engage our communities,” she said. “We're trying to do better than we have in the past.”
The broad tenets of the university's 10- to 25-year-long plan involve keeping most of the development within the sprawling 750-acre core campus and replacing older facilities with higher-storied, more efficient buildings, Amundsen said.

Major emphasis will also be placed on mitigating the impact of transportation on the campus and reducing the amount of traffic. Conserving natural areas around the campus is also a priority in the plan.

The plan calls for expanding the campus' network of pedestrian and bike trails, and creating a public transport loop that will wind through central campus to limit the amount of parking needed. Amundsen said the university will keep parking lots “at existing levels” and will instead rely on alternative transport and parking garages to fill university needs.

The plan outlines the creation of a larger athletic field complex between Game Farm and Ellis Hollow roads and broadening housing options close to campus. It encourages the development of the East Hill Plaza as a new town center and encourages residential growth there.

The planners, Urban Strategies Inc. of Toronto, identified 230 acres of possible development space in the east and south of the campus, but Amundsen cautioned that the university had in no way approved or endorsed those ideas.

David Kay, a member of the board, said he's positive about the plan.

“The breadth and scale of the thinking makes a lot of sense,” Kay said. “Knitting it all together in terms of implementation is where the trick is going to be. The devil is in the details.”


Originally published September 12, 2007


I know it's not a biggee, but it is a nice commercial step for the city of Ithaca. I am curious why they couldn't find a deserving institution in Ithaca instead of Syracuse.



Kohl's announces grand opening of Ithaca store

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. – As part of its largest grand opening in company history, Kohl’s Department Stores (NYSE: KSS) will officially open its Ithaca store Oct. 3. One of 95 stores to open nationwide this fall, the Ithaca store will create approximately 130 jobs in the area. Located at 414 Elmira Road, the store is one of two opening in New York this October, bringing the state total to 44.

The new store is one of nearly 200 nationwide featuring Kohl’s newly enhanced look. An inviting exterior welcomes customers with outdoor seating and music. Glass storefront entrances with showcase windows display the latest Kohl’s fashions and automatic doors allow for hands-free entry into each store. Interior amenities include an expanded Juniors’ department, spacious fitting rooms with lounge areas, updated restrooms, and redesigned customer service and checkout stations.


Kohl’s supports the communities it serves

To uphold its longstanding tradition of supporting the communities served by its stores, Kohl’s has made a commitment to Ithaca through its Kohl’s Cares for Kids' program which is focused on improving the lives of children.

Golisano Children's Hospital at University Hospital, Syracuse, is a beneficiary of Kohl’s Cares for Kids local fund-raising efforts from the Ithaca store. Throughout the year, Kohl’s sells special Kohl’s Cares for Kids merchandise, with 100 percent of the net profit supporting health and educational opportunities for children. Through 2006, Kohl’s has raised more than $85 million for children’s health and education.


Originally published September 13, 2007

Wells is a small Liberal Arts college about 25 miles up the east side of Cayuga Lake from Ithaca. It was an all-female school until a few years ago.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1339/1386359859_6b8c349b8a.jpg?v=0



Wells College opens science building
From Journal Staff Reports

AURORA — The Wells College community will “Celebrate Connections” during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new 45,000-square-foot science facility.

Ann Wilder Stratton ‘46 Hall, named for the Wells alumna whose bequest in excess of $9 million helped the college reach fundraising goals, will be formally dedicated at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29.


“The opening of Stratton Hall heralds a new era of science education at Wells College,” President Lisa Marsh Ryerson said in a press release. “Wells has a long and proud history of educating students in the sciences within our rigorous liberal arts curriculum. The new facility supports our quality program and the faculty-student learning relationship which is at the heart of the Wells experience.”

A series of celebration events are planned to begin on Thursday, Sept. 27, and run through the weekend. Highlights include:
* Talk and book signing by best-selling writer Sue Monk Kidd, author of “The Secret Life of Bees” and “The Mermaid Chair,” 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27.

* Science Colloquium presentation by Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Pericak-Vance, Wells Class of 1973, director of the Miami Institute for Human Genomics and professor at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine; 12:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28.

* Open house and multidisciplinary demonstrations throughout Stratton Hall by Wells faculty and students, 2-4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28.

* Keynote address by veteran science correspondent Ira Flatow of NPR's “Science Friday,” 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29.

* Official ribbon-cutting ceremony, 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29.

The events are open to the public.

Stratton Hall is a three-level, L-shaped structure that features flexible classroom and lab spaces. The building also houses faculty offices and a multi-functional 92-seat lecture hall, named in honor of former Wells Board chair Margie Filter Hostetter, Wells Class of 1962.

Creation of the building's concept and design was a collaborative effort — Wells faculty identified needs for teaching space, and HOLT Architects of Ithaca, designed the facility. LeCesse Construction Company of Rochester erected the building on time and within its $19 million budget.






Originally published September 15, 2007

Here's a small article on a technology park going up in the Batavia area.

Work might start soon for technology park


BATAVIA — Groundbreaking could begin this fall on the Upstate New York Medical and Technology Park, across the road from Genesee Community College, its partner in the Town of Batavia project.

Steven G. Hyde, chief executive officer of the Genesee County Economic Development Center, told the Batavia Rotary Club on Tuesday that the project, which the center has been researching for four years, will help meet the demand in fast growing fields such as life sciences and biotechnology.

Closing on the 33.9-acre tract of farmland is the next step. The County Legislature voted last week to transfer the land to the Genesee Gateway Local Development Corp.

Chong Teng, who heads biotechnology at GCC, outlined for Rotarians how the research and health-related commercial development campus could help to train students for careers. In the start of a three-phase project, infrastructure could be installed later this year with a goal of 150,000 square feet of low-cost space for business incubators in medicine and technology.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/165966.html

An article about the old Seneca Army Depot near Geneva, NY. Turned in a hi-tech park with some cool features.



Seneca Army Depot goes high-tech
By Neil Chaffie
Special to The Journal

VARICK — A ribbon-cutting ceremony and the presentation of a $250,000 check marked the official opening Saturday of the Finger Lakes Technologies Group Park Inc.

Taking up an 800-acre slice of the former Seneca Army Depot in the town of Varick, the technology park will use 64 concrete bunkers and adjoining buildings as a data disaster-recovery site, a central office site and as a co-location facility for the Ontario and Trumansburg Telephone Companies.


“We are delighted to unveil this high-tech facility, which will give a tremendous boost to the region's economy and offers area companies a centrally located, off-site facility for data backup and recovery,” Paul H. Griswold, president and CEO of Finger Lakes Technologies Group, Ontario and Trumansburg Telephone Companies, said.

“With this new project,” Griswold told a ribbon cutting audience, “FLTG has brought 10 new full-time jobs to the region, along with another 25 jobs during the construction phase.”
On hand to present Griswold with the $250,000 check, state Senator Michael F. Nozzolio of Fayette, R-54th District, said employment on the grounds of the former Army installation now totals over 1,200 people, a few more than the Army had when it shut the Seneca installation down in 1995.

The nearly 12,000-acre depot is home to the Five Points Correctional Facility, the Hillside Children's Center and the Advantage Group.

“This project will bring high-paying jobs to our region and this new facility is a significant addition to our regional high-tech economy,” Nozzolio said.

Standing at the entranceway to what was the highly secure Q area of some 800 acres, Griswold spoke of the refurbishing of 37,000 square feet of warehouse space and a former guard house, facilities that were opened on Saturday to tour groups.

Finger Lakes Technologies' state-of-the-art fiber optic network, extending from Rochester to Ithaca, serves the new technology park, which is enclosed by fencing and will include armed guards “making it more secure than many other co-location and disaster recovery sites,” the company said in a press release.

At a cost of about $2 million each, Finger Lakes Technologies intends to convert 64 bunkers into storage areas. The bunkers have four-foot thick walls, 13-foot high ceilings, steel cages and iron doors. Griswold said his company will make them available for secure storage of such materials as papers, records, tapes and cabinets.

Finger Lakes Technologies, with $500,000 invested thus far in the new technology park, has worked out a 20-year lease with the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency for use of the former Q area, a site once used to store highly classified weapons.

Without the help of the state and Nozzolio, Griswold said the technology park would still be a dream.

“FLTG is pleased and proud to make this investment in the community, and we are especially grateful for Senator Nozzolio's strong support of this project.”

In addition to Griswold and Nozzolio, the Saturday morning audience also heard from Pat Jones of the industrial development agency, town of Varick supervisor Joan Teichner and Romulus supervisor David M. Kaiser. The former depot lies in both the towns of Varick and Romulus.

If all goes according to schedule, work could begin next spring on the construction of a $115 million ethanol plant and biomass generating facility on the depot grounds. The new plants would be south and west of the technology park, a distance of perhaps two miles.


Originally published September 24, 2007

Related to post #72, it's finally happening. Here's a link to the condos portion: www.cayugaplace.com



Cayuga Green puts down its roots
$25M downtown project launches
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Construction workers continued working on the site of the soon-to-be Cayuga Green apartments Friday morning, seemingly oblivious to the project developers, public officials, staff and citizens celebrating a ceremonial groundbreaking a couple hundred feet away.

“We thought, ‘This project has taken so long,' and we thought, ‘They wouldn't believe us if we said we're breaking ground,' so we have broken ground, about a month and a half ago,” said developer Ken Schon.


Schon and Steve Bloomfield are the developers responsible for the $25 million mixed-use Cayuga Green project going up in downtown Ithaca.

The developers were joined by Mayor Carolyn Peterson, former Mayor Alan Cohen, County Legislature Chair Tim Joseph, half of Common Council, half a dozen city staff, and representatives from 7th Art, which will open Cinemapolis on the first floor of the Green garage next spring.
Gary Ferguson, executive director of the Ithaca Downtown Partnership, said the project has been in the works since 2000, and has required at least 12 public votes.

“It shouldn't take that long,” Ferguson said. He thanked the developers, staff and officials who continued to work toward completing the project.

“Time after time people rallied around and worked really hard, rolled up their sleeves, made very hard decisions and compromised and worked together to make this project happen,” Ferguson said.

Thys Van Cort, director of planning and development for the city, also referred to the long, sometimes difficult process to bring the project from concept to construction. The city started looking for developers for the spot along Cayuga St., Green St., and Six Mile Creek during Cohen's administration, and worked with two other development groups before Cincinnati-based Bloomfield and Schon came forward.

“This project was not easy. No downtown projects are ever easy,” Van Cort said. “The only reason that we're standing here today is because of the tenacity of Steve and Ken in hanging in there as we went through project development and because of the contributions of so many other people in this community who've helped bring the project to fruition.”

Some of the issues the project has raised include size, density, location and amount of parking, affordability, green space and appropriate commercial uses.

Joseph and Peterson both said the project helps meet city and county objectives toward adding density in urban cores rather than in sprawling suburbs, encouraging public transportation use and ultimately reducing global warming.

“We know we have garages here,” Peterson said. “We're hoping it's being used as garages and that people to get around in the city are able to get on the major transportation lines: get to work, get to school, get to other activities. That is key to this project as well.”

The 68 apartments and 18,000 square feet of retail space will go up this winter, with occupancy planned for next summer. Rents are expected to be $800-$1,200 a month, Schon said.

Construction on the approximately 45 condos hasn't started yet, but the developers have already received three reservations, according to their real estate broker, Susan Lustick. The condos are slated for completion in 2009. They will range in size from 900-2,000 square feet and cost from $200,000-$400,000.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published September 29, 2007

This may not be the great salvation for Utica, NY, but at least it's something positive:



Strong demand expected for North Utica development
Oct 10, 2007 @ 11:23 PM
By TORY N. PARRISH
Observer-Dispatch
UTICA - North Utica's first new housing development since the 1960s is on target to accept its first residents by late December, according to its developer.

Located on Trenton Avenue in North Utica, Colonial Square eventually will include 70 single-family homes, 40 townhouses, 144 apartments for residents at least 55 years old and a community club house.

WHAT'S OFFERED
* 144 apartments for residents at least 55. The rent, which ranges from $1,170 to $1,840, includes full-size appliances, including washers and dryers, central air conditioning, a 24-hour emer¬gency call system.

* 40 townhouses. Prices will start at between $160,000 and $180,000. The townhouses will range from two to three bedrooms, have 2.5 bathrooms and be at least 1,500 square feet. They will also have three levels, including basements.

* 70 single-family homes. Prices will start at just under $200,000 or $225,000, depending on the lot size. The homes, which have attached garages, will offer about 2,000 square feet of space and are available in two styles: 47 carriage homes will be ranch and three-level homes, including a basement, on one-fifth to one-fourth acre lots. Twenty-three country homes will be on the perimeter of the property on larger lots, as big as half an acre each.
The project's Troy-based developer, United Development Corp., expects the development to be completed in phases during the next several years, Development Executive Erik A. Steffensen said.

Steffensen is expecting a strong demand for Colonial Square.

“There is a community need for the type of product that we're building,” he said.

Frankfort resident Helen Tomasiewicz, 74, lives in a four-level house on three acres. A widow since last November, she is planning to move to Colonial Square's senior apartments.

“My house is too big, and I want to be with other people my age,” said Tomasiewicz, who says she also is motivated to move closer to her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter in Marcy.

$28 million investment
The city of Utica originally had planned to undertake the development of the property for residential housing, but the estimated $5 million cost to make infrastructure improvements, including sewer, water and roads, was prohibitive, Mayor Tim Julian said.

United Development is investing $28 million in the project, which included purchasing 58 acres of land for $130,000 from the city's Urban Renewal Agency in June, according to Commissioner of Urban and Economic Development Timothy Doyle.

Construction of three apartment buildings - 48 apartments per building - for independent residents at least 55 years old has begun. Called Schuyler Commons at Colonial Square, the apartments should be completed by mid-summer 2008, but residents will be able to occupy some of the apartments by late December, Steffensen said.

Construction of the townhouses and single-family homes is expected to begin in spring 2008.

United Development is a national residential and commercial property developer with 1,100 senior housing units in New York state.

Similar project near Albany
The senior apartments at Colonial Square will be modeled after another United Development project, Hearthstone Village, which was completed last year in the town of Colonie, adjacent to Albany. Hearthstone has 144 apartments for residents at least 62 years old.

The Colonie apartments are nearly fully rented, said Steffensen, who expects the same demand for Colonial Square's senior apartments.

Consumer demand for townhouses and single-family homes will dictate the construction pace of those dwellings, Steffensen said. Homebuyers also will have the option of deciding on several aspects of construction, including general layout, exterior finishes and features, interior amenities and basement options.

Homecoming
Well over half of the residents in Colonial Square's houses and townhouses are expected to be empty nesters - parents whose grown children live on their own - and early retirees, Steffensen said.

The senior apartments will draw residents who want to downsize from a house and don't want the hassle of cutting yards and house maintenance, yet they are not prepared to give up their independence by moving in with their grown children, he said.

The close proximity of the North Utica Senior Citizens Community Center, located at 50 Riverside Drive, also was a factor in deciding where to build Colonial Square, Steffensen said.

Not only will a walkway from the south end of Colonial Square to the community center be built, but membership in the community center will be included in the rent for the senior apartments.

The community center has 1,500 members, quite a few of whom have made commitments to rent apartments at Colonial Square or registered for more information, said Yvonne McClusky, executive director of the community center.

“And I think the fact that it is senior housing, it's secure, it has a lot of amenities that suit their needs at this stage of their life, it's just a good fit for them,” said McClusky, who said that the senior center will partner with Colonial Square's community club house to offer activities and services for all of the residents in Colonial Square.

United Development selected the Trenton Avenue property for its development because of its close proximity to downtown Utica, transportation access to surrounding areas and availability of grocery stores and other shopping areas, Steffensen said.

Nice to see Utica getting something for once.

Here's a site I stumbled upon with references to several upstate cities:

http://www.nysurbancouncil.com/documents/news/3.pdf

:)

Salamanca is getting a small critical care facility.

Salamanca health facility to break ground in spring


SALAMANCA — Ground is expected to be broken this spring on Salamanca’s first critical-care facility since the closing of Salamanca District Hospital in 1990.

Mayor Jeff Pond said the 6,000-square-foot health facility is targeted for city land on Broad Street. Currently, Cuba Hospital in Allegany County is the closest critical-care facility.

Negotiations have been under way with Olean General Hospital to operate the facility, Pond said.

Financing for the new facility would be through the city’s Industrial Development Agency. Construction costs and other operational details have yet to be determined.

Residents have had to go out of town for emergency medical services, although the city provides ambulance services staffed by city firefighters.

Pond said the facility’s Broad Street site is along Titus Creek, adjacent to a physician’s office and near a nursing home.

The center is expected to offer hours only after the physician’s office is closed, Pond said, and will be staffed by doctors from Olean General Hospital.

Services being considered include X-rays, blood monitoring and visits from cardiologists and other specialists.

“The process has taken so very long,” Pond said, “but Olean General has been very receptive, and we are getting close to signing agreements. I think we can break ground in the spring.”

The Salamanca District Hospital Authority still owes $67,500 in city taxes. In 2001, the city classified the unpaid tax sale certificates as pending taxes receivable. That action removed the site from the annual tax sale.

On Feb. 19, 2006, the Seneca Nation of Indians claimed the former hospital property and building under terms of a land-lease agreement with the city. The building is not occupied at this time. The expense of asbestos removal has limited interest in the property.


http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/183459.html

Nothing new in this article, just the experts telling everyone what they already know.

Upstate looks to plug its young brain drain
By Topher Sanders
Journal Staff

ITHACA — Upstate New York needs better marketing and a comprehensive employment database to attract and keep a young and talented work force, experts said Friday at Cornell University during a discussion of the “Brain Drain or Gain” issue in the region.

Upstate New York's weak population and labor force growth combined with a net outflow of college-educated people has raised concerns about a loss of qualified workers in the region.

Upstate New York had an out-migration rate of 13.4 percent from 1995 to 2000, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Buffalo Branch, showed in August. Out-migration rates were higher in 25 states. The in-migration rate of 9.3 percent, shown in the same report, would be the lowest in the nation if Upstate New York were a state. The figures are based on the 2000 Census and include only the population aged 30-64 (age 25-60 at the time of the move) to eliminate college students who may have moved in and out of the region only to attend school, the report said.

Friday's discussion was sponsored by the Community and Rural Development Institute in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell and featured economists and researchers.
Researchers asked large and small employers in the region what their potential employees found attractive or not attractive about Upstate New York.

Results of the survey indicated that Upstate New York needs better marketing to inform young people about the region's attributes and opportunities.

“The ‘I Love New York' campaign simply hasn't worked for Upstate, it's associated with New York City,” said Susan Christopherson, professor of city and regional planning at Cornell. “There needs to be something that is undertaken that is informed by the information that we have about what people are looking for here.”

One of Upstate New York's attributes noted by employers for attracting young people was the region's outdoor recreational opportunities, Christopher-son said. On the negative side, employers reported that the cities in Upstate New York are viewed as unattractive by young people.

“Amenities are important to young people, they like a vibrant, exciting urban life,” Christopherson said.

Ithaca Forward, an organization for young professionals in Ithaca, it is meant to help young professionals get better settled in Ithaca.

One of the organization's goals is to help direct young professionals to the many resources that exist in the community but are not well advertised to young professionals.

Investment in Upstate New York's urban areas, which Christopherson acknowledged was already taking place, would help make the area more attractive to young people.

Employers also told surveyors that young people wanted large scale housing developments similar to the kind found in southern states such as North Carolina and Virginia.

Creating a centralized source of Upstate Employment opportunities would help tell young people exactly what opportunities exist in the area, said Isabelle Andrews, project director for workforce intelligence at the New York State Association of Counties.

“It's all about jobs, what jobs are available, what are the wages, is there room for advancement,” Andrews said. “I think this is something that we haven't gotten right because we know that jobs are available. We're not doing a good job of letting people know what jobs are out there.”

Andrews' organization hosted a number of forums with new college graduates from Upstate New York to learn about their desires and concerns about employment.

Upstate fails to provide the professional and social networking opportunities that young people would like, Andrews said.

“It's about jobs and dates, let's be real,” Andrews said. “They want opportunities to socialize with their peers who have similar interest and education.”

Purchasing a home is an example of an issue often brought up by young professionals who would like more information on the process but don't know where to go, said Deb Mohlenhoff, chairwoman of Ithaca Forward.

“We're looking at ourselves as kind of a funnel to let people know what is going on in Tompkins County that young professionals should be accessing,” Mohlenhoff said. “And that model has worked well for us.”


cbsanders@ithacajournal.com




Originally published November 3, 2007

Update on Green Street garage renovations:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/1924480642_a20bc83680.jpg?v=0

Green Street construction progresses
Some parking to open in garage this month
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — The City of Ithaca is planning to open 150-200 parking spots in the Green Street garage just after Thanksgiving, city officials reported at a meeting with downtown business owners Wednesday afternoon.

The spots will be available for three-hour, pre-paid parking for two dollars.


The garage itself will not be completed until next January or February, but they wanted to get some spots open in time to “accommodate the holiday season and the shoppers,” said City Clerk Julie Conley Holcomb.

The city plans to keep the 150-200 spots available only for three-hour parking, not long-term or permit parking. If people stay longer than three hours, they could be ticketed or potentially towed.
“Towing is always a last option,” Holcomb said.

Tom West, assistant city engineer and project manager for the garage, said the “schedule is very tight” and the initial opening, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 23, could be delayed by weather or delivery problems.

“We're pushing the envelope on the onset of winter,” West said. Many asphalt plants close for the winter, he said.

The spots scheduled to open after Thanksgiving will be on the second and third stories. The main stairway off Green Street and a pedestrian walkway from Green Street to Home Dairy Alley will also be open.

The elevator to the second and third stories will not be completed by Thanksgiving, so shoppers with disabilities will not be able to park in the garage. Handicapped parking will be available in the surface-level city hall parking lot, west of the garage.

Cars will enter and exit the garage from Green Street, but no new traffic light will go in.

West said the city completed a traffic analysis and found that the pedestrian signal on the block provides an adequate break in traffic for cars to come and go.

Some business owners at the meeting expressed concern about the three-hour limit.

Emma Sheikh, owner of both House of Shalimar and T-shirt Express, said she doesn't want her customers getting tickets.

“As a retailer, it's hard to know that customers will be ticketed if they stay 3.5 hours,” she said.

Bill Gray, superintendent of public works for the city, said the three-hour limit is intended to make sure the partially open garage doesn't fill up with long-term parkers or neighborhood residents, and downtown shoppers can find a spot.

Once the garage opens completely early next year, with approximately 430 spots, the city will likely make room for long-term and permit parkers, as well, Gray said.

West also reported that NYSEG is planning to extend an underground gas main down Green Street, which will likely impact one lane of traffic and a sidewalk on one side of the street for up to two weeks. TCAT routes may need to re-locate during the construction.

The gas main will serve the new Cayuga Green apartments and provide better service to other downtown buildings.

West said the city will find out additional details today, including whether NYSEG plans to work on the north or south sides of the street.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com


Originally published November 8, 2007

See a slide presentation on the restoration of the original “Flight of Five” Erie Canal locks


http://elockport.com/flight/index_files/frame.html

These buildings are now more than 90% leased! Note the facade of the ugly green highrise senior apartments was totally redone during the summer of 2007. It is now a neutral color with green awnings at street level somewhat coorinated with the neighboring retail/office building.

http://207.57.18.243/Pictures/11.htm

Might not be actual developments upstate, but perhaps some good news for future development upstate:

From the Cornell Sun


Immigrants Flock To Upstate Towns
Print: Email: Share: November 20, 2007 - 12:00am
By Ben Eisen
Whenever Prof. Susan Christopherson, city and regional planning, gets into a cab in New York City, she tends to make conversation with the driver. To her surprise, the drivers, mostly originating from other countries, often speak of leaving the City for quieter locales and possibly settling upstate. This is becoming less obscure an aspiration, as many foreign-born citizens are migrating to the cities of Upstate New York.

A recently released study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that a huge influx of foreign-born workers — over 200,000 in all — live in upstate metropolitan areas like Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Albany. Many of these residents are highly educated and tend to be attracted by jobs in technical fields.

According to the study conducted in 2000, more than half of foreign-born workers over the age of 25 were employed in either manufacturing, healthcare and social assistance or educational services.

The research suggests that not only are these immigrants chalking up population numbers in a region characterized by emigration, but they also help the economy by occupying a lot of the jobs that would otherwise be left unfilled. Foreign-born workers tend to take jobs relating to quantitative and scientific knowledge, whereas native-born workers tend to work in areas that require English fluency and knowledge of local culture.However, according to Christopherson, the extent to which these two groups cohabitate is not so simple.

“It’s a thorny problem,” she said. “If you say ‘I am going to advertise to fill my jobs with [foreign-born] workers,’ and that becomes public, people will ask why those jobs aren’t going to [native-born] workers.”

Prof. Douglas Gurak, development sociology, added that when the number of H1B visas granted to educated immigrants to do technical work in the United States was increased recently, many engineers protested, saying that the entrance of these new immigrants would take jobs away from the native-born population.

Prof. David Brown, developmental sociology, said that these highly-educated immigrants undeniably have an impact on the upstate economy, though the influence varies by region.

“Rochester [has the biggest impact] since it has both net in-migration internally and from abroad,” he said.

Gurak cautions that while this demographic contributes to the economy, there is also a substantial emigration of foreign-born workers as well. Because New York is often a first stop for people coming from abroad, people tend to migrate to other regions of the United States after settling in New York.

A study that Gurak published with fellow Prof. Mary Kritz, developmental sociology, entitled, “Immigration and a Changing America” examined these statistics. According to the research, by far the most popular destinations for foreign-born residents were the Southern and Western regions of the United States. The Northeast had the least foreign-born migrants to the region.

“There is strong growth in the South, and they are chasing opportunities,” Gurak said. “There are more dynamic opportunities down there in areas like manufacturing.”

Gurak cited the high tax rates in the Northeast as one reason for the emigration. He says that while infrastructure like public schools in the South in some cases may not be as good as in the Northeast, the environment for business is better in the South, which attracts many people.

Christopherson said that while highly educated foreign-born workers are important for the upstate area, skilled workers without college degrees are also necessary for many of the manufacturing jobs in the state. One of the keys to revitalizing the Upstate economy is supporting the development of small businesses, she says, and that requires a mixture of different skill levels.

“These [manufacturing jobs] are good jobs,” said Christopherson. “These firms could double their production if they got the workforce and facilities to operate. Foreign-born workers could potentially provide workforce for these jobs.”

Utica, a small town located about two hours from Ithaca, has become an example of how immigrants can turn an economy around. An old industrial center that used to be prosperous, the town began allowing refugees from war-torn countries like Bosnia and Cambodia to settle in the area in the late 1970s. Aided by the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, more and more immigrants began to migrate to the town, taking low-level jobs and starting their own businesses.

Now housing about 7,200 immigrants from 30 countries, according to Reader’s Digest, the town has succeeded in providing for these refugees while also infusing itself with economic life. Many of the refugees have gone on to get college degrees and take high-level jobs.

Though no one is sure what role foreign-born workers will play in the future economy of upstate New York, other states are not relying solely on this demographic to fill high-level jobs. The Public Policy Institute of California released a study earlier this year entitled, “Can California Import Enough College Graduates to Meet Workforce Needs?”

For now, Christopherson and others are continuing their work to enhance the economy of the area in other ways, such as attracting young professionals and small businesses.

An article from the Cornell Daily Sun online (but the proof-reader should have caught "Rejuvinate" in the headline.

Clean-up, Construction to Rejuvinate Ithaca Gun Site
Print: Email: Share: November 30, 2007 - 12:00am
By Molly OToole
Carefully climbing a rusty ladder, missing rungs, gives access to the upper roof of the Ithaca Gun Factory. The panoramic view of Cayuga Lake, extending to the horizon, is partially blocked by a smoke stack reading “Ithaca Guns” in white brick. The stack rises above the remains of this Gun Hill area which has been a community landmark since 1880. It may not stand for much longer.

The Ithaca Gun Factory site has had half a dozen owners in its over 125 years of existence. Despite evidence of hazardous contaminants and demands from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Ithaca for its remediation and demolition, the site, though fallen into dangerous disrepair, still stands at at 121-125 Lake Street. Allowing the site to exist has been determined hazardous, but saving the site thus far has been determined financially unfeasible.

The building was condemned and ordered to be demolished by City Building Commissioner Phyllis Radke in March of 2006.

A fire in August of 2006 and recent testing revealing still-present and significant lead levels conducted through the collaboration of Cornell student Myles Gray ’06 and Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, have renewed efforts at finding a solution for the site. Hang expressed his support for projects proposed for remediation and redevelopment for the site.

“The project was sitting there going nowhere; it was only a matter of time before a fire,” he said. “But it didn’t change the Common Council’s mind, and that’s why nothing happened.”

Since the bankruptcy of the Ithaca Gun Company, the property has been handed down through several owners. Following the failure of multiple plans for its remediation and redevelopment due to financial infeasibility, the City of Ithaca is now working with the private owner Wally Diehl, practice owner and manager of Fall Creek Redevelopment, LLC. Diehl is collaborating with the local development firm Travis and Travis Development, LLC and O’Brien and Gere Engineers, Inc. to come to a cooperative solution using both private and public funds for the site.

Frost Travis gave a brief chronology of ownership for the site. According to Travis, after the Ithaca Gun Company went bankrupt, the factory served as storage for a construction company until the whole parcel was bought by State Street Associates L.P. II. The company also does business as Gun Hill Residences, a property they own across Lake Street from the gun factory site.

“In 2001 Wally Diehl was interested in developing the site,” said Travis. “But he didn’t take title of the property until 2006.”

Diehl’s original proposal for redevelopment of the site consisted of 160 residential units in a seven story structure with a two-level parking garage. According to Travis, it needed a height and zoning variance and was zoned as industrial, despite widely expressed sentiments that it be used as residential space.

Travis said opposition from members of the community to the original proposal concerned the height of the building, blocked views, increased traffic flow, and the project being out of context with the neighborhood, in addition to the need for the proper remediation of contaminants.

Radke expressed support in 2003, around the time of Diehl’s first proposal.

“The significance of removing hazards that exist here extends beyond the current or future property owners and what they might do to improve the site,” she wrote. “The neighborhood and entire community stand to benefit as well.”

Neighborhood petitions with almost 400 signatures protesting the site proposal, also contained within the building department’s property file for the site, give evidence of community criticism.

Hang said, “These people didn’t want to deal with the challenge of cleaning up the site. It was about [the City’s] little local interests … they didn’t care about the health threat. They killed the proposal that would have cleaned this up because of 7 cars per hour.”

According to Travis, in order to move the project forward Diehl agreed to cut the proposal in half to 80 units and put a height restriction on the project so that it would stand no higher than the existing factory. Due to these limitations and the resulting restrictions on parking, the project became financially unfeasible without outside help.

The eventual resolution, and the current redevelopment proposal for the site, is “a public- private partnership” said Travis. The proposal was made with feedback from neighbors of the site.

The proposal would donate a parcel of the land to the City to be used as a park, with a public walkway along the western edge of the property to the area known as the “island” — an outcropping that overlooks Ithaca Falls and Cayuga Lake.

“It is a promenade, so that you can enjoy the valley view as you approach. It is also handicapped accessible,” added Travis.

In addition, the lessened number of 33 units will garner property taxes for the city.

“Of the $3.2 million taxable portion according to the grant application, it’s about $360,000 in taxes per year for the City,” said Travis. “It is a little better than a 10 year pay back, a 11-12 percent return on the state’s money.”

The proposal qualifies for funding as part of the ERP by the DEC which covers remediation on public lands, as part of the Voluntary Clean Up program for sub-surface contamination, and also as part of the state’s “Restore N.Y.” program.

Last November, the application for funding for the site was rejected by the Restore N.Y. program.

“They lit on this idea of the gun factory for the Restore N.Y. program late in the game,” said Travis. “The application wasn’t as strong as it could have been.”

According to Travis, the project is estimated at $13 million, with $3 million coming from these public sources, and $10 million coming from private sources.

Travis commented on why the developing team has been allowed to continue searching for funding sources and solutions despite demands from the DEC, the EPA and the City of Ithaca that the building be demolished more than a year ago.

“There has been a demolition order for quite some time,” said Travis.

Because Diehl was searching for a development partner, an extension was granted.

“We were approached only in the middle of May of this year. Since then we have been working diligently to move the project forward, whether it be with aligning support with the city and the grant applications. The money has to come from somewhere,” Travis said.

“The gun factory site is a posterchild for the grant program,” said Travis. “Those are the contaminants on the site: lead from the lead shot, and asbestos in the pipes and the window caulk. Those have to be removed; the building has to be removed — Restore N.Y. does just that.”

The verdict on this funding will be announced by the end of this year or the beginning of the next, according to Travis.

Just this past Tuesday, the development team for the site went before the Ithaca Planning and Development Board.

Chair of the Planning and Development Board and Sun Production Manager John Schroeder ’74 said, “A developer has the option at an early point, anticipating coming before the board, to come for sketch plan review.”

He added, “Sketch plan review allows the developer to present conceptually what he or she wants to do with the site. The clock isn’t ticking yet on the formal approval process — if there are concerns it allows them to be heard early in the process. The earlier in the process, the cheaper it is to address any issues.”

Schroeder expressed optimism about the newest redevelopment plan.

“Neighborhood people who were emotionally opposed to the first project say they are in support of this project,” he said. “That building is an ugly eyesore and it’s to the benefit of the community to get rid of it.”

Travis added a final detail to the proposed project that aims to preserve a part of the Ithaca Gun Factory’s history.

“We haven’t yet done a structural analysis,” Travis said. “But we intend to save the smokestack. It is an important part of the identity of the project.”

It has been an honor and a pleasure. Thank you, and good night.

— Molly O'Toole '09

There have been rumors that the Phillies are trying to put a New York-Penn League team in West Chester. Batavia could end up being that team. Things haven't looked good for Batavia in the last few years.

Batavia NY-P team could be out


If there's a better place to spend a summer evening than Dwyer Stadium, Russ Salway hasn't found it.

The Batavia resident might need to discover an alternative, however.

The backyard ball yard won't be much fun if the Batavia Muckdogs go out of business, something that is a frightening and real possibility.

Buried in debt and facing an ultimatum from minor league baseball's governing body, the Muckdogs are on the verge of being called out on strikes. They've been told they must raise $250,000 by Friday or the league will shut down the franchise.

"We're hoping for a Christmas miracle," said Salway, who doesn't live far from Dwyer. "I can't imagine a summer without baseball down the street. My kids (Nick, 10, and Hannah, 9) have grown up at that stadium."

Much of Batavia has grown up with the city's New York-Penn League team. The Class-A team played its first game in 1939. The NY-P itself was formed at Batavia's Hotel Richmond.

Ryan Howard, the 2006 National League Most Valuable Player, started his pro career in Batavia as a Philadelphia Phillies prospect. So did Phillies second baseman Chase Utley.

Nearly three decades ago, John Elway hit a home run as a visiting player in Batavia before deciding he'd be a better football player. But memories are all baseball fans will have unless the $250,000 is raised, or a compromise is reached between the team, city and minor league baseball.

The team has lost between $150,000 and $160,000 over the past two seasons. The chairman of the corporation that oversees operations says a contributor is willing to pay off the debt.

However, the Muckdogs have been told they also must establish a quarter-million-dollar escrow account that would serve as a contingency fund should the losses continue to mount.

"I can understand where the league is coming from," said Steve Maxwell, chairman of Batavia Regional Recreation Corp., which runs Dwyer Stadium and oversees much of the team's operations. "Vendors aren't going to provide services if they don't get paid."

Maxwell believes the Muckdogs can be a break-even proposition. They are owned by the not-for-profit Genesee County Baseball Club.

"We try to provide cheap, safe family entertainment," Maxwell said. "We don't try to make money."

The previous two seasons weren't good. They team lost about $60,000 in the fiscal year for 2006-07, and losses will be about $90,000 for this year, said Maxwell, who was appointed chair for BRRC in August.

"You hate to blame people on why the debt piled up," he said. "If you asked me to come up with 10 factors, I could probably come up with 10. If you asked me to come up with 20 factors, I could probably come up with 20."

Revenue from billboard and program advertising fell from around $180,000 for the 2005 season to $140,000 in 2006 to about $120,000 last season.

Because the NYP added teams in places like Ohio, Staten Island and College Station, Pa., and with record prices for gasoline, travel and transportation costs increased "exponentially," Maxwell said. So, too, did utility costs.

The City of Batavia also eliminated $30,000 from its budget that annually went to the team.

"You combine all those factors and it was a perfect storm," Maxwell said.

But the team still drew about the same number of fans, an average of about 1,200 a game. Merchandise sales with the popular Muckdogs logo grossed $82,000, he said.

If the team disappears, about 25 full and part-time jobs will be lost. A bigger loss would be sales tax revenue. Maxwell said the BRRC paid about $30,000 in sales tax. There also is the economic impact for hotels, restaurants and stores from visiting teams. And a tax bill on the $40,000 utility bill.

"From an economic standpoint, from a quality of life standpoint, the team is important," Maxwell said. "I think it would be a disaster to lose the team."

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/SPORTS/712130344

Just a quick one on a couple of projects (hopefully) in the Ithaca area.


Planning board to discuss pair of big projects tonight
By Krisy Gashler
Journal Staff

ITHACA — On opposite sides of the Town of Ithaca, two big projects are moving forward: a 106-unit townhouse development off Trumansburg Road and the Ithaca College Athletic and Events Center.

The Town of Ithaca's Planning Board will consider both projects at a meeting tonight at 7 in Town Hall, 215 N. Tioga St.


Holochuck Homes

A proposed Holochuck Homes Subdivision between Trumansburg Road (Route 96) and Taughannock Boulevard (Route 89) would build 106 town homes in clustered developments, concentrated on the west side of the property closest to Trumansburg Road, said Jonathan Kanter, director of planning for the town. The land is currently undeveloped.

Of the 111 acres owned by Holochuck Homes, LLC, 75.5 are proposed for sale to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. State Parks is interested in the parcel in part because it could provide part of the pathway for the Black Diamond Trail, Kanter said.
A similar proposal, called “Cayuga Cliffs,” was proposed several years ago, but the developer never went through with it, he said.

Although the town has seen several big developments in recent years, notably Linderman Creek, Overlook and Southwoods, this is the first townhouse development proposal the town has seen “since the late '80s, early '90s,” Kanter said.

At tonight's meeting, the planning board will decide whether to declare itself lead agency for environmental review of the townhouse project.


IC athletic center
The Ithaca College Athletic and Events Center is proposed as a 300,000-square-foot indoor athletic facility with a 200-meter track, Olympic-size pool and diving well, tennis courts, rowing center, gymnasium and floor space for large indoor events. Outside, the college plans to build a lighted artificial turf field, a 400-meter track and lighted tennis courts.
The new field house will become the largest assembly venue on campus, accommodating Convocation, Commencement, concerts and conferences, according to the Ithaca College Web site.

It will be built to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, utilizing designs to minimize cooling costs and enhance natural light. The college will use carpeting and paint with low volatile organic compound content and use building materials native to the region, according to the Web site.

Ithaca College hopes to break ground for the project in early 2008.

For more information, go to: www.ithaca.edu/aecenter.

The planning board tonight will consider whether the project's draft environmental impact statement is adequate and ready for public review.


kgashler@ithacajournal.com




Originally published December 18, 2007

COMMERCE SQUARE: $1.5 million awarded to restore old Harrison Radiator building

Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

State Sen. George D. Maziarz (R-Newfane) announced Tuesday that the City of Lockport has been awarded $1.5 million for the rehabilitation of Commerce Square, better known as the old Harrison Radiator plant.



The grant money is part of $100 million that comprises Year Two funding for the Restore New York’s Communities Initiative (Restore-NY), a program designed to aid municipalities in rehabilitating or removing obsolete or rundown commercial and residential properties, making these sites attractive to residents and businesses searching for new investment opportunities.



"This major grant award will help advance the transformation of the former Harrison Radiator plant into a mixed-use multi-tenant business development center," Senator Maziarz said. "With this funding, we are creating new spaces for businesses, creating jobs, and making a real difference in the Lockport community."



"We’re just elated and excited by this great news for Commerce Square," Lockport Mayor Michael Tucker said. "This grant money will help us keep up the momentum as we’re working hard to turn our city around."



The three-year, $300 million Restore-NY program was created by the State Legislature in the 2006-2007 state budget and is administered by Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to demolish or rehabilitate qualified commercial or residential structures, making these sites attractive to residents and businesses. Under the program, $50 million was distributed in 2006-2007, $100 million announced today in 2007-2008, and $150 million will be made available in 2008-2009.

Here's a bit of news from Gov Spitzer about a plan to get Upstate going:




Spitzer plan: $1B for Upstate job creation
By Joseph Spector
Albany Bureau

ALBANY — Saying New York is “one state with one future,” Gov. Eliot Spitzer laid out his vision Wednesday to revive the Upstate economy, calling for a $1 billion state investment to spur new jobs, strengthen links with colleges, build new business parks and expand the farming industry.

In Buffalo, Spitzer gave the state's first State of Upstate address and said New York needs to be one state with one vision, not separated by an Upstate-Downstate divide.


“We are one New York, and we rise and fall together,” Spitzer told a crowd at Buffalo State College. “When part of our state is struggling, it affects all of us. Because when a young family leaves the state, everyone has to pay for the cost of decline — the higher taxes, increased health care costs and shrinking national voice in Washington.”

The Democratic governor has made the Upstate economy a focal point of his administration and after giving the traditional State of the State address to a joint session of the state Legislature last week in Albany, he offered a separate version more tailored to the Upstate economy.
The speech struck many of the same chords: an olive branch to lawmakers after a rocky 2007 session and a pledge to use state aid as a spark to trigger a revival of the Upstate economy.

Yet he gave more specifics Wednesday on how he would use the $1 billion investment fund, proposing $350 million for a Regional Blueprint Fund to have “development-ready” business sites. The fund would also create a $10 million venture-capital fund to invest in about a dozen small businesses and provide aid for projects in targeted Upstate cities.

Spitzer announced that the University of Rochester would receive $50 million for its Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He stressed the need of colleges and universities to become catalysts for Upstate's “innovation economy.”

He proposed reforms to regulations on how the state cleans up old industrial sites, said the state needs to better market itself to Canadian businesses and pitched a $100 million fund for new housing and community development.

Another $50 million would establish an Upstate Agribusiness Fund to help farmers build new processing facilities and develop alternative fuels. Another $15 million was proposed to expand high-speed Internet access, especially in rural areas.

Spitzer said his 2008-09 budget proposal will include funding to open crime-analysis centers in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and Albany this year. And as part of a four-year, $200 million commitment, Spitzer said he will add more in aid to municipalities, which use the money to help fund operating expenses.

He also proposed $100 million to improve parks around the state, including $80 million for upstate parks.

Spitzer will lay out his 2008-09 budget Tuesday to the Legislature. Most of his initiatives will require legislative approval.

The speech was met with wide praise from business leaders and many Upstate lawmakers, who said they appreciated Spitzer's attention to the Upstate economy.

Between 1990 and 2004, Upstate lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs and saw job growth increase by just 3 percent compared to the 21 percent national average, according to the business group Unshackle Upstate.

Meanwhile, upstate population growth has stalled, and New Yorkers pay the highest in state and local taxes per capita in the nation.

“The theme was the right theme for Upstate,” said Sandy Parker, president of the Rochester Business Alliance and a leader of the Unshackle Upstate group. “He focused on the need to put initiatives into Upstate and the importance of government and the private sector working together.”

Even his critics were largely muted.

Assemblyman James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, said “at times, I've been one of this Governor's toughest critics — but not today. I believe Gov. Spitzer deserves credit for recognizing the economic crisis that is gripping Upstate.”

Yet Tedisco and other lawmakers expressed concern about the amount of spending Spitzer proposed at a time when the state faces at least a $4.3 billion budget gap in the 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts April 1.

Spitzer has yet to detail how he will finance the $1 billion investment fund. He recognized the state's fiscal pinch but said “it's at these very moments when investment matters most; when urgency is so great that we simply cannot afford to wait.”

Spitzer also renewed pledges last week to not raise taxes and to establish a commission to study a property-tax cap.

Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, D-Ithaca, said Spitzer is right to want to invest more in Upstate — even during difficult financial times.

“One of the lessons that we learned through history is that when you are in tough times, the worst thing government can do is pull back and shrink,” she said.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, expressed support for the governor's vision, yet Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said he hopes Spitzer backs up the speech with “real action.”

Senate Republicans have been pushing their own Upstate Now plan, a $3.7 billion proposal to stimulate the economy.

Some business leaders said the speech was light on reforms to the state regulations that are making Upstate too costly for businesses to thrive.

George Miner, president Southern Tier Economic Growth in Elmira, said “it's all-cost related, being able to attract and retain businesses.”


jspector@gannett.com




Originally published January 17, 2008

Albany Med's $360M vision
Expansion plan comes as the demand for services surges


ALBANY -- Crowded to the point of turning away patients, Albany Medical Center unveiled a plan Thursday to accommodate its growing demand for years to come.

Albany Med announced a $360 million expansion, the largest in its history and most expensive in northeastern New York, even as the 2006 Berger Commission report has led to the downsizing of hospitals statewide.

"Our critical care units often operate at capacity," said James Barba, president of the medical center. "Last year we had to deny 300 requests for transfers to the Albany Medical Hospital, and I learned just yesterday that last January 2008, we had to deny transfers to our hospital."

The actions of the Berger Commission have increased the demand for at the remaining hospitals, Barba said. The state panel recommended closing nine hospitals and reconfiguring 48.

Leaders of the landlocked campus want to construct a six-story building on their only available piece of land in front of the Emergency Department. The building will overlook New Scotland and Myrtle Avenues.

Barba said the hospital will raise $50 million of the construction costs through donations and borrow $310 million.

The project is motivated by unprecedented growth at the hospital.

The number of admissions has jumped from 24,300 in 2001 to more than 31,000 in 2007, a 27 percent increase. Many of those patients have been transferred from smaller hospitals and nursing homes.

The hospital re-opened 82 beds and added 300 jobs in the past five years but can't keep up with demand, Barba said. This expansion would add 116 beds for a total of 747, with most of the new ones in intensive care.

Albany Med is a level one trauma center that serves 25 counties and treats more trauma patients annually than any other hospital in the state.

Barba estimated that the patient load would increase 3 percent in each of the upcoming years. He attributed the increasing demand to the growing population in the Capital Region, the rising number of baby boomers seeking health services and the Berger Commission.

"Plans for major expansion during an era when some hospitals are contracting may seem counterintuitive, but it is both necessary and correct," Barba said.

One of the goals of the Berger Commission was to eliminate financially weak hospitals so that the remaining hospitals would see an increase in patients and financial stability.

A few miles down New Scotland Avenue, St. Peter's Hospital is in the middle of a $275 million expansion project.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Mayor Jerry Jennings praised the expansion. Bruno said good health care is a top priority for companies, such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc., that are looking to move into the area. Jennings said the project adds to the renaissance of the neighborhood, which already has a new hotel and restaurant.

Hospital officials said the expansion will add 500 jobs at the hospital.

The hospital has filed a request for the expansion with the state Health Department but has not applied for building approvals from the city. Hospital officials hope to break ground in 2009 and open the building in May 2012.
Because of elevation changes on the property, the building actually will be four stories shorter than the hospital's eight-story D Tower, where most of the inpatient beds are located. The building design would allow four more floors to be added in the future, though there are no plans to go higher than six stories at the moment.

The brick and concrete building will have a roof-top garden and a pedestrian bridge that connects to a new parking garage across the street on Veterans Affairs property. The proposed seven-story garage would house between 1,500 and 2,000 cars.

"Our expansion project, which will take several years to complete, is absolutely vital to the institution's ability to meet the needs of area residents seeking the most advanced medical and surgical care available," Barba said.

By the numbers
Albany Med's expansion:

$360M -- Cost of project
$50 M Being raised in donations
116 New beds, bringing total to 747
30 New adult intensive care beds, totaling 80
10 New neonatal intensive care beds, totaling 60
60 New medical/surgery beds, totaling 360
20 New operation rooms, bringing total to 42
500 New jobs 201
2 Year of completion

The building
Breakdown of new six-story building:

Entry level: atrium, drop-off area for emergency department
Basement: waiting area and operating rooms
First floor: Operating rooms and recovery rooms
Second floor: Intensive care beds
Third floor: Medical surgical beds
Fourth floor: Neonatal intensive care unit

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=667864&category=REGION&newsdate=2/29/2008&TextPage=2

Construction in Albany.

Tech Valley momentum
State panel gives final OK for $300 million investment at UAlbany's NanoTech complex


ALBANY -- In a major milestone in the development of New York state's Tech Valley, a state oversight board gave final approval Friday to $300 million in spending for the International Sematech project at the University at Albany.
International Sematech is an offshoot of Sematech Inc., the major computer chip manufacturing consortium that helped Austin, Texas, evolve from an eclectic college town into a high-tech mecca in the 1980s.

F. Michael Tucker, CEO of the Center for Economic Growth, an Albany-based economic development organization, said approval of the project is "critically important in continuing the momentum" of Tech Valley, a large economic development zone that stretches from the Canadian border to Westchester County.

"When you make an investment, you can expect dividends, and this project will pay numerous dividends in the form of jobs, new commerce and new investment," Tucker told the Times Union.

The Capital Region and UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering have positioned themselves at the epicenter of the growth of Tech Valley along with IBM Corp.'s operations in Dutchess County. IBM has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the college's Albany NanoTech complex on Fuller Road.

Sematech has had a presence there since 2003, growing to 250 workers.

But last year, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Legislature came together to stage a dramatic coup in the semiconductor industry by luring Sematech's headquarters and research and development operations to UAlbany.

The state agreed to kick in $300 million, while Sematech and its partner companies will supply an additional $300 million.

The new organization, which is expected to keep a smaller presence back in Texas, will be known as International Sematech and will grow to 700 people at the NanoCollege over the next several years. It will have its headquarters in a new $150 million, 250,000-square-foot building being built at the school. Both the governor and the Legislature approved funding for the project last summer. So did the board of the Empire State Development Corp., the state's economic development arm that will handle disbursement of the funds.

After a public hearing held earlier this month, the only approval needed was from the five-person Public Authorities Control Board, which OKs funding by state authorities. The board's members are named by the governor and leaders in the Legislature.

In a cramped conference room on the first floor of the Capitol Friday, proxies for the five members of the board quickly and unanimously approved the funding. The money will officially be given to the Research Foundation of the State University of New York, which will pass it onto the NanoCollege.

Within hours of the vote, Sematech's CEO, Michael Polcari, and Alain Kaloyeros, the chief administrative officer of the NanoCollege, issued a statement to the Times Union thanking Spitzer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

"Together, International Sematech and the UAlbany NanoCollege are poised to lead the world in nanoelectronics education, innovation and commercialization, and of equal importance, create new opportunities to attract high-tech jobs, companies and investment across New York State," the statement said.

The $300 million destined for the NanoCollege won't be deposited into a bank account overnight.

The state will raise the money by selling bonds to the investment community, and then the money will be disbursed through five carefully planned installments of $60 million that will only be made as the program reaches certain milestones and employment targets over five years.
Construction continues at the NanoCollege on the new building, where International Sematech will have its headquarters, although the $300 million is not going toward that building. Overall, the college employs 2,000 people, with 2,500 expected by 2009.

Much of the $300 million will go toward machinery and equipment and renovations at the college to support programs at International Sematech that will help the industry make cutting-edge advances in computer chip manufacturing.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7292/x000429229200832649pm57yr6.jpg
The headquarters for International Sematech is expected to bring the company's total employment at the NanoCollege in Albany to 700.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/4899/x000419229200832629pm57wc4.jpg
Workers construct a $150 million, 250,000-square-foot building at the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, to be headquarters for International Sematech.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=668226&category=BUSINESS&newsdate=3/1/2008&TextPage=1

Redevelopment of Downtown Jamestown:

PDF file (http://www.jamestownny.net/Jamestown_Guidelines_screen.pdf)

^ Thanks so much for posting your find on Jamestown. After a quick look-thru, I like the idea that the riverfront will be a centerpiece. And I do think the city has some great older buildings in the downtown core. But what the city (and Upstate NY in general ) needs is more jobs (decent paying), and less taxation.

Some developments that I noticed from my drive up to Buffalo and my drive back from Buffalo:

~ A wind farm is being built in northwest Steuben County, near Cohocton. It can be seen from I-390 between exits 2 and 3. I have pictures of it which I will post later.
~ The US Route 219 expressway is being expanded on from Springville to Ashford. Construction is in the early stages.
~Condos are being built in the Ellicottville area. Places like Morningside Estates are under construction.

Photos of the wind farm being built just north of the village of Cohocton in Steuben County.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8763/img3663pbaq1.jpg

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/5823/img3664pbzp8.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6679/img3665pbfm5.jpg

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4899/img3666pbef1.jpg

^ There's some windmill sutff going on in Tompkins county too. I'll try to get the info.

Also, here's another green industry for the old Seneca Army Depot facility near Geneva,NY:



Soy, canola beans to be processed at Depot plant
By Neil Chaffie
Special to The Journal

The planned construction of a $20 million soybean crushing facility at the former Seneca Army Depot is a win for agriculture, a win for renewable energy and a win for environmental sustainability, according to Seneca BioEnergy's chief executive officer.

Michael Coia of Lodi said his plant will need 10 million bushels of soybeans a year to produce 15 million gallons of vegetable oil annually for shipment to plants producing biodiesel fuels. Canola seeds will be used as needed.


Meal left behind by the crushing of soybeans and canola beans is expected to total 150,000 tons a year and would be marketed as animal feed. The burning of switch grass and wood chips would leave behind an ash that could be used as a fertilizer, Coia said.

Seneca BioEnergy plans to acquire two fairly new depot warehouses, 356 and 357, providing 400,000 square feet of space on a 55-acre site. Coia noted that Top Quality Hay Processing, his first tenant, has leased 120,000 square feet for its hay drying plant and would use heat from Seneca BioEnergy's operation to dry hay. Another 120,000 square feet of space is available.
The Empire State Development Corp. is credited with getting Top Quality Hay Processing and Seneca BioEnergy together. About 100 jobs are expected to be created by the two companies.

Coia, an environmental engineer, said his company has retained the MRB Group P.C. of Rochester for site planning purposes.

Over the next few weeks, he said, the company will begin the permit process and engineering. Also in the works is a community outreach program of public information sessions and community action.

Paul Linnan, manager of regulatory affairs with Applied Reclamation Techniques, LLC, in Sumerville, Pa., will have the job of taking the Seneca BioEnergy story to the public. Applied Reclamation is the parent company of Seneca BioEnergy and is involved in the growth of biomass crops on lands scarred by the mining of coal in Pennsylvania. Seneca BioEnergy is anxious, Coia said, to keep the public informed and to assure people the new company will be involved in a “very benign environmental process.” No roasting and no solvents are involved in the crushing process.

He has asked the Romulus Planning Board to act as the lead agency for the state environmental quality review. Seneca BioEnergy and Top Quality Hay Processing will each use about $500,000 in state grants to get their projects up and running. Coia sees his plant as the anchor facility likely to entice other agri-businesses “not yet within our imagination.”

He said construction of the Seneca County Law Enforcement Center on the grounds of the former Army base made it necessary for Finger Lakes Railroad to restore rail lines to the prison site. Those same rail lines, he said, will soon be used by Seneca BioEnergy and Top Quality Hay Processing for shipment of their products.






Originally published April 24, 2008

Did they ever build that AMD plant near Albany?

It looks like Albany will get a new highrise.

Work on Wellington imminent
First phase of redevelopment into apartment, office and retail space to begin Monday


ALBANY -- The first phase of work on the city's historic Wellington Row -- now rebranded as Wellington Place -- will begin Monday, city officials and the president of Columbia Development Cos. said Friday.

The State Street row of five buildings, near the Capitol, has been derelict for decades. Columbia plans to rehab four of the structures and reuse them for retail and apartment space.

The fifth building, the Wellington Hotel, will be demolished, but its facade will be used to front a new structure that will be the gateway into a 14-story, 405,000-square-foot office tower Columbia intends to build.

Columbia Development President Joseph Nicolla said the Wellington, which opened in 1905, can't be saved: "The roof is in the basement," he said.

Columbia has not received approval from the city Planning Department for the $65 million project, but Mayor Jerry Jennings said he does not expect any issues to prevent the approval.

The project has received $2.5 million in state funding, and the city Planning Department said Friday the building is in an Empire Zone, making it or its future tenants eligible for additional tax benefits.

Nicolla said Columbia will also ask for a tax break from the city Industrial Development Agency.

Columbia bought the site at 132 to 140 State St. in 2006 for $925,000 from London-based Sebba Rockaway Ltd.

Early remediation work, primarily the removal of asbestos, begins Monday. Construction of the office tower is expected to begin in 2009, Nicolla said, and the new buildings are expected to open in late 2010 or 2011.

Nicolla said he could not say who would occupy the massive office building, which is twice as big as the building the company opened in 2005 at 677 Broadway, but he promised he did not intend to "pirate" tenants from elsewhere in downtown Albany.

Nicolla also said he is confident that there's demand for that much office space. He noted 677 Broadway, which Columbia still owns, "is full, and people are still coming to the area."

Timothy Conley, president of the Albany-based office developer and manager Conley Associates, agreed that high-quality, or Class A, office space is in demand in Albany.

"If you're a tenant looking for 10,000 square feet of space, there's not a lot of space of that magnitude around."

Still, Conley noted the proposed size of Wellington Place: "You open it up (to private tenants) at that size, and you drain every other building in downtown Albany," he said.

Jennings warned the upcoming demolition and construction would be a messy and difficult project that would, at times, impact pedestrian and auto traffic.

He called the project "a delicate mix of historic preservation and selective demolition."

http://www.timesunion.com/shared/graphics/newsDb/X00245_9_620200824829PM.jpg
Mayor Jerry Jennings speaks Friday, June 20, about redevelopment of historic Wellington Row in Albany.

http://www.timesunion.com/shared/graphics/newsDb/X00004_9_620200825034PM.jpg
Plans for Wellington Row for construction of a 14-story office tower.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=697870&category=BUSINESS&newsdate=6/21/2008

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2008/08/11/daily29.html?t=printable

Tourism promotion for Chautauqua grapes

Business First of Buffalo - by Thomas Hartley Business First

A $1.05 million investment to create a Grape Discovery Center is planned for the Westfield area in Chautauqua County.

The financial assistance, announced Wednesday, comes through the Upstate revitalization capital investment fund, said Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean.

The $1.05 million will be used to do the necessary work in converting an existing building at an undisclosed site near Westfield into the center. Additional capital for the project will be raised in a fund drive, a spokesman for Young said.

A spring 2009 opening is expected.

Young, who received the New York Wine & Grape Foundation's "Industry Award" in recognition of her contributions to the state wine and grape industry, said the project ties together several economic engines in the region.

"Tourism is one of our top industries," she said in a prepared statement, "and we are the largest grape-growing region outside of California.

"We have 800 growers tending about 30,000 acres of vineyards that support over 1,900 jobs and generate about $5.4 million in wages. We are averaging 35,000 visits annually to our 21 wineries and that results in sales in excess of $17 million," she said.

The Grape Discovery Center will be modeled after the successful Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center that draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.

The increased number of visitors drawn to the Lake Erie Grape Belt and Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail will benefit small businesses and the local economy, Young said.

The center will feature educational and interactive exhibits showcasing Chautauqua County's grape and wine industry and promoting its grape products.

Also included in the center will be a gift shop and snack bar. Future plans include establishment of a wine tasting center and a program offering vineyard tours.


All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2008/08/11/daily29.html?t=printable

Tourism promotion for Chautauqua grapes

Business First of Buffalo - by Thomas Hartley Business First

A $1.05 million investment to create a Grape Discovery Center is planned for the Westfield area in Chautauqua County.

The financial assistance, announced Wednesday, comes through the Upstate revitalization capital investment fund, said Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean.

The $1.05 million will be used to do the necessary work in converting an existing building at an undisclosed site near Westfield into the center. Additional capital for the project will be raised in a fund drive, a spokesman for Young said.

A spring 2009 opening is expected.

Young, who received the New York Wine & Grape Foundation's "Industry Award" in recognition of her contributions to the state wine and grape industry, said the project ties together several economic engines in the region.

"Tourism is one of our top industries," she said in a prepared statement, "and we are the largest grape-growing region outside of California.

"We have 800 growers tending about 30,000 acres of vineyards that support over 1,900 jobs and generate about $5.4 million in wages. We are averaging 35,000 visits annually to our 21 wineries and that results in sales in excess of $17 million," she said.

The Grape Discovery Center will be modeled after the successful Wisconsin Cranberry Discovery Center that draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.

The increased number of visitors drawn to the Lake Erie Grape Belt and Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail will benefit small businesses and the local economy, Young said.

The center will feature educational and interactive exhibits showcasing Chautauqua County's grape and wine industry and promoting its grape products.

Also included in the center will be a gift shop and snack bar. Future plans include establishment of a wine tasting center and a program offering vineyard tours.


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Yeah, those Chautaqua grapes are great. The sad thing about it though is that many of the invisible workers who tend the vineyards & pick most of those grapes aren't welcomed as year-round residents of Chautaqua County.

New building for Rensselaer Polythechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Looks pretty impressive to me.

Here's a link to the EMPAC building (with a time lapse vid of the construction):

http://empac.rpi.edu/building/

The Lansing Star online


$25 Million Hotel to be Managed by Gemstone

by -staff
Friday, 03 October 2008
Rimland Equities announced today that the new $25 Million boutique hotel being planned for downtown Ithaca will be managed by Gemstone Hotels and Resorts. Gemstone is a full-service hotel management company that specializes in managing and operating luxury and upscale hotels. It currently operates, manages or provides asset management services to hotels in cities such as New York, Chicago, Beverly Hills and Lake Tahoe and was ranked 22nd among the top 100 hotel management companies in 2007, according to Hotel Business Magazine.

The "Hotel Ithaca" will be located at the corner of State and Aurora Streets at the edge of the Ithaca Commons. The name for the hotel was chosen by Rimland Equities and Gemstone, and is a reference to the landmark Ithaca Hotel, which stood on the same property for decades, before being torn down as part of urban renewal in the 1960's.

Rimland Equities President and C.E.O. Jeffrey Rimland says, "The Gemstone Brand is an outstanding fit for downtown Ithaca and the surrounding community. Like Ithaca, Gemstone prides itself on operating hotels that offer unique and diverse experiences. Their plans for the Hotel Ithaca, combined with everything downtown has to offer and its urban atmosphere in a small town, will ensure that guests want to return to Ithaca again and again."

Rimland Equities will construct the hotel in accordance with LEED guidelines. It will then be managed by Gemstone Hotels and Resorts. Once constructed, the Hotel Ithaca will also operate under environmentally "green" standards. The nine-story full-service boutique hotel with over 100 luxury rooms and suites, and 2,000 feet of flexible meeting space, is currently undergoing final reviews by the City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board. It's expected to break ground in 2009 and open in 2011.

Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson says, "The City Council and other boards have been discussing this project, and moving it forward, over a couple years. It is anticipated by the City and downtown community alike that this addition will add to the vitality and prosperity of the Ithaca Commons."

Gemstone and Rimland also plan to pay tribute to another Ithaca tradition from the past, by naming the Hotel Ithaca's on-site dining and beverage establishment "Zinck's Bar".

Downtown Ithaca Alliance Executive Director Gary Ferguson says, "Gemstone is a name that downtowns across the country would like to have among their hotel managers. The addition of Gemstone to the other outstanding hotel brands and facilities in our downtown will truly help establish Ithaca as the premiere stop in the Finger Lakes. I'm very grateful to Rimland Equities for working so hard on downtown's behalf to attract Gemstone to Ithaca."

Gemstone Hotels and Resorts is a property management and asset management company based in Park City, UT. It specializes in managing and marketing luxury and upscale hotel and resort properties and their amenities. It also offers asset management services to them and currently directly manages or asset manages approximately 20 properties. Entrepreneur Magazine named Gemstone one of the 500 fastest growing companies in 2007

Rimland Equities is a Long Island-based developer of both commercial and residential properties.

Not exactly development, but here's a good news story for Binghamton:

http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/126878/binghamton-s-economy-goes-national-on-nbc-s-today-show/Default.aspx

Could Olean's baseball stadium host baseball again soon, like maybe a college woodbat league?

Stadium lease deal likely to be presented this spring


A Bradner Stadium lease agreement between the City of Olean and the Olean Local Development Corp. will likely be presented to the Common Council sometime this spring.

The Olean Local Development Corp. was organized a year ago to manage the modernization of the 80- year-old ballpark.

The plan is based on a 2005 plan and feasibility study. At that time, the school district considered heading the stadium renovation as part of a capital project that could be shared by several organizations but abandoned it when it was learned that it would not be eligible for state aid.

The LDC intends to convert the stadium into a regional sports and entertainment facility that would serve as an athletic competition arena for the area’s schools and colleges, as well as a training ground for minor league sports organizations.

Organizers say the effort will cost about $4.17 million and hope an upgraded and expanded stadium complex will draw tourists and strengthen the city’s economy. They assure officials that none of that amount is being requested from the city treasury but will come mostly from tax-exempt donations.

“The city owns it, we need a lease, and we need an agreement between Olean LDC and the city to do the project,” said LDC member Mike Martello during a presentation to the city’s aldermen last week.

The LDC also needs help raising funds and recently was granted federal nonprofit status. If the city can help get the stadium placed within the city’s Cattaraugus Empire Zone boundary and help obtain approval for $3 million in “Empire Credits,” donors will be more likely to help raise the money.

Martello said the stadium, built in 1928 as home field for the Olean Nationals baseball team, also housed the Olean Oilers, a PONY League team that affiliated in 1939 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Professional baseball ended in 1963.

On the who’s who list of baseball players with ties to Bradner Stadium are former Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, who began playing with the Oilers, and Jackie Robinson.

The stadium now hosts an annual community fireworks display, sporting events and occasional concerts and festivals, such as the Rally in the Valley for motorcycle enthusiasts.

The facility is plagued with cracks and crumbling masonry, flooding on the fields, rusty fences and other problems.

Last March, aldermen were stunned to learn that demolition was under way to remove bleachers by organizers of the LDC. The Common Council immediately halted work until plans for the facility could be formalized. The LDC held a meeting in July to announce its intention to take on the project and other community benefit activities.

Once the stadium work is completed, it will hold baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and football fields for high school, college, minor league and community teams. It will feature synthetic turf, permanent and portable seating, three attractive entrances, a wall of fame and scoreboards, as well as a new field house with locker rooms, offices and a concession stand.

Members of the LDC say its athletic events, concerts and other activities will generate revenue and promote more activity in the area.

“We want to turn the stadium from an eyesore to an attraction,” said Martello.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/616257.html

I believe I posted an article about this a while ago, and now work is starting.

Ex-hotel yields to future vision
Demolition starts on former Wellington Hotel to make room for new office space


The Wellington Hotel and its four decrepit State Street neighbors are finally yielding to demolition as their block that became the shameful face of blight in Albany begins its rebirth.

Columbia Development Companies began the job this weekend on Wellington Row that will give rise to new office, commercial and residential space designed to maintain the block's historic streetscape.

The five empty historic buildings at 132-140 State St., which also include the former Berkshire Hotel and a nearly century-old Elks Lodge, have decayed for years, left open to the elements and vermin and at the same time striking a profile of decline in full view of the state Capitol.

Columbia's plan to redevelop the block between Eagle and Lodge streets followed a protracted legal battle that pitted the city against the buildings' former owner, London-based Sebba Rockaway Ltd., over their neglect.

The problem could no longer be ignored when a section of decorative cornice near the Wellington's 10th-story roof threatened to crash down onto State Street in 2004, forcing the closure of parts of the busy thoroughfare.

"This isn't just Albany's sort of Main Street here, it's New York's Main Street," said Mike Yevoli, Albany's commissioner of development and planning.

Columbia's roughly $60 million plans call for the stabilization and restoration of the facades of 132-134, 138 and 140 State St., a compromise that pacified preservationists concerned about the loss of the buildings completely — once sought by Sebba Rockaway.

The facade of the Wellington at 136 State St. will be taken down and parts of it preserved and replaced by a new similar-size building to rise in its place, said Joe Nicolla, Columbia's president.

The Wellington will front a new, larger 14-story office tower that Columbia intends to build behind it and the other buildings.

Crews had been removing asbestos and began demolition this weekend, Nicolla said.

The Berkshire Hotel at 140 State is so decayed that an engineer inspecting the property "literally fell through the floor," Nicolla said.

"The roof is in the basement," he said. "We're going to stabilize the façade and build a new residential building behind it."

Nicolla said demolition could be complete by midsummer, but the start of construction is contingent on the developer securing tenant commitments and financing for the project.

"I'm talking to a few people," Nicolla said, declining to elaborate. "We're actively working on it, which means good things."

The demolition is funded, in part, through a $2.5 million grant to the city from the Empire State Development Corp., Yevoli said, adding he's not concerned the economic downturn might leave financing and tenants for the project scarce.

"With the economic uncertainties I think we're doing all we can" to help the project succeed, he said. "The time will be right, and we're confident of that."

http://timesunion.com//Shared/Graphics/NewsDB/0325_wellington_3_.jpg
Demolition of the former Wellington Hotel begins on State Street in Albany.

http://timesunion.com//Shared/Graphics/NewsDB/SJ%200325_WELLINGTON%204.jpg
Office, commercial and residential space will be built following demolition of the old Wellington Hotel and four of its State Street neighbors in Albany.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=783471&category=REGION

Your passion for Upstate NY's smaller cities is truly awesome, Matt!

Your passion for Upstate NY's smaller cities is truly awesome, Matt!

I don't really care about them too much, I'm just trying to start discussions on more places in New York. Ex-Ithacan contributes about his hometown but other than that, there isn't much interest in other places, which I am actually kind of surprised about.

How does this happen?

A start-up steel company looking to locate in Orleans County has walked away from its proposal because it could not get the allocation of low-cost hydropower it wanted from the New York Power Authority, according to a state senator from Niagara County and company representatives.

Steel Development Co. had been looking to build a steel recycling and manufacturing facility in the Town of Shelby.

The company wanted an allocation of 34 megawatts of low-cost hydropower from the Power Authority, which operates one of the country's largest hydropower plants, the Niagara Power Project, in Niagara County. The authority offered the company 17.5 megawatts, State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, said today.

"Once again, the Power Authority has let us down in a big way," Maziarz said in a statement. "NYPA just doesn't get it."

Mississippi-based Steel Development Co. would have promised to make a $200 million investment, creating 1,000 construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs.

Company officials informed Maziarz on Tuesday they were no longer looking to do business here, the senator said.

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/640703.html

:bash:

Ha! What imbeciles. Cheap power is one of the few things NYS can offer to offset the other high costs of doing business. Someon e needs to be accountable.

Isn't the first time, sure won't be the last. Look at the Wacker AG debacle a few years ago.

I don't really care about them too much, I'm just trying to start discussions on more places in New York. Ex-Ithacan contributes about his hometown but other than that, there isn't much interest in other places, which I am actually kind of surprised about.


Sorry, I don't mean to monopolize the thread. I sometimes try to find development news of other small upstate cities, but it isn't always easy.


Speaking of Ithaca :wink2:

Some good news for downtown Ithaca (when I get renderings or pics I'll post them):

From the Ithaca Journal

http://cmsimg.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CB&Date=20090416&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=904160358&Ref=AR&Profile=1006&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0
SIMON WHEELER / Staff Photo

Ithaca City Alderperson Joel Zumoff looks at the largest of the five theaters being constructed for Cinemapolis at the new facility on the ground level of the Green Street Parking Garage during a brief tour Tuesday afternoon. The theater is planning to open in late May. (Buy this photo)






Downtown hotel, condos, stores slated to open soon
By Krisy Gashler • kgashler@gannett.com • Staff Writer • April 16, 2009


Major downtown construction projects are slated to move forward this year, a sign of Ithaca's relative resilience in troubled economic times, city officials say.


The Hotel Ithaca project at the eastern end of The Commons should break ground this fall, and construction is scheduled to start by summer on the Cayuga Green condominiums between the Cayuga garage and Six Mile Creek, Downtown Ithaca Alliance Executive Director Gary Ferguson said.

This summer should also see the completion and opening of the new Cinemapolis in the ground-floor of the Green Street garage and Urban Outfitters on the ground-floor of the Cayuga Green apartment complex.

Hotel and condos
The $30 million, 100-room Hotel Ithaca project this month received city approval for zoning variances, and Common Council approval to jut several feet over the top of the Green Street garage. It's scheduled to come for site plan review to the Planning and Development Board April 28.

The $12 million, 7-story Cayuga Green luxury apartment/condo project is the last piece of the years-long Cayuga Green downtown development. It already has needed approvals.

Ferguson said when he talks with fellow economic development planners around the state, "they're just green with envy."

"One, we've been planning them for some time so it's not like these are just popping out of the ground. But secondly, while the economy's been rough, this still is a very strong economy relative to other parts of the state, other parts of the country," he said. "I think this malaise, if you will, is worse in a lot of other places and actually makes Ithaca look even more attractive to people."

Bankers still seem to have faith in Ithaca, said Phyllisa DeSarno, deputy director for economic development for the city. This is evidenced by the fact that Cayuga Green developer Ken Schon has retained his financial backing.

"We were all crossing our fingers . . . because so many developers are losing their funding and banks are not going with projects," she said. "But he said it does not look like that's going to be his issue. He is moving ahead."


The Hotel Ithaca was proposed to go up to the limit of 85 feet allowed by zoning, but the project developer received approval to go up an additional 21 feet, in order to enclose the building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Under the city's zoning, that kind of equipment is never considered part of a building's height.



"This was a very, very major coup, really," DeSarno said. "We were so thrilled that this happened because it sets a bar now I think for other developers, other builders to do something about mechanicals, which are really such a blight. When you're coming off any of the hills, coming down from Ithaca College or Cornell (University), it's going to be so much more aesthetically nice to have that screening there."

The rooftop enclosure will also include meeting and conference space "to offset the cost of the structure," according to information provided to the city's Board of Zoning Appeals.

Openings
Construction continues on the future homes of Cinemapolis and Urban Outfitters on either side of Green Street.

Cinemapolis is scheduled to open in late May, potentially in conjunction with Ithaca Festival, said Lynne Cohen, one of the executive directors of Seventh Art, which oversees Cinemapolis.

Construction is scheduled to be complete in about a week, then all that will be left is to paint and install seating, projection equipment and refreshment equipment, Cohen said.

"With a little imagination, you can see what the theater's going to look like," she said.

Compared to the existing Cinemapolis theaters in Center Ithaca and at Fall Creek Pictures, the new location will have "fewer seats but better allocated," Cohen said.

Cinemapolis' contract at Fall Creek Pictures runs through the end of this year, but Seventh Art has not yet decided whether they'll continue showing films there once the new location opens, said Rich Szanyi, Cohen's husband and another Seventh Art executive director.

Tsvi Bokaer, founder of Fall Creek Pictures, could not be reached for comment.

Urban Outfitters, which will occupy the eastern half of the ground floor under the Cayuga Green apartments, is on schedule to open July 2, project architect David Levy said by email.

"Now obviously Urban Outfitters will be a big draw and all of the neighbors around Urban Outfitters, including The Commons, will benefit from them being here," DeSarno said.

Ithaca will be the second Upstate New York location for college-age focused Urban Outfitters. The other is in Buffalo.

Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit also plans to rent space on the ground floor of the apartments, and Schon is in discussion with two local small businesses about filling the remaining area, DeSarno said.

"Obviously there are cuts throughout our city and the county in our businesses and in our employers," she said. "But we certainly, like Bob Sweet from National Development Council always says to me, '(Ithaca is) an oasis amongst a muck and mire.' "

Sorry, I don't mean to monopolize the thread. I sometimes try to find development news of other small upstate cities, but it isn't always easy.


Not a problem, I was just saying the truth. A lot of Ithaca news is fine.

Are you familiar with Corning at all? I was there last week and it's a pretty impressive little city. It seems like it's doing well, since most Southern Tier cities are gasping for air, much less some of the bigger places. I didn't see any new stuff going on there, though.

Wood construction in a theater...always a comforting thought

Nothing much with this article, but it's good to hear about a place that is doing well in this economy. How many people expected Corning of all places to be doing well though?

Bad Economy Can't Stop Gaffer District


The struggling economy can't stop business in Downtown Corning.

The Leader reports that city officials say 17 new businesses opened in the Gaffer District over the past year, while 14 closed.

A major boost to the district is the ongoing development of apartments on the upper floors of Market Street buildings.

City Manager Mark Ryckman says the business district's relative good health is in part due to the solid relationship between the city, Corning Incorporated and local merchants.

http://www.topix.com/com/glw/2009/03/bad-economy-cant-stop-gaffer-district

Banking on the allure of flair
Home Savings Bank building gets a makeover to provide "downtown experience"


Old Man Potter would be appalled.

One of Albany's grandest bank lobbies, a place first designed for the stern business of financial transaction, is being redesigned into a premier party palace, with booming basslines supplanting hushed talk of certificates of deposit or business loans.

Of course, it has been decades since anyone used the massive and soaring lobby of the former Home Savings Bank skyscraper for banking, keeping its marble floors, ornate fixtures and grand marble columns almost entirely obscured from public view.

That should change as Colonie-based Classé Catering takes over the space. The business, owned by 34-year-old Brian Palozzolo, is renaming the space the 11 North Pearl Event Centre, a moniker that reflects the building's address.

Starting later this month, the bank's vault will become a trendy "velvet lounge." Doormen and valet parking attendants will work its entryway on event nights. Other portions of the building will become a bridal suite and powder room, and an executive dining room — as events like weddings and cocktail parties take the place of bank lines and teller booths.

"We're trying to bring the flair from the big city up here," said Palozzolo, whose business has never previously offered its own space for events. "We're finding a definite need for event space in downtown Albany. Everybody's looking to have that downtown experience."

The move by Classé Catering, and its $75,000 investment for lobby upgrades and furniture, is a big victory for the building's landlord — and a much-needed one.

Two years ago, The Heights Real Estate Co. bought the building for $8.25 million. Last year, Heights closed on 100 State St., a $3.5 million purchase that gave it ownership of a second historic high-rise in Albany.

Progress on both buildings has been slow: The Home Savings building is still more than 65 percent vacant, its owner says, despite more than $100,000 in upgrades and a marketing campaign that included television advertising.

The State Street building, which is about two-thirds occupied, is more successful, though its vacancy rate is rising. And the tower's crown remains covered in netting to prevent pieces of the structure from crashing to the ground.

Heights co-owner Tony Huang said an exterior renovation that would remove the netting could begin later this year. He conceded the poor economy is hindering the company's efforts to remake its Albany properties.

He said the building at 100 State has been affected by cost-conscious tenants leaving for cheaper rents or smaller spaces.

"I'm seeing a lot of that lately and it's not encouraging," Huang said.

The Heights properties aren't alone in such struggles: A recent report from CB Richard Ellis/Albany said the vacancy rate for older office structures — or Class C space — is now 27.5 percent in downtown Albany.

"The Albany market is pretty tough," Huang said.

The 11 N. Pearl space won't be the first former bank lobby in the region used for weddings, banquets and parties. Franklin Plaza Ballroom on Fourth Street in Troy makes similar use of an old Marine Midland Bank branch.
The Classé Catering space, though, may benefit from existing nightlife on North Pearl. It may also benefit from a $50,000 marketing and advertising campaign, including television commercials, that Palozzolo is launching to promote that his business now has a venue of its own.

An invitation-only opening party is scheduled for April 30.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=792083&category=ALBANY&TextPage=1

Downtown improvements noted at awards program


Events of the past year have had “a positive impact [downtown] and improved the quality of life for the community.”

That was the consensus during Friday’s annual meeting and awards program of the Batavia Business Improvement District (BID)—an organization that represents 190 property owners and tenants in the downtown and Ellicott Square business districts.

The program, held in the Homestead Event Center in downtown’s City Centre Mall, revealed that BID has overseen grants and loans of $2.3 million in reinvestment by downtown businesses. BID also is responsible for the Jackson Square concerts, Summer in the City and Christmas in the City, and also funds downtown flower baskets and store facade improvements.

O’Lacy’s Irish Pub received the Spirit of Downtown Award and the BID volunteer honor went to Jeffrey Gillard.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/651921.html

Plans for Allegany, near Olean:

St. Bona eyes rebirth of Castle property
Plan includes mix of retail, housing


The former Castle property — one of the most well-known parcels in the Town of Allegany — is once again being eyed for redevelopment that would include a mix of retail, restaurants and housing.

St. Bonaventure University on Friday announced it is working with Ross Wilson & Associates, a Williamsville developer and construction-management company interested in building apartments, a hotel, convenience retail, restaurants and a recreation venue on the 17-acre parcel across from the campus on Route 417.

St. Bonaventure officials released few details in a brief statement, but said a feasibility study is expected to be completed in August, “with the goal of starting construction as soon as possible thereafter.”

“We are eager to move forward with a project of this nature primarily because it will enhance the campus life experience of our students while also serving as a boost to the regional economy,” Brenda Snow, senior vice president for finance and administration, said in a prepared statement.

“We are excited about the approach proposed by Ross Wilson,” Snow said. “This is a company with a regional vision that aims to link the amenities of the greater Olean area with other regional assets, including those in Ellicottville and Salamanca.”

Ross Wilson is the developer that has proposed an indoor-outdoor water park and 300-room hotel resort on a 54-acre site south of I-86 in Salamanca.

A call to the company’s Williamsville office went unanswered Friday afternoon.

The Castle property is on Route 417 across the street from the east entrance to St. Bonaventure’s campus.

A restaurant opened at the site in 1946 and in its latest form was known for its distinctive stone towers and for the quality of its Italian cuisine.

Increased competition forced the Castle Restaurant to close in 1998.

It briefly reopened in 1999, but then closed again along with the accompanying 160-room Castle Inn, which faced competition from a new Hampton Inn nearby.

St. Bonaventure acquired the properties for $1.8 million to have some control over the redevelopment, but had no plans to develop the site itself.

In 2005, the university announced a deal with a Central New York development company interested in building a mix of retail, restaurants, office space and housing, but the contract expired in 2008 without any results.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/651085.html

Schumer says Yahoo weighs sites in Genesee, Orleans

Genesee and Orleans counties are the Western New York locations being considered by the Internet giant Yahoo for a new data center, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N. Y., said Saturday.

“They are seriously, seriously considering a site in Orleans County or Genesee County,” Schumer said. “They are considering other sites, I don’t know where they are, they haven’t told me, but Western New York is at the top of the list.”

Schumer said the center would not result in a large number of jobs—maybe 50 to 100—but luring a giant like Yahoo could help draw other high-tech companies to the region.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/666778.html

saw that in bizfirst yesterday. kind of took me by surprise, though i guess we are a popular back office area these days.

Wait until the NYPA or some other state agency f*cks it up and it locates in Mississippi instead.

It would be great if the area between Rochester and Buffalo could bring our two cities closer together and end what seems to be a competitive and negative attitude between the two.

Rochestrians are pretty much just jealous of Buffalo, sorry, but it's true. Buffalo has the major league sports teams, the big city, the high population and perfect geographical location, close access to Canada with Binational trade, and a large growing economy. I don't see how people over there in Ra-cha-cha aren't all moving to da Buff.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/3030260731_ee0cb1f55a.jpg?v=0

Rochestrians are pretty much just jealous of Buffalo, sorry, but it's true. Buffalo has the major league sports teams, the big city, the high population and perfect geographical location, close access to Canada with Binational trade, and a large growing economy. I don't see how people over there in Ra-cha-cha aren't all moving to da Buff.



Those are fighting words!

If Yahoo picks one of those sites- I'd like to know why there and not in say Niagara County, Monroe County or in suburban Erie County. I assume it isn't land costs.

You'd probably have fewer worthless jackoffs trying to break-in or sabotage something out in the boonies.

Don't worry, though: Paterson and the NYPA are on the job!
Yahoo! has been increasing its number of data centers, which use large amounts of energy, around the country and globe.

Paterson directed the New York Power Authority and the Empire State Development Corp. to work with Yahoo! on possible state assistance involving low-cost power and other lures.

We've all seen where this has gone in the past... T'would be insanity to expect otherwise.

If Yahoo picks one of those sites- I'd like to know why there and not in say Niagara County, Monroe County or in suburban Erie County. I assume it isn't land costs.
It depends on the kind of datacenter it is. If it's for data backups, storage, or the like, they will choose sites that are outside metro areas for security reasons.

It would be great if the area between Rochester and Buffalo could bring our two cities closer together and end what seems to be a competitive and negative attitude between the two.

most buffalonians don't have that competitive attitude towards rochester. some have the misconception that the economy is infinitely better in rochester, but thats about as far as it goes....

Rochestrians are pretty much just jealous of Buffalo, sorry, but it's true. Buffalo has the major league sports teams, the big city, the high population and perfect geographical location, close access to Canada with Binational trade, and a large growing economy. I don't see how people over there in Ra-cha-cha aren't all moving to da Buff.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/3030260731_ee0cb1f55a.jpg?v=0

don't be so damn harsh on rochester. i will admit their is a bit of an inferiority complex there towards buffalo.
rochester certainly is a quieter, more relaxed kind of town than b-lo, and doesn't offer quite as many "big city" amenities, but rochester has some really fantastic qualities.

for one it does not suffer nearly the urban blight buffalo does.
tree canapies are abundant in the roc.
unlike buffalo where many of the residential blocks are way too long to be comfortably walked, rochester is loaded with easily walkable residential areas.
rochester really is a very nice place, a little dull, but nice nonetheless.

and as far as "growing economy" goes, i'd love to know where you got that idea. the business climate in both cities sucks and until a 8 or 10 years ago rochester had a very strong economy. other than a brief blip of positive a couple years ago buffalo cant say that at all.

I'm fairly certain that Buffalonian was being sarcastic as the words "Buffalo" and "large growing economy" do not belong in the same sentence. But I might as well note that Buffalo's remaining major league sports teams owe their existence to Rochester. Take away the ROC and they quickly become the Toronto Bills and the Hamilton Sabres. Sorry but it's true.

The Bills ought to stay in Buffalo, but be renamed the "Welfare Queens". Even the "Queen" part matches with the "Queen City". I think we have a winner! (Well, not the team itself, that would take divine intervention...or maybe more...or at least a top-to-bottom change.)

Maybe that can be part of the 50 year festivities.

Some Adirondack news:

APA: No action due on $600M resort plan


The biggest project ever proposed in the Adirondacks remains in the hands of a state administrative law judge, a spokesman for the Adirondack Park Agency said Tuesday.

The APA will consider plans for the Adirondack Club and Resort, a proposal to reopen the Big Tupper Ski Area in Franklin County and build 759 condos and mansions, only after Judge Daniel P. O'Connell has completed hearings, the agency said.

The hearings were ordered by the APA more than two years ago, and informal mediation sessions during the intervening time haves sparked unfounded rumors, agency Acting Executive Director James Connolly said.

"Rumors circulating that the agency board will revisit the Adirondack Club and Resort project application at its May 2009 meeting are inaccurate. The process remains under the control of the judge," Connolly said.

The board members chose 10 topics to be during the hearing — including environmental effects, the visibility of the houses from Big Tupper Lake, and the project's financial structure. The project, which would involve 6,200 acres, has been estimated at $600 million.

O'Connell said, "The agency board cannot make any project decision until the adjudicatory hearing is complete and the formal hearing record is submitted for their consideration."

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=797757&category=REGION

For the record, I have nothing against Rochester. I like visiting Rochester. In fact, my company has an office there, so if for some reason I had to move, it might be possible even to essentially keep the same job. That said, it would be my first choice for relocation were it not afflicted with the same malady that Buffalo has to deal with, being that it has the misfortune to be located in New York. Therefore my realistic first choice would be Pittsburgh (hopefully it never comes to that). But still, no hate.

A bit of good news for the Albany area:


GE to build new battery plant in upstate
The Associated Press • May 12, 2009

NISKAYUNA — General Electric Co. will manufacture advanced batteries for locomotives and heavy equipment at a new plant in upstate New York.

GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt and New York Gov. David Paterson say the factory will be built in the Albany area and will create 350 new manufacturing jobs. The sodium batteries will be used in GE’s hybrid locomotive and will be suitable for heavy service vehicles and backup storage.

GE says Tuesday the plant will anchor its new battery business. The move complements its recent $30 million investment in lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123Systems of Fairfield, Conn.

GE did not immediately provide financial details beyond announcing an initial investment of $100 million. The company is applying for federal stimulus dollars.

Big stuff for the old hood.

From the Ithaca Journal:

http://cmsimg.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CB&Date=20090519&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=905190332&Ref=AR&Profile=1006&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0

Photo provided

A site plan of the proposed Collegetown Terrace Apartment complex shows in yellow the footprint of the new buildings that will replace all the buildings in the area bounded by South Quarry Street, East State Street and Valentine Place. The three buildings in gray €" Quarry Arms, Boiler Works and Casa Roma €" are part of Ithaca's East Hill Historic District.





Collegetown developer plans 2011 opening
Project would rise over creek
By Krisy Gashler • kgashler@gannett.com • Staff Writer • May 19, 2009

The proposed Collegetown Terrace Apartments are scheduled to break ground in summer 2010, open in summer 2011 and house primarily graduate students.

On traffic and parking - a major concern for Collegetown residents - the project would provide more parking spaces than required by city zoning, as well as amenities intended to reduce car dependence, such as a shuttle to Cornell and Wegmans.

Ithaca developer John Novarr submitted his full review application report to the city's Planning and Development Board last week, and he provided a copy to the Journal. Site plan review is scheduled to begin at the city's Planning Board meeting at 6 p.m. May 26.

Ed Strong, a graduate student representative on the Cornell University Assembly, said graduate student housing is sorely needed and the apartments will be well-received among students.

While Cornell has recently added undergraduate housing on West Campus, on-campus graduate student housing is still inadequate, Strong said. The Maplewood complex is made of modular buildings that are already past their life expectancy, he said.

The Collegetown Terrace project calls for removing all but three buildings in the 16.4-acre area bounded by Quarry Street, East State Street, Valentine Place and Six Mile Creek. The historically designated Quarry Arms, Casa Roma and Boiler Works Apartments buildings would remain.

Seven buildings would be built on the site. The full site, including the three historic buildings, would contain 1,260 bedrooms and 860 parking spots.

The area currently contains 635 bedrooms and 430 spots.

On East State Street, plans call for four-story buildings that meet height restrictions imposed by city zoning.

As the topography slopes downhill toward Six Mile Creek, buildings are proposed to increase to five and then six stories, which would require a zoning variance.

Parking is housed in one or two stories underground and at ground level to minimize surface parking lots. In the initial presentation before the planning board, Novarr said his upper-floor apartments always rent out before ground-floor apartments, because students find them safer and more private.

Novarr plans to charge tenants separate rent for parking spaces and apartments, a measure intended to force people to consider the cost of having a car.

At the Casa Roma complex, parking is rolled into the rent.

Novarr told the planning board rent would be similar to the buildings to remain on-site.

They average between $1,500 and $1,800 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to listings available online.

I think the Yahoo Data Center coming to the region is a win for both Buffalo and Rochester no matter how close it is located to either metro area. Finally someone got a clue and made some smart decisions to get them to come to NYS. I'd like to see it in Niagara County as that area needs the boost more than any other.

I don't know about this. The Buffalo News is reporting that the NYPA power discounts would amount to a public subsidy of $810,000 for every $50,000 job created over the life of the deal. Basically, we are paying them $54,000 per year to create each $50,000 job.

I understand that there are larger considerations than just the raw numbers here, but it kind of smells to me. It would be cheaper for the state to just hire an equivalent number of IT workers at $50,000 each for make-work and it would have the same effect on employment.

I wish we could find a way to use the low-cost power to grow our own businesses. When Buffalo was mighty, it was because local businesses were using Buffalo's strategic strengths (location via the Erie Canal and later railroads, and yes, cheap hydropower). I think encouraging homegrown businesses will strengthen WNY far more than "luring business" from across the country.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/678149.html

“On a number basis,” said Power Authority President Richard Kessel, “this doesn’t look like the greatest deal in the world, but we can’t look at the numbers alone.

“Numbers matter less than jobs. We’ve just got to create jobs in Western New York,” he said.This sounds to me like the old joke about "We're losing money on each sale, but we make it up in volume!"

That Yahoo! hydropower deal is a ripoff, I'm sorry. If you have to bribe a company $50k+ per year per guaranteed job, just to be competitive, something is sorely wrong. So basically, the positions created are just going to be subsidized by taxpayers. Explain to me how this is better than lowering taxes and electric costs and letting the taxpayers keep and spend more, thus creating far more jobs in a more organic way?

Oh sorry, how naive of me. A few retread politicians might lose their patronage nests. What was I thinking...

They get it right for once (as opposed to Wacker Chemie, Steel Development, probably 100 others) and manage to screw it up even worse. Subsidized private jobs. Yeah, economic fascism is alive and well in New York state (with a lower-case 's').

Think of it: What this tells me, is to be competitive in New York, a company must have no payroll - because what goes to payroll elsewhere is eaten up in fees and onerous regulation here. Assuming it takes this deal to level the playing field, this is essentially what we have.

I guess NYPA is under enormous political pressure to show that it's doing something after all the hubbub of the previous deals that fell through. (Although that article in the News shows that the Google deal would have been an even larger subsidy per job.)

So I think when NY and NYPA so obviously want the deal SO badly, Yahoo has all the power at the negotiating table. It's not so different from when sports team owners threaten to move their team to another city if the public doesn't build them a new stadium.

And not to be snide, but it's not like Yahoo is all that cutting-edge of a company lately.

I'll say it again: Upstate needs to stop waiting for some knight-in-shining-armor corporations to be "lured in" from elsewhere. We need to create our own economic power that has loyalty to the region. Why do think M&T's name is at the top of the "sponsors" list of every arts and cultural institution and event? Because the board of directors and Bob Wilmers feel a sense of loyalty to the WNY community.

We need about 10 more M&Ts. One of the reasons Pittsburgh seems to have recovered better than Buffalo (at least from my outsider's perspective) is because it has retained several major corporate headquarters. They help bring wealth into the city and reinvest it locally.

I know that is easier said than done, but if we're going to be doling out public subsidies to corporations, wouldn't it be better to give them to locally-owned companies to help them get started or grow?

And not to be snide, but it's not like Yahoo is all that cutting-edge of a company lately.
Don't say that...I hear they're trying to lure Commodore Int'l. Apparently, the Commodore 256 is going to be the next big thing.

And I don't disagree that I'd rather have 100 5 employee startups vs. one 500 job announcement. The "surface area" for job expansion is much greater in the former. The problem is, who in their right mind starts a business here unless there is a nearly completely unserved market?

We would do better to spend that money promoting small business in Pennsylvania in the hopes that they'll grow and someday expand into NY. Sounds ridiculous but I'm sure it would work better than the current crapshoot.

Not to mention, but before we even think about trying to bribe more headline-garnering companies just so we can save some political face, we need to focus on retaining the companies we already have that are leaving. The bleeding must be stopped first. Just read of 80 jobs lost in Orchard Park due to a company consolidating operations (for whatever reason, perhaps unavoidable), to OHIO! We're not even competitive with Ohio! So you lose a company that probably wasn't getting power breaks, and essentially negate the region-wide positive impact of the Yahoo!, and have to pay for it to boot. Multiply that by a million and you get today's Taxation State.

If you're New York City or San Francisco you can have high taxes, high welfare entitlement, lots of red tape, and other hassles and people will still keep their businesses there because of other factors which other places cannot recreate.

If you're upstate New York, or Ohio, or Western PA you don't compete with New York City or San Francisco, no matter how delusional your civic leaders may be. You compete with places like Ft. Wayne, IN and San Antonio, TX. You compete with places based on cost. If you have high taxes, lots of trade unionism, etc. it becomes very difficult to create any growth.

Technically this is Buffalo-specific but we're all in the same boat and it fits well with the discussion of big job announcements vs. little ones, so I decided to post it here instead.

FOCUS: MOVING OUT
Higher taxes drive small company out of Buffalo (http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/682828.html)
By Tom Precious
NEWS ALBANY BUREAU

ALBANY — In enacting this year’s state budget and its $8 billion in tax and fee increases, some lawmakers paid little heed to claims that it would push some residents over the line, prompting them to move out of the Empire State and its tax-busting reputation.

So when B. Thomas Golisano, the billionaire who owns the Buffalo Sabres, recently said the budget convinced him to leave and save $5 million in new income tax demands, some dismissed it as a political stunt.

What will be said of Nancy Bell?

After lifetimes in the Buffalo area, Bell and her two sons will move to northern Florida by December.

The hit is far worse than just three more people joining the steady stream of upstaters who have fled New York over the years: The Bells are taking their company with them to a part of the country not only with lower taxes, but also with wide-open arms from officials who enthusiastically courted them.

In the ashes: the 21 people the Bells now employ at Science First, which makes a broad range of science-related products, from model skeletons to rain gauges and soil and water testing kits, and distributes them to schools and companies around the country from its facility on Botsford Place in North Buffalo.

“I personally feel we are being driven out of the state, that they are effectively saying they don’t want us here anymore. It makes me mad,” said Nathaniel Bell, whose grandfather, a chemical engineer, started the family business in his Town of Tonawanda basement 49 years ago.

The Bells might just be the poster family for the upstate population flight. They desperately wanted to keep their business and its jobs in Buffalo but, in the end, were left with no choice but to move.

Help from Florida

Their plight also drew two very different reactions from local economic development officials. In Erie County, the Bells said, help or even encouragement was, at best, lacking. In Nassau County, a rural spot north of Jacksonville, Fla., officials leapt into action to entice the Bells southward — and in interviews were extremely knowledgeable about the Bells and their company and what they say will be their growing future in Florida.

Last fall, the family had no thoughts of fleeing. After buying out another company, the business was looking to relocate somewhere in Erie County.

But in December, Gov. David A. Paterson proposed his budget. Two things worried the Bells: Paterson was pushing drastic changes in the Empire Zone program, which gives companies like Science First various financial incentives. Paterson’s plan would end that for Science First.

Then, more worrisome, was talk by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and unions of a plan for big income tax increases on wealthier residents.

Nancy Bell, 60, was traveling in the Antarctic with Nathaniel when her older son, Aaron, sent her an e-mail: Given the budget news out of Albany, shouldn’t they consider investigating other states to take the family business? The green light was given.

The search was limited to four states with no state income taxes: Florida, Texas, Nevada and South Dakota. It was quickly winnowed to Florida and finally to the Jacksonville area for a variety of reasons: access to a container port, low taxes, good schools and a lineup of local officials who bent over backward to help them.

But the decision still wasn’t made until late March and early April, when the components of the new state budget became clear.

That, the Bells said, was devastating. While Paterson’s Empire Zone plan revisions were softened, they still called for its demise next year and new provisions for this year that the Bells say would have bumped them from the benefits that cut certain business taxes in half.

But hitting them far harder was the budget’s income tax increase on residents making more than $200,000 — a plan worth $4 billion this year for the state. Backers touted it as a way for the rich to help during tough times.

Not really rich

But there’s a problem, the Bells say. They are not rich, but because of how they file their state returns, they are treated that way.

Three-quarters of small-business owners pay taxes through filings as S-corporations or limited liability partnerships. That means company profits are taxed as part of their personal income. But the Bells say the money reported as income doesn’t go to their bank accounts. A large part goes to federal and state taxes, and then about 40 percent is driven back into the company to hire more people and buy equipment and expand.

So of the five family members involved in the business, the state tax rate for two will rise to 8.97 percent from 6.85 percent because their S-corporation filing lists their incomes at more than $500,000, and three others will pay more because their incomes exceed $200,000.

“So there will be less to invest in the business,” Aaron Bell said.

Last year, the family, which will say only that the company’s sales total several million dollars a year, was looking for sites in the Buffalo area. They contacted the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. It didn’t go well.

“Essentially, they couldn’t care less about us. We only had 20 jobs, and it wasn’t important to them,” said 22-year-old Nathaniel Bell. And agency officials said they could not do anything about the big state income tax increase.

Alfred Culliton, the development agency’s chief financial officer, said his agency gave Science First all the help it requested. While the agency is not a real estate operation, two of his senior officials, he said, worked with the company in trying to find buildings for its relocation. He said the company never sought any financial assistance, such as low-interest loans, from the agency.

“I don’t know why they would say we were not eager to help small businesses,” Culliton said. He said the firm wasn’t able to find the real estate it wanted locally. “That brings the question into mind of how realistic were their expectations,” he said, noting that no rent subsidy programs are available for companies like Science First and that available space is charged at market rates.

“I believe we gave them the help they asked for,” Culliton said.

In January, sensing what was coming with the final budget, the Bells contacted officials in Florida’s Nassau County.

“It was like night and day,” Nathaniel said.

The offers of help rolled in. County legislators came forth. Economic developers pointed them to local architects and engineers and help with the permitting process. Officials persuaded a local paper company to sell Science First some unused land for 25 percent of the market rate. They were offered up to $8,300 for every job created under a State of Florida program. A low-interest loan of $300,000 was put on the table. And the absence of a state income tax saves the family about $100,000 a year, the Bells estimated.

A new, 25,000-square-foot building, about double the company’s Buffalo facility, is scheduled to be built by December, and plans call for doubling the work force.

Not easy decision

In Nassau County, officials don’t focus on luring big companies. Science First “fits the profile of the company we are trying to recruit here—small to medium-size and an entrepreneurial- driven management,” said Steve Rieck, executive director of the Nassau County Economic Development Board.

Rieck was careful not to pick a turf war fight with New York, going only as far as to say the Empire State’s reputation for high taxes “probably does” help lure companies to Florida.

For some of the Bells, the decision to move was not easy. The family has long ties to the Buffalo area. Nancy Bell and her deceased husband bought the company from her father back in 1983. The sons went to area high schools in Buffalo and Kenmore, and Aaron, 31, and his wife have a young son.

A year ago, no one thought of leaving. But, in an interview last week, a sense of anger and frustration flowed from the family members. After years of making a go of it in Buffalo, the expense of doing business in this state, increasingly unaffordable over the years, was now a clear obstacle to growth plans.

Of the 21 employees, two might transfer. The Bells say they feel bad about the impact on the rest and note that not everyone in the family embraced the decision; one of Nancy Bell’s daughters will not make the move.

The decision behind her, she still admits to regrets and anger —aimed mostly at the state and its financial decisions that affect businesses like Science First. “We would have never moved,” Nancy Bell said.

tprecious@buffnews.com

One thing I'm noticing is you don't hear as many complaining about "Buffalo" or "Erie County" or "Western New York" anymore. That seems to have subsided and now is becoming more consistently directed at the rightful target: Albany. This is a good thing.

More good news:
05/26/09 10:22 AM
A quarter of New Yorkers consider leaving state, poll finds (http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/683140.html)
By Tom Precious
News Albany Bureau

ALBANY -- Nearly a quarter of the state's population is at least giving thought to leaving New York for better conditions elsewhere, a new poll has found.

The Siena College Research Institute poll released this morning shows 11 percent of New Yorkers say they are going to move unless conditions in the state improve while another 10 percent say they would like to move out "as quickly as I can." Only 16 percent flatly say they are never moving.

The poll found 52 percent believe the state is moving in the wrong direction, while only 33 percent say New York is going in the right direction. The rest don't know or have no opinion.

The poll found 36 percent have no plans currently to move from the state, while 25 percent say they might move out once they retire.

Broken down by various subgroups, 18 percent of Republican and 16 percent of Latino voters say they will move if things don't improve, while 14 percent of voters age 18 to 34 years old and 13 percent of upstate voters say they would like to move out as quickly as they could.

Those most committed to the state? Black voters, 26 percent of whom say they will never move, and New York City voters, 24 percent of whom said the Empire State will always be their home.

The poll found only 8 percent said the economy of the state is good and only 1 percent called it excellent; the rest rated it either fair or poor. Siena said the number of people claiming they are considering moving from the state is the highest since the poll began asking the question; it did not say how many years that has been.

The wide-ranging poll found these other trends:

--Support for legalizing same-sex marriage in New York has slid from a previous Siena poll a month ago, when 53 percent said they supported and 39 percent opposed the right. In the new poll, New Yorkers are split -- 46 percent to 46 percent -- in favoring and opposing gay marriage. Democrats, younger voters, and Jews support it, while Republicans, older voters, African Americans, Protestants and Catholics generally oppose it. Thirty-nine percent of opponents say they will be very disappointed if the Legislature passes a same-sex marriage law, while only 16 percent of supporters say they will be very disappointed if it fails;

--Gov. David A. Paterson's support among voters seems to have bottomed out, with 27 percent viewing him favorably and 60 percent unfavorably -- statistically unchanged from a month ago. And he still would lose badly if the election were held today to potential challengers, including GOP's Rudolph Giuliani and Democrat Andrew Cuomo;

--The vast majority of New Yorkers wants a cap on their property taxes, a move being pushed by Paterson but opposed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. Seventy-two percent want an annual cap on the growth of their property taxes, compared to 20 percent who oppose one.

Despite the problems in Albany this session, New Yorkers say they want the Democrats to continue control of the State Senate, which they took over in January after 70 years of GOP dominance. Fifty-seven percent want the Senate to remain Democratic, compared to 37 percent who do not. There are nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans in the state, according to state election board records.

tprecious@buffnews.com

Who the hell are the 1 percent who say the economy is excellent? Oh wait, I think I have an inkling...

Some news from the Catskills.

Senecas draw closer to Catskills casino


State and federal officials still stand in their way, but the Seneca Nation is one step closer to building a new $1.3 billion casino in the resort area of the Catskills.

The nation’s Legislative Council has approved an agreement that would pay Sullivan County and the casino’s other host communities between $15 million and $20 million a year for six years.

The casino project also has the backing of the Sullivan County Legislature, which approved the agreement last month, but will go nowhere without the support of the state and federal governments.

“This is the first big step in our goal of bringing Class III gaming to the Catskills,” Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. said in a prepared statement Tuesday.

The agreement, which provides for additional funding tied to the financial success of the casino, was reached just weeks after a delegation of Seneca representatives lobbied for the project during meetings with aides to Gov. David A. Paterson and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.

The Senecas face opposition in Washington, D. C., where Interior Department officials have halted such off-reservation casinos in recent years. It’s unclear if the Obama administration will follow suit, so the Senecas instead are asking Congress to pass a new law allowing the casino.

The Senecas see the Catskills — approved for Indian-owned casinos in 2001—as an ideal location for a new resort. The nation is partnering with a Michigan start-up company, Rotate Black Gaming.

The Senecas are the third tribe to seek approval for a new casino at the 63-acre site off Interstate 86 about 90 miles north of Manhattan.

If the project moves forward, it would result in a 2 million-square- foot casino — with 6,000 slot machines, 120 table games and 30 poker tables — and a 1,500-room hotel and spa, 12 restaurants, and stores, as well as a 5,000-seat arena and 100,000-square-foot banquet room.

The Senecas’ push for a new casino comes amid an economic downturn.

Seneca Gaming Corp. announced a 13.9 percent drop in its revenues in its year-end financial statements and laid off 5 percent off its work force just before Christmas.

Last August, it stopped construction on its Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino and further improvements on the Seneca Allegany hotel in Salamanca.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/671165.html

The fact the Bells "narrowed their search to four states with no state income tax" says it all. Like many other wealthy Americans, they want to squeeze the life out of the working class by avoiding paying taxes and placing even more burdens on the majority while they vacation in Antarctica and cry poor. This had nothing to do with the ECIDA or Empire Zones, this had everything to do with a handful of selfish rich folks wanting more money for themselves. They feel that they've done enough to help regular people and it's time for them to be treated like royalty. Well congratulations Bells, you've harmed the lives of your former employees up here in NYS so that you can live the lives of your dreams in Florida! Sure, NYS needs to lower its taxes in order to better compete with warring states, but not by coddling a bunch of wealthy traitors like the Bells.

The fact the Bells "narrowed their search to four states with no state income tax" says it all. Like many other wealthy Americans, they want to squeeze the life out of the working class by avoiding paying taxes and placing even more burdens on the majority while they vacation in Antarctica and cry poor. This had nothing to do with the ECIDA or Empire Zones, this had everything to do with a handful of selfish rich folks wanting more money for themselves. They feel that they've done enough to help regular people and it's time for them to be treated like royalty. Well congratulations Bells, you've harmed the lives of your former employees up here in NYS so that you can live the lives of your dreams in Florida! Sure, NYS needs to lower its taxes in order to better compete with warring states, but not by coddling a bunch of wealthy traitors like the Bells.

This is just silly. Do you work for a living or just like collecting other peoples tax money?

Since when is it the governments job to decide how to redistribute wealth? If the Bells want to keep THEIR money....good for them! If they want to give some away to the 'working poor' or whatever....good for them too! What they are trying to avoid is being FORCED to give THEIR resources away.

Based on the article I read, they feel they can get more return out of THEIR resources by controlling them...NOT handing them to the government. I don't think they feel they needed to be treated like royalty....I think they want control of their resources.

Let me put it to you another way...if the government suddenly told you that your taxes were going up so you could 'pay your share' how would you feel? At some point, you might feel like the goverment is bending you over for nothing and it's starting to cost you your financial freedom.

Its kind of how I view Social Security right now. By the time I retire I'll see nothing because I saved 20% of my check for retirement since I was 16....so when they 'remove the rich' from the Social Security system I'll be removed since I actually saved my money for retirement like I was supposed too.

Meanwhile, some asshole who made as much or more as I did all his life will be collecting the SS checks because he didn't save 1/2 of what I did. We BOTH paid into the system...but I'll get fucked because I was responsible with my money while he was buying bigger houses, cars, and taking better vacations. Why can't I keep my SS money and give it to my kids? Why do YOU need it?

Fuck you....earn your own money. Don't expect me to subisidse you. I'd RATHER subsidise my kids, my family, my friends, my church, or whatever else I want to do with MY money.

For the record, I make less than 35k a year....so if you try to call me rich I'll call you a liar. I'm moving up in the world because I'm working my ass off...and it PISSES ME OFF when people feel that becasue I'm, or someone else, is successful, they NEED to subsidise everyone else.

Oh...and by the way...if you feel I'm wrong why don't you send me a monthly check...because I'm poorer than you.....

^^ I agree completely. I don't mind paying my "fair share"; it's the price we pay for living in a civilized society. However it doesn't take an Einstein to see NYS is way beyond being asking for a fair share. Government is the least efficient at spending money, but you wouldn't think so living here. Nor do I take very kindly for having to bail out everybody else's stupidity when I had the supreme stupidity of trying to do everything the right way. The fact that too few people seem to share that outrage (and those that did by having tea parties got hijacked by having Fox News attach itself, for example) shows what deep trouble we're really in, as a nation. It shows that the principles that this country were founded on have been lost. Not to mention that many of the people that do share the views are being labeled fringe extremists by the government. Sooner or later we'll be outdoing the Soviets.

Regarding SS, yeah the return is pathetic when you consider what's put in vs. what's paid out anyways. It barely beats inflation, if it even does - and isn't that the whole point of an investment? Otherwise you're just as well off keeping it and stuffing it in a mattress. A couple weeks ago I read an article on about some person at some retirement "think tank" or whatever it was saying, in more words or less, that we should abandon 401(k)s and other instruments because the risk is too great and SS is an excellent, sound program (backed by the full faith of the US government and its fiat money printing abilities!). Even when it can only pay back 75% of the benefits starting in 2040 or whatever the date is. Huh. Where I come from, a guaranteed 25% loss without even considering inflation is a horrible investment. Maybe it used to be a great program, before the government raided the actual trust fund for other spending and it is nothing more than IOUs which you know will never be paid. But that's an entirely different argument.

Speaking of Ponzi schemes (or are we calling them Madoff schemes now?), Florida's tax structure is predicated on continued growth (not unlike NYS', only the growth isn't there), so some day they'll get what's coming to them, if it hasn't already. But right now they're still way ahead in the game and I daresay far less petrified to allow themselves to sink to NYS' level.

The fact that 25% of the population is contemplating leaving the state should be a clarion wake up call. But of course you know nothing will happen. Never mind the fact that Mexico and a host of developing countries probably have a lower percentage. They'll just keep taxing away until Upstate is empty, NYC is the 3rd or 4th largest city in the US with a poverty rate surpassing 80% with just a few rich people left for the location only, the financial capital has moved to LA or Chicago, and 3 men in a room in Albany continue to pursue tax increases because the previous ones for some reason never fetch the revenue increases they were expected to.

Ok, I'm not saying that NYS manages its finances well - far from it. But like you said, taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society. When businesses and citizens flee to states without an income tax, it just becomes a race to the bottom. It's the same reason so many jobs have moved to Mexico, India, and China. You get to keep a lot more of your money when you don't have to pay for things like decent schools, labor and environmental standards, and clean water.

The other thing that I don't understand is that these business people (including the Bells, as well as "Joe the Plumber") are always quoted about how by being taxed they are unable to hire employees and reinvest in their business. This isn't true, because taxes are calculated on profits, after expenses like payroll.

I really doubt people decide to move based on taxes. More likely, they'd already decided to retire to Florida and this was a convenient justification for moving the company.

The fact the Bells "narrowed their search to four states with no state income tax" says it all. Like many other wealthy Americans, they want to squeeze the life out of the working class by avoiding paying taxes and placing even more burdens on the majority while they vacation in Antarctica and cry poor. This had nothing to do with the ECIDA or Empire Zones, this had everything to do with a handful of selfish rich folks wanting more money for themselves. They feel that they've done enough to help regular people and it's time for them to be treated like royalty. Well congratulations Bells, you've harmed the lives of your former employees up here in NYS so that you can live the lives of your dreams in Florida! Sure, NYS needs to lower its taxes in order to better compete with warring states, but not by coddling a bunch of wealthy traitors like the Bells.

You seem to have the mindset of the government. Let's clear a couple things up:

1. Money that you earn from your job is yours, not the government's.

2. Businesses don't exist to give people jobs, they exist to make profit for the people that invested in them.

If this is the way people think in New York, where they are angry that success is not punished, then it's no wonder that people are leaving.

I like to look at taxation as an investment, because in a way it is. If I didn't have family or any other attachments to this area, there is no way in hell I would live here - the ROI sucks. Just that what I mentioned, combined with the experience that I did live somewhere else and couldn't stand it, makes up for that loss. For now. If we're talking 10 years from now and Sheldon Silver has passed a bunch more inflation-busting budgets, that will change, especially considering that by then I will have "recouped" any losses I would have incurred by short-selling a house.

There is no reason why things should be so much more expensive to run here. We piss away more money on Medicaid per capita than California. Enough that if we were at even CA's level of expense, county property taxes (most county expenses are unfunded state mandates) would pretty much go away. We have some of the nation's cheapest-to-produce electricity but among the highest utility costs. The suburban schools are great but the urban ones suck, and on an average aren't really all that much better than anywhere else. Even if they are better, we're way past diminishing returns as the pay doesn't line up proportionally to the returns. We have Wall Street, something 49 other states don't have, which theoretically should be a boon. No, it's a crutch in the good times and an absolute bane in the bad. Imagine if we didn't have that 20% of the budget how high taxes would be! Liken it to if Alaska used their oil revenue to increase spending instead of keeping taxes down. The list goes on and on.

It's like the old analogy with the rich and poor guys splitting the dinner bill. Most of the rich will pay more because they can and it doesn't affect them proportionally. But overcharge them and they'll leave, and then you're screwed.

Forgive me for believing in the greater good. I know people who were able to succeed in life because of public spending on social welfare and, as a result, I consider it a necessity. If we relied on the wealthy to voluntarily "share" their resources with the growing numbers of disadvantaged in this country, there'd be a lot more people going hungry and homeless. I'm a liberal Social Democrat and proud of it. All of this nonsense about how government should have no role in how our "hard earned" money should be spent needs to stop. Further, it's an absolute lie to suggest that government taxation and regulation stifles innovation and discourages entrepreneurism. For instance, we pay very little in taxes in comparison to Scandinavian nations. Are Swedes or Finns backwards people? Not even close, they just have a completely different value structure than we rugged individualists here in the States.

And yes, I make significantly more than you and am happy to pay more in taxes if it means helping my community and those less fortunate than I.

Forgive me for believing in the greater good. I know people who were able to succeed in life because of public spending on social welfare and, as a result, I consider it a necessity. If we relied on the wealthy to voluntarily "share" their resources with the growing numbers of disadvantaged in this country, there'd be a lot more people going hungry and homeless. I'm a liberal Social Democrat and proud of it. All of this nonsense about how government should have no role in how our "hard earned" money should be spent needs to stop. Further, it's an absolute lie to suggest that government taxation and regulation stifles innovation and discourages entrepreneurism. For instance, we pay very little in taxes in comparison to Scandinavian nations. Are Swedes or Finns backwards people? Not even close, they just have a completely different value structure than we rugged individualists here in the States.

And yes, I make significantly more than you and am happy to pay more in taxes if it means helping my community and those less fortunate than I.

I don't have a problem with fighting for the greater good. I just think that individual institutions and people do a better job fighting for it than our government. The government follows arbitrary rules, while private institutions can assess situations more carefully. I qualify for food stamps for example...so I could go to a county office and claim my $650 in food aid a month. They would simply have me fill out the forms and if I qualify, I qualify. However, If I tried to go to a group like Catholic Charities and I asked them for food aid, they would laugh their asses off as I walked out the door empty handed. So, in my view, you can cut down on waste by shuttering the government aid program and passing it off to the private sector. The private sector HATES wasting resources...just ask Catholic Charities. Or Rockefeller....guys like him spend shitloads of money just so the government couldn't have it!

I also don't have a problem paying taxes. I understand that I need to pay taxes for police, fire, infrastruture, social services, etc...but at what point does it end? For me, it starts to end when I see stuff like this:

500,000 households in New York are eligible for free cell phones. Why am I paying for this? We seemed to be doing OK back in the dark ages of the early1990's when nobody had one. Now we need to give them out to the poor becuase they are 'nessessary' in today's society?

That's ONE example....I can give you plenty more, but I won't. At some point, even a Social Democrat such as yourself is going to stop and say "Wait a minute!" Consevatives just hit that point a little quicker....like when they start handing out cell phones to the poor....

I'm not against government, or taxes....I'm against spending my money on stupid shit like that. If the poor 'need' cell phones I suggest they become friends with somebody who OWNS one. That, or they can make their case to some group like Catholic Charities....but unless they have a damn good reason, they will be laughed right out that door becasue it's a collossal waste of money on a 'need' that is completely fabricated for 99.99999% of the world. I'm sure SOMEBODY can honeslty benefit from the program...but seriously....this is a freaking waste of money.

On to your other points:

To be honest, I know very little about foreign nations and how they are run. All I know is how I see people using our current system, and I'd argue that we were better off when people were embarassed to be on welfare, not demanding to be on it.

I also didn't argue that government interference stifles innovation and entrepenourship. I would argue that if I have to pay the government 1/2 my earnings, then I have 1/2 the money left to spend....which is bad since the government uses my money to buy people cell phones, while I would probably use my money to build a hotel and conference center on that train/boat terminal behind HSBC arena so great lakes cruise ships could dock at my hotel. Think about it, you could get off the boat and you'd be right next to the growing waterfront and you could take the expanded metro system (expanded by my government tax money) up to the central terminal so you could catch a high speed train (also my tax money) to Rochester and look at the Strong Museum of Play (private I would assume).

Public private partnership is good. But it's got to be a partnership....and NYS is marching towards dictatorship over the financial resources of it's citizens. I have the right to leave the state if I feel it is becoming oppressive, just like you have the right to stay here or move to switzerland, or finland, or wherever you want to go.....

I want to stay...and I'm fighting for what I feel is my right to survive in this part of our country. If we keep this up NYS is going to be a ghost town becuause everyone will feel that you CAN do it better somwhere else....just like the Bells.

I don't think you're a bad person, so don't take anythign I'm writing the wrong way...but I think you put too much faith in your governement....which is what has hamstrung our region for 50+ years IIRC. ;-)

Sorry...that was long!

fuck it i deleted it im not gonna get involved in this debate

Here's an article from today's Buffalo News about the state tightening the requirements to qualify for Empire Zone subsidies. Lots of businesses griping.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/686048.html

The new state budget mandates decertification of companies that produce less than $1 in investments and wages for every $1 in state tax incentive they receive.It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that we should expect a profit in terms of "public good" on our public investment in private companies. Personally, I'd like to see a better return than just breaking even, which is all the new rules are asking for.

That said, I am a little surprised companies like the Buffalo Sabres and GEICO are major recipients of these subsidies. It seems like a lot of time these programs really end up favoring big successful corporations over small businesses, because big companies have the money and in-house legal advisers who are paid to know about and obtain these subsidies. A small business might not even know they qualify, let alone have the time and money necessary to pursue the subsidy.

I think it's a little funny that people rail against the state's excessive spending (especially on social welfare programs) but as soon as the state tries to cut back on its spending on corporate welfare programs the same people scream bloody murder.

The corporate welfare programs wouldn't be needed at all if the state cut spending. As much as I can't stand corporate welfare (Buffalo Bills, anyone?), in a sense it's all we have to even come close to leveling the playing field.

Problem is, by having a system of high taxes and exemption upon exemption for all manner of special groups, it just increases the burden on those who can't take an exemption (essentially an exemption for one group is a back door tax increase for everyone else). And the exodus is accelerated.

Forgive me for believing in the greater good. I know people who were able to succeed in life because of public spending on social welfare and, as a result, I consider it a necessity. If we relied on the wealthy to voluntarily "share" their resources with the growing numbers of disadvantaged in this country, there'd be a lot more people going hungry and homeless. I'm a liberal Social Democrat and proud of it. All of this nonsense about how government should have no role in how our "hard earned" money should be spent needs to stop. Further, it's an absolute lie to suggest that government taxation and regulation stifles innovation and discourages entrepreneurism. For instance, we pay very little in taxes in comparison to Scandinavian nations. Are Swedes or Finns backwards people? Not even close, they just have a completely different value structure than we rugged individualists here in the States.

And yes, I make significantly more than you and am happy to pay more in taxes if it means helping my community and those less fortunate than I.

Forgive me for thinking that people should be responsible for their own lives instead of depending on others to do things for them. I have seen far more people succeed when they have seen the task before them and simply go out and achieve it on their own account. This company in question is a good example; they went from operating in the basement of a house to employing 20 people.

It is not a lie at all that taxation and regulation stifle entrepreneurship. With sales taxes, for example, the price of a good is artificially inflated, yet the business doesn't see an increase in the money that he makes even though the customer has to pay extra. Sales tax is probably the easiest tax to follow and see the benefits; we get a lot of people that drive down from New York to shop here in Delaware because it's cheaper to drive down here than it is to stay in New York and pay the 10% sales tax. If Delaware ever implemented a sales tax, we would lose a ton of out-of-state business and countless stores and shops would struggle or outright close. Those people would be without jobs then. By the way, it's interesting that you mentioned Sweden and Finland as places with high tax rates to prove your point; both countries have lower corporate tax rates than the United States.

The corporate welfare programs wouldn't be needed at all if the state cut spending. As much as I can't stand corporate welfare (Buffalo Bills, anyone?), in a sense it's all we have to even come close to leveling the playing field.You might be right, but every state plays the same game - it's not just NY. Look at that story about Science First moving to Florida - the state of Florida brokered a sale of land at 25% of the market price, among several other incentives/subsidies. Is this "leveling the playing field" or "racing to the bottom"?

I'm not sure what the answer is, except for a general wish that everyone (individuals AND businesses) would prefer to stand on their own feet when they are able rather than look to the public for a handout as business as usual. The problem is that businesses (especially large ones like GEICO, Yahoo, the Buffalo Bills, etc.) can play hardball and threaten to walk away from the table (taking their jobs or cachet with them).

I don't mind seeing public subsidies used strategically, to help make important things happen that really couldn't happen otherwise. But I don't like seeing it just be a business-as-usual handout that a business gets because they have a better negotiating position than we do.

Sales tax is probably the easiest tax to follow and see the benefits; we get a lot of people that drive down from New York to shop here in Delaware because it's cheaper to drive down here than it is to stay in New York and pay the 10% sales tax. If Delaware ever implemented a sales tax, we would lose a ton of out-of-state business and countless stores and shops would struggle or outright close. Those people would be without jobs then.
Similar story in NH. Although, having worked for the state DOT, my perspective is a little different. I realize far more people live in the southern half of the state, but a disproportionate amount of the state's highway funding is going to repairs and improvements to roadways there, some of which studies have shown to have nearly 50% (sometimes more) ridership coming from out-of-state (MA) drivers. (I-93 widening is an excellent example.) Not to mention the way they otherwise trash and rape the countryside...

In their case, I always thought the "no sales tax" crap was just a shell game. I always thought you could implement a small sales tax and it would still be enough to lure some if not most of those shoppers who are willing to bother (personally I don't think it's worth it 99% of the time - same goes for the Canadians who come here).

Driving New Yorkers out (http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/686079.html)
Albany must not keep increasing tax burdens on residents, businesses

The evidence, thus far, is only anecdotal, but it seems clear that if New York is not at an economic tipping point, it is fast sliding in that direction. Small businesses and billionaires alike are fleeing the state as the reality of the most irresponsible state budget in memory starts to set in.

A new poll by the Sienna College Research Institute reported that 11 percent of New Yorkers will move if things don’t improve, while only 16 percent said they would never leave. Ten percent said they would like to go “as quickly as I can.”

The sad fact is, it will probably come to that, because Albany won’t change until it has no choice. The New York State Legislature is a fetid and self-serving organization that does the bidding of its masters, unions and trial lawyers prominent among them. And it has walled itself off from voters’ predictable anger through an accretion of artifices that make it all but impossible for challengers to unseat incumbents. It’s the endless political game in Albany.

The leaders of the Legislature, who exert iron control over its operations, understand the consequences of their choices, but they plainly don’t care if they drive every last taxpayer out of the state. Consider Sheldon Silver’s witless response to the Sienna poll: “People would think about going to find jobs wherever they can find jobs, but I don’t believe that’s different than any other state,” the Assembly speaker said. He doesn’t get it, or is blinded by politics.

What hope is there for this state when, in the face of an economic collapse, one of the state’s three most powerful leaders airily dismisses the results of this disturbing poll on the grounds that it’s happening everywhere? It’s not. Every state is having problems in this recession, but none reacted to it with the tax and debt burden that this state imposes on its residents. None so brazenly bloated their spending in response to collapsing revenues. How many people does the speaker think are moving into New York?

In just the past month, stories have documented the departures. Billionaire B. Thomas Golisano, owner of the Buffalo Sabres and founder of a thriving paycheck company in Rochester, announced that he would leave for Florida. Because of the “millionaire’s tax” Albany passed in April, he said the move will save him $13,000 a day.

And when business owners—some of them“rich” simply because of the way their business incomes are reported for tax purposes—take thriving companies with them, the impacts multiply. Jobs leave too, and the community loses whatever contributions to local charitable and cultural institutions the companies and owners may have made as good corporate citizens; the state and local tax base shrinks, and that depletion ripples outward as the businesses that supplied the now-vanished companies also take a hit.

Just this week, Nancy Bell and her two sons, all lifetime residents, said they have decided to move their Tonawanda business, Science First, to Florida, where taxes are lower and whose leaders courted them.

New York can’t compete with that, and with Albany the way it is, there is no reason to believe it even wants to. It will keep spending exorbitantly, paying tribute to its masters in the unions and law offices, until there are too few taxpayers left to bankroll its corruption.

There ought to be a law.
Sheldon Silver needs to be removed. Of course he'd just be replaced by another mindless drone subservient to the special interests. And when he is gone, I guarantee he won't retire here. He's not that stupid.

Kraft Foods Inc. is expanding production of its Lunchables lunch combinations in Avon, Livingston County, and will add 50 full-time jobs.

The company will receive two $125,000 grants from the state to help in the expansion.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090602/BUSINESS/90602029/Kraft+Foods+to+add+50+employees+in+Avon

Officials from Darien Lake Theme Park Resort express optimism that the summer tourist season won’t be severely impacted by the recession.

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2009/06/01/daily62.html?surround=lfn

Paterson determines getting Feds to finance Albany's wasteful status quo more important than Upstate high-speed rail:

Updated: 06/03/09 07:48 AM
Paterson skipping high-speed rail talks (http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/691022.html)
Governor chose Tuesday session in New York on economic stimulus bill, to dismay of Hoyt
By Jerry Zremski
NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

WASHINGTON — The governors of Illinois, Pennsylvania and six other states will meet at the White House today to discuss high-speed rail with Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

But New York Gov. David E. Paterson won’t be there.

Faced with the choice of attending a discussion on the economic stimulus bill with Biden in New York on Tuesday or the White House event today— and unable to miss two consecutive days in Albany — Paterson opted for the New York event.

A source close to Paterson indicated Biden wanted the governor at the New York event, which featured businessmen from around the country touting the benefits of President Obama’s stimulus legislation.

But there’s also some grousing about the governor’s decision.

That’s because he shared face time with folks at the New York event — such as the head of Crystal Window& Door Systems Ltd. of Flushing and the owner of Jamiel’s Shoe World of Rhode Island—rather than with governors who are hungry for the coming $13 billion in federal high-speed rail money.

“I’m disappointed,” said Assemblyman Sam Hoyt of Buffalo, a longtime high-speed rail advocate. “Having the governor himself at the table is a very important statement, even if it is only symbolic.”

Neither the White House Media Affairs Office nor Biden’s office returned requests for comment on the matter.

The governor is sending Timothy Gilchrist, deputy secretary for economic development and infrastructure and the head of Paterson’s stimulus effort, to the high-speed rail meeting.

In addition, the governor discussed the high-speed rail issue with Biden at a political event Monday night in New York, said Marissa Shorenstein, a spokeswoman for Paterson.

Paterson could not attend the White House event “because the end of our legislative session is near, and he has a five-way public leaders meeting [today] in Albany,” she said.

Federal lawmakers refrained from criticizing Paterson’s decision to miss the White House event. And Bruce Becker, president of the Empire State Passenger Association, said he was unconcerned.

“We do know the governor is very supportive of high-speed rail,” said Becker, who noted that Paterson may have had a better opportunity to discuss the issue with Biden privately in New York than he would have had at the White House.

But Hoyt raised his concerns about Paterson’s missing the meeting with the state’s acting transportation commissioner in a meeting of the Assembly Transportation Committee.

“I’m just very, very concerned this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity . . . is not going to be a priority,” Hoyt told acting Transportation Commissioner Stanley Gee.

Gee insisted the Paterson administration is fully engaged on the high-speed rail issue.

“This is a transformational opportunity for New York State to link our upstate communities together” and provide new economic development opportunities, Gee told the committee.

Tom Precious of the News Albany Bureau contributed to this report. jzremski@buffnews.com

Regarding taxes, why don't dickheads like Ted Kennedy and New York's popular Elliott Spitzer reach into their own pockets give all their money away to the Treasury first, if they believe so strongly in the state apparatus spending the public's money? What's the need to rape productive citizens with confiscatory taxes? The rich liberal blowhards on the East coast could keep the gov't going with voluntary contributions alone. Why screw the rest of us, to pay for their pet projects? :dunno:

Plus it all keeps coming back to: New York City and San Francisco can still retain residents with 10% income taxes... Places like Buffalo and Toledo cannot. Just this week Dayton lost its only remaining Fortune 500 company NCR to Atlanta. The CEO's didn't even bother to talk with Ohio state authorities. They were pretty blunt about 1) Dayton is lame as hell, you can't get anyone to live there and 2) If you are living in a lame boring place, why suffer the penalty of also having high taxes? On the Ohio forums, people are in a tizzy about this. But there's no doubt that Atlanta is a better place to live than Dayton, and if it also has lower taxes, then why the hell would anyone stay?

If you live in "flyover country" you need to get real about what it takes to retain companies. People need to STFU about this 1992 style Ross Perot "race to the bottom" whining, especially when it pertains to competition coming from within one's own country, and acknowledge global (even domestic) realities and how to cope with them.

Paddington, what coping strategies do you recommend (besides Ted Kennedy giving all his money away)?

Jobs go overseas because you can pay workers 25 cents for each sweatshirt that you can then sell for $50. You can make people work 12 hours a day, every day. There's no such thing as OSHA or health insurance, and you can dump all of your toxic chemicals into the public water supply with no repercussions. How can we match that? I think we can't, unless we are willing to turn the US into a 3rd world country (and then we won't be able to buy those $50 sweatshirts anymore).

By the way, the phrase "race to the bottom" predates Ross Perot. It was first used in 1933 by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis to describe this exact issue of states competing to be the lowest bidder to attract investments.

Brandeis died in 1941, so he STFU about this a long time ago. It doesn't mean the issue has gone away.

Count me among those who would much prefer to live in Dayton than Atlanta. One man's shit is another's shinola. NCR is a dying company anyways...

I have a tough time blaming a state for wanting to maintain its values even when those values conflict with the profit motivations of private employers. These scumsucking corporations have the American people over a barrel. The Federal government needs to step in and begin regulating interstate commerce once again. It's likely that, without government intervention, all corporations will move south until labor unions are entirely dismantled. Worker rights get in the way of profits, after all. What's worse, these patriotic low-tax Conservatives in Georgia are looking to use Federal stimulus dollars as part of the deal to move the company to the Confederacy...

William Tecumseh Sherman, we need you now...

I enjoyed the few hours I spent in Atlanta last year, but there's no way in hell I'd choose the live there. Too hot, and I'm held hostage by my car bad enough here. I would certainly choose Dayton and I've never been there, just based on climate alone. Did like Cincinnati for the few hours I was there, however (whatever that's worth).

The real trick, in New York, is not Ted Kennedy (for obvious reasons) and Spitzer, but to get Sheldon Silver to have to foot the bill for his outrageous spending. He must think he's better at spending money better than anybody in America, certainly within NYC (no small feat in itself). Used to be we had Pataki The Useless (gone), Bruno The Corrupt (gone), and Silver The Spender. Now we have Paterson The Clueless, Smith The Lackey, and Silver The Spender. The three men in total control of the state may change and play different roles, but the result is always the same.

I'm sure nothing good will come of it, since it doesn't affect the Assembly. But still, this can't possibly be a bad thing.
NY leadership in chaos (http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2009/06/08/daily10.html)
Business First of Buffalo - by Adam Sichko The Albany Business Review

Control of the state Senate is up in the air as Republicans appear to have overtaken Democrats as the chamber’s new majority.

Democrats have held a 32-30 majority in the chamber since January, following victories in the November 2008 elections. It was the party’s first time in control of the chamber in almost 45 years.

On Monday afternoon, though, two downstate Democrats—Sens. Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monseratte—voted with all 30 Republicans to make Sen. Dean Skelos, a Republican, the Senate’s new majority leader.

Chaos erupted in the Senate chamber. The live-feed of Senate proceedings was promptly turned off after the vote.

Senate Republicans heralded a “new, bipartisan coalition.”

“Today will be remembered in state history as a day when real change and real reform began and dysfunction ended,” Skelos said in a statement.

Editorial Comment: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA funny.

Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, was majority leader for the Democrats. His spokesman blasted the vote as “illegal and unlawful.”

“This was an illegal and unlawful attempt to gain control of the Senate and reverse the will of the people who voted for a Democratic majority,” said spokesman Austin Shafran. “Nothing has changed. Sen. Malcolm A. Smith remains the duly elected temporary president and majority leader. The real Senate majority is anxious to get back to governing, and will take immediate steps to get us back to work.”

Skelos, from Rockland County, had been majority leader for the second half of 2008, following the departure of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick). Skelos had been Senate Minority Leader since then.

Democrats remain in control of the state Assembly, by a 107-41 majority.

asichko@bizjournals.com

I wonder how this affect's Joe Mesi's $70,000 "outreach" position as well as the expanded Senate offices throughout the state meant to "bring government closer to the people['s wallets]". I would imagine it won't.

I'm sure nothing good will come of it, since it doesn't affect the Assembly. But still, this can't possibly be a bad thing.I assume it just means it's back to the same old stuff as most of the last 70 years. The two Democrats who switched seem like real sterling folks too - one has been indicted for slashing his girlfriend with a broken glass (felony assault), and the other owes $60,000 of fines for campaign finance misbehavior.

Now that Golisano is no longer a NYS resident, why is he still allowed to buy and sell our politicians (and not even in secret)? What a banana republic NY is turning into. :ohno:

More than likely. I also find it funny how it was the exact number needed to give the 'pubs the majority. Seems pretty calculated to me.

That said, I think Skelos is better than Smith. Smith is nothing but a tool of the party.

I love this quote from the Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/697396.html
But Smith, seeking to soothe Democratic tensions, sought to blame the Republicans for actions to “disrupt” the Senate.

“I would hope the public is outraged,” he said, urging voters to call their senators to keep the Democrats in control. The matter could end up in court, though judges rarely like to venture into the affairs of the Legislature, lawyers said.
Yes, I would hope the public is outraged. At two politicians changing special interest affiliations. Not because of the economy, the waste, the jobs, children, and relatives fleeing the state and breaking up families. No, THIS is what is going to outrage the public.

What an ass. While definitely uncouth, considering what you and your ilk have done (or not done) in so long, frankly I don't give a damn in fact I enjoy it. Sit down and shut up. In fact, throw a temper tantrum and resign. Good riddance. About time Upstate f*cked one of downstate's plans - with downstaters, no less.

I also find it just a tad ironic that the Albany bar where the plan was hatched is called "Red Square". Fitting, for the nation's most corrupt, useless, and secretive capitol.

Back to actual developments...

UAlbany's $64M building boom
Business school's new structure scheduled for 2013 completion


The University at Albany will have a new business school building by 2013.

The $64 million structure, years in the making, will be constructed on the site of the visitors' parking lot off Collins Circle.

"It's going to make us look very attractive," School of Business Dean Donald Siegel said Thursday. "We're going to be able to target better students."

The announcement came at a news conference attended by hundreds of faculty members, students and State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher on her fourth day in the job.

Ninety percent of the necessary funding for the project already has been raised. The state contributed $54 million in the 2008-09 budget, and more than 1,300 individuals have contributed a total of $3 million.

The building will have technologically advanced classrooms and meeting space, wireless Internet access, areas for team projects, and collaborative research centers. It also will contain offices for career services and graduate assistants.

The building will incorporate environmentally friendly features such as water efficiency, improved energy savings and carbon dioxide emissions reduction.

It will be designed by Perkins+Will, a Chicago-based architecture firm that has won national awards for its sustainable buildings. The firm has constructed business school buildings at New York University, Duke University and the University of California at Berkley.

Fundraising for the new building started in 2005, when costs were pegged at $40 million. At the time, school officials said much of the money would come from the private sector.

Chancellor Zimpher said the school will be an economic engine for the area and called it a "major building block" for the financial welfare of the state.

"A building is a manifestation of the aspirations of the school," she said.

Michael Tucker, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Economic Growth, an Albany-based regional economic development group, said the School of Business already is a valuable asset, and a new building likely will bring more students to the area, particularly at the graduate level.

The current business school is housed in an aging 1970s structure that will be converted to another use.

UAlbany students in the program gave it a very high rating in the Princeton Review, the venerable educational ranking publication. The school was ranked among the top 15 in the nation in the category of Student Opinion Honors for Business Schools.

Casey Crandall will finish his master of business administration degree in 2011, before the new building is completed. He said he is excited because the structure will enhance the school's reputation nationally.

"You have to keep up with the current technology and give the professors and students the tools to succeed," he said.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=806958&category=ALBANY&BCCode=&newsdate=6/9/2009

Ok, I'm not saying that NYS manages its finances well - far from it. But like you said, taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society. When businesses and citizens flee to states without an income tax, it just becomes a race to the bottom. It's the same reason so many jobs have moved to Mexico, India, and China. You get to keep a lot more of your money when you don't have to pay for things like decent schools, labor and environmental standards, and clean water.

The other thing that I don't understand is that these business people (including the Bells, as well as "Joe the Plumber") are always quoted about how by being taxed they are unable to hire employees and reinvest in their business. This isn't true, because taxes are calculated on profits, after expenses like payroll.

I really doubt people decide to move based on taxes. More likely, they'd already decided to retire to Florida and this was a convenient justification for moving the company.

Nobody likes to pay taxes. But for once, I'd like to hear one of these corporate CEOs, Golisano (decent guy though he's been) being the latest, be candid & admit that the real reason their giving up upstate NY for Florida is for the sunshine & beaches.

Nobody likes to pay taxes. But for once, I'd like to hear one of these corporate CEOs, Golisano (decent guy though he's been) being the latest, be candid & admit that the real reason their giving up upstate NY for Florida is for the sunshine & beaches.

Golisano (and most of the NY elite) already have winter homes in Florida (Naples, Palm Beach/South Florida).

Count me among those who would much prefer to live in Dayton than Atlanta. One man's shit is another's shinola. NCR is a dying company anyways...

I have a tough time blaming a state for wanting to maintain its values even when those values conflict with the profit motivations of private employers. These scumsucking corporations have the American people over a barrel. The Federal government needs to step in and begin regulating interstate commerce once again. It's likely that, without government intervention, all corporations will move south until labor unions are entirely dismantled. Worker rights get in the way of profits, after all. What's worse, these patriotic low-tax Conservatives in Georgia are looking to use Federal stimulus dollars as part of the deal to move the company to the Confederacy...

William Tecumseh Sherman, we need you now...

Corporate headquarters (not factories, per se) will go to bigger, more tax-friendly markets. Atlanta offers a vibrant lifestyle that professionals tend to prefer, an incredible asset in its airport that offers 1,000+ plus flights non-stop all over the country and world, and a pro-business environment. DFW is the same way. It's one of the reasons these two markets are two of the fastest growing ones in the nation.

Why would the government step in and regulate interstate commerce (and in a way that isn't illegal)? Because these states that are more attractive to businesses and successful people? Texas was able to handle it's state budget much better than NY. I don't see poverty and "worker abuse" any more of a problem in Texas than NY.

What is with the profit motive lines with private businesses? What exactly are businesses suppose to do? Businesses create jobs, wealth/taxes, and a purpose for people.

The problem I see with states like New York, California, and Massachusetts is they are like the 40-year-old former high school prom queen whose beauty has faded, but is in denial. Not that she can't be beautiful for her age, but she still thinks she is the hottest thing in the world.

The problem I see with states like New York, California, and Massachusetts is they are like the 40-year-old former high school prom queen whose beauty has faded, but is in denial. Not that she can't be beautiful for her age, but she still thinks she is the hottest thing in the world.
Tell that to the NYS legislature, specifically Sheldon Silver. They still think people across the world are dying and willing to pay any price to live within the golden borders of the "empire state" (whatever that is).

Whatever. Atlanta and Dallas will be washed-up prom queens someday too, and mercenary businesses will go someplace even cheaper (India? China?). It doesn't seem like a very sustainable way to run a society, is all I'm sayin'.

Whatever. Atlanta and Dallas will be washed-up prom queens someday too, and mercenary businesses will go someplace even cheaper (India? China?). It doesn't seem like a very sustainable way to run a society, is all I'm sayin'.

Atlanta and DFW aren't really manufacturing cities. They are more white-collar cities.

A service economy cannot stand on its own. Somewhere along the way, physical natural resources need to be converted into something useful to provide value added in order to sustain such an economy. This country will find that out the hard way some day.

Atlanta and DFW aren't really manufacturing cities. They are more white-collar cities.White-collar jobs are getting easier to offshore all the time.

And I agree with Sabretooth 100% about service economies. At some point an economy needs to be creating wealth, not just trading it around.

I guess it's just a personal viewpoint.

Anyways, I do hope upstate can get it going. We have a lot of great assets; we just need to find the best way to allow them to flourish.

Route 219 expressway news:

Troubles on Route 219 piling up
After landslide, officials face whole new set of obstacles


Don't expect completion of a superhighway version of Route 219 to make its way down into ski country anytime soon.

The newest section of road construction, landslide and all, has ballooned to $122 million from its original cost of $85.6 million, representing a 42 percent increase.

Cleanup work where the landslide occurred at the Town of Concord's Scoby Hill added $25 million more, and that's on top of an additional $12 million in miscellaneous overruns for the 4.2 miles of roadway that includes a double bridge spanning high above Cattaraugus Creek.

The price tag for the next 3.7-mile section is estimated at about $72 million, but bidding of the project has been delayed for two years because of questions concerning the environmental impact on wetlands.

And it will be at least a year before motorists will be able to bypass Springville at Route 39 on the newest section and drive into Cattaraugus County's Town of Ashford, where they will exit back onto existing 219 at Peters Road.

This latest stretch of north-south, four-lane expressway was supposed to open in December.

Critics of the project say the state is intentionally dragging its feet to see if the new pavement sinks in spots where the landslide occurred.

"They're waiting to see how bad the road settles. You're buying a broken road," said Tim Klahn, an Ashford dairy farmer and unofficial spokesman for residents whose lands are being purchased in part or whole by the state to make way for the expressway.

State officials explained that the delays were caused more than a year ago by the reactivation of an "ancient landslide" as contractors massed earth to build embankments for bridges that would have raised the expressway above Scoby Hill Road.

A redesign now has the expressway at grade level, but to accomplish that, contractors had to flatten hills and dig as deep as 75 feet to install horizontal drain pipes that discharge groundwater into Cattaraugus Creek.

So far, the fix is working, according to said Susan Surdej, the state Department of Transportation's regional spokeswoman.

"We have had multiple slope inclinometers that measure lateral movement at any depth in place for over a year, and there has been minimal movement, nothing really to speak of," Surdej said of the Scoby Hill area.

Before construction begins on the expressway's next piece, Section Six, the state has to complete a supplemental environmental study to determine the impact on wetlands for all of the uncompleted sections of the expressway.

If the necessary permits are issued by the U.S. Army Corps Engineers, the DOT is expected to move ahead with plans to build the next 3.7 miles of road, using state and Federal Highway Administration funds.

Yet even when that section is built, folks headed to ski country in Ellicottville and its surrounding hills will still have to travel on about 13 miles of the existing Route 219, which is viewed as a hazardous road, especially in the winter.

In fact, there have been roadside billboards on 219 over the years that displayed a running count of the number of accidents and vehicular fatalities on the two-lane road.

Surdej says that in total there are seven more sections left to build before the New York State portion of the expressway is completed.

To be sure, plenty of challenges lie ahead.

They include negotiating a deal with the Seneca Nation of Indians to pass through its terrority and link the expressway to Interstate 86 … part of a bigger plan to build a superhighway network from Toronto to Miami.

Given the on-again, off-again battle the state and Senecas have waged over whether the tribe must collect taxes on reservation sales of cigarettes to non-Indians, negotiations on a land-use agreement would appear formidable.

And of the growing expenses for the new 219, dairy farmer Klahn says the costly overruns should come as no surprise.

Geological studies, he said, have been around for years detailing how unstable the ground is in the region.

"Any hillside you dig into down here is an ancient landslide, big piles of dirt and gravel left behind by the glaciers, and the state knew this, unless they were brain-dead," Klahn said. "All of the Southern Tier is pretty much covered by hills that are essentially dirt piles."

The general contractor for the current construction work is Cold Spring Construction Co. of Akron, which bid $85.6 million and beat out the only other bidder, Oakgrove Construction of Elma, which submitted a high bid of $109 million.

Klahn said he believes it will be decades before the expressway is finished.

"The state is not trying to build 28 miles of expressway. They are trying to force development into places like Ashford Hollow to say they are trying to develop the Southern Tier," the farmer said. "It gives the illusion of creating jobs, and all it does is bleed jobs out of Erie County and create jobs around the expressway interchanges down here."

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/772997.html

The last paragraph of the above article pretty well sums it up. What an awful investment of this state's scarce resources. There is zero need for this expressway linking exurban nowhere to rural nowhere. I thought wasteful highway spending died in the 1990s. I was mistaken, it died everywhere but Upstate NY.

Darien water park eyed

DARIEN CENTER—Darien Lake Theme Park, noted for its thrill rides, may introduce a new $7 million water attraction for the upcoming season.

The Genesee County Planning Board has recommended approval of a Pirates Cove Water Park, which would be located in what is now a parking lot at the south side of the property on Route 77 in the town of Darien.

If Park Management of Florida, operator of the park, decides to proceed with the attraction, which is still in the planning stage, it would include a Lazy River attraction, a FlowRider surfboard ride and a 50-foot-high slide. ...


http://www.buffalonews.com/businesstoday/localbusiness/story/962991.html

Atlanta and DFW aren't really manufacturing cities. They are more white-collar cities.

Actually, metros like Atlanta, DFW, & Houston have some of the largest manufacturing bases in the US, plus lots of transportation & warehousing employment, as well as corporate white collar sectors.

Contrast that with many of the rustbelt cities that are left with very little of their former industries.

Darien water park eyed

DARIEN CENTER—Darien Lake Theme Park, noted for its thrill rides, may introduce a new $7 million water attraction for the upcoming season.

The Genesee County Planning Board has recommended approval of a Pirates Cove Water Park, which would be located in what is now a parking lot at the south side of the property on Route 77 in the town of Darien.

If Park Management of Florida, operator of the park, decides to proceed with the attraction, which is still in the planning stage, it would include a Lazy River attraction, a FlowRider surfboard ride and a 50-foot-high slide. ...


http://www.buffalonews.com/businesstoday/localbusiness/story/962991.htmlThe park manager said in an interview that they okan further park expansion next year as well.

The last paragraph of the above article pretty well sums it up. What an awful investment of this state's scarce resources. There is zero need for this expressway linking exurban nowhere to rural nowhere. I thought wasteful highway spending died in the 1990s. I was mistaken, it died everywhere but Upstate NY.


99% Of highway spending is wasteful spending. Make the people that use these monstrosities pay for them themselves.

THE DEATH OF UPSTATE
PETER B. FLEISCHER. Times Union. Albany, N.Y.: May 9, 2010. pg. B.1
Abstract (Summary)

According to a recent Cornell University study, between 1990 and 2010, the 49 upstate counties lost roughly 100,000 people, while the 13 downstate counties gained more than 1.7 million residents.

Travel not only to downtown Buffalo, but to many of its older suburbs and you'll find decaying sidewalks, half-empty shopping centers, vacant lots and abandoned homes. But travel a few more miles into what was until recently open countryside, and you'll find big new suburban homes on former farm fields. Meanwhile, the population of Erie County as a whole continues to decline.

This odd combination of declining population and accelerating sprawl is actually quite common across upstate New York -- the vast area north and west of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. It's the Upstate Paradox. And for the past two years, as I've crisscrossed the state seeking ideas for making our communities more economically and environmentally sustainable, no land use challenge, among the many in New York, seems more problematic.

While some would argue that high taxes and excess regulation are the cause of this hemorrhaging, inefficient land use and development are key causes, too.

However, land use and infrastructure policy is the big ticket item about which we can and must do something meaningful now. Our state legislators can approve the Public Infrastructure Policy Act (A-8011/S-5560) in this legislative session. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, and and Sens. Susan Oppenheimer, D-Westchester County, and Velmanette Montgomery, D-Brooklyn, seeks to align the planning, grant-making and capital funding efforts of state entities with smart growth criteria. It would direct and redirect funds to projects or places with existing investments in public infrastructure.

Why must we pass the Public Infrastructure Policy Act?

Simply put, upstate cannot afford its current pattern of sprawl without growth. The population trends and fiscal reality upstate suggest that we need to use public funds to catalyze community economic revitalization within the bounds of already developed areas. If state policy does not curtail upstate's sprawl without growth patterns, higher property taxes and service cuts may well continue.

According to a recent Cornell University study, between 1990 and 2010, the 49 upstate counties lost roughly 100,000 people, while the 13 downstate counties gained more than 1.7 million residents.

By 2035, the study suggests, upstate will lose an additional 670,000 residents, even as downstate gains an additional 1.4 million.

Six western and central counties -- Erie, Niagara, Monroe, Onondaga, Broome and Oneida -- are projected to be 18 percent smaller by then, compared to 1990. In contrast, between 1990 and 2035, New York City is expected to grow by 30 percent, and the U.S. population overall by more than 50 percent.

Yet new development outside upstate cities and villages continues, seemingly unabated by the population patterns and economic realities, as too many local leaders and citizens try to solve development-caused problems through more development.

This upstate type of sprawl is not not just an aesthetic blight of generic strip malls, cookie-cutter tract home developments, big box stores, enormous parking lots and roads so wide with turning lanes that few dare to cross. It is far worse.

Today's upstate sprawl extends considerably farther away from town and city centers; consists of larger homes built on larger lots (many of which demand more in services than they create in tax revenue); demands extension of increasingly costly municipal services to far-flung communities; and requires more infrastructure that is more difficult and expensive to build, operate and maintain. The associated cost and tax burden is borne by a shrinking and aging pool of taxpayers.

There is simply no reasonable expectation in most of upstate New York that population, home values or tax revenues can cover the costs of future decline and expansion of infrastructure.

Instead, upstate New York's future requires that we refocus development and growth around its strengths -- its educated work force, existing infrastructure and housing stock, educational and medical institutions, natural resources, working farms and aging but committed population.

Subsidies, when there are any, should be used as investments designed to enhance the needs and potential of places -- whether they be urban areas, main streets or town centers -- where there is an existing public investment in human and physical capital. That is what seeds Smart Growth, and that is the essence and intent of the Public Infrastructure Policy Act.

Peter B. Fleischer is the executive director of Empire State Future a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on the economic revitalization of New York's cities and the incorporation of smart growth principles in land use and development decision-making.

^^ 40+ years of Albany's 'magic touch'. What does anyone expect?

^^ 40+ years of Albany's 'magic touch'. What does anyone expect?

Well it is rather folly of Albany to think that more infrastructure & "Build it & They Will Come" folleys might cure what ails upstate NY.

But as far as the population decline, that's a choice that local areas upstate made on their own.

Afterall, the biggest problem facing the downstate metro region is that it's infrastructure hasn't kept pace with the region's population growth. NYC could use at least a 50% expansion of its subway system right now.

Not really development per se, but Batavia could lose their minor league team within the next couple of years. I would personally like to see these smaller Upstate towns keep their teams, but when places like Batavia and Jamestown average somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 people per game, it's hard to justify keeping the teams in these places, and the teams are worth more if they are sold and allowed to leave. West Chester, Pennsylvania, has been talking about building a ballpark for a few years now, and appears to be an early frontrunner to get an Upstate team.

Red Wings likely to operate Batavia Muckdogs again next season


Barring an unforeseen development, the Rochester Red Wings will return in 2011 as operators of the financially struggling Batavia Muckdogs franchise.

“We’ve got a few details to work out, but we are talking about coming back next year,’" Wings president and CEO Naomi Silver said this afternoon.

However, Silver made clear that the Muckdogs, a member of the Class A New York-Penn League, are for sale.

“Our hope is that someone comes forward,’" she said. “We would be willing to come back (as operators) if the club isn’t sold."

Silver announced in August that Rochester Community Baseball would end its three-year run as operators of the Muckdogs after this season, citing financial losses and no sign of blossoming fan or corporate support in the Batavia community.

The Muckdogs are owned by the Genesee County Baseball Club, a not-for-profit organization. GCBC president Brian Paris said it would be “tremendous” if the Wings returned in 2011.

“They’ve been wonderful to us,’’ Paris said.

RCB, which owns the Red Wings, has lost $396,884 operating the Muckdogs the past two years. This year’s financial loss has not been released, but Silver said it will be much lower than the $143,495 incurred last season running the Muckdogs.

Batavia finished last in NY-P attendance this season despite reaching the playoffs.

They drew 36,601 for 36 home dates, an average of 1,016. That’s 197 fans less per game than Jamestown, which had the second-lowest attendance, and 6,131 less than Brooklyn, which had the highest attendance in the 14-team league.

Batavia’s do-or-die playoff game against the Tri-City ValleyCats at Dwyer Stadium on Sept. 9 drew just 601 fans.

Paris said the asking price for the club is “in the neighborhood of $4 million,” which is the going rate for short-season pro franchises. NY-P officials would have to agree on the final sale price.

“We would love to find a buyer in western New York who has a desire to make a go of it in Batavia,’’ Paris said.

The Red Wings’ contract with the Muckdogs expires on Oct. 31. Batavia signed a two-year extension of their working agreement with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

As part of their contract, the Triple-A Red Wings stand to recoup their investment and perhaps make a profit if the Muckdogs are sold. For every year the Wings serve as operators, they will make five percent off the final sale.

If the Muckdogs are sold for $4 million, the Wings would net 20 percent of that (or $800,000) if they run the team one more season.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100921/SPORTS06/100921030/1007/SPORTS/Red-Wings-likely-to-operate-Batavia-Muckdogs-again-next-season

But as far as the population decline, that's a choice that local areas upstate made on their own.

.

This is bogus. Sure, some people Upstate have voted for big government types. But it is the extremely high spending and taxes of the state government that are killing Upstate. Local governments can't do anything about that.

If we want to fix the problem we have to change the leadership in Albany.

"Simply put, upstate cannot afford its current pattern of sprawl without growth."

What is this person talking about????? I left Rochester almost 30 years ago (moved to NYC) and yet when I go back to visit the suburbs of Rochester I never get lost - there is nothing new to through me off. Where my relatives live in Henrietta was a few track houses surrounded by corn fields when I left in 1982. Guess what, they are still surrounded by the same corn fields. And this is in Monroe county which at least stable in terms of population.

To write this non-sense the author must have some vested interest in getting that new law.

This is bogus. Sure, some people Upstate have voted for big government types. But it is the extremely high spending and taxes of the state government that are killing Upstate. Local governments can't do anything about that.

If we want to fix the problem we have to change the leadership in Albany.

No, you missed the point, which was that downstate has done well at replenishing its population by welcoming millions of new immigrants. Upstate hasn't & thus its population has declined.

The Batavia Muckdogs will play in Batavia for 2011, but the writing is on the wall, since the team continues to move money, and it looks like this is the last year of affiliated baseball in the city. Where do you think the Muckdogs will move to? Is there any place in New York that is best suited for the team? Or, will they move to another state? (On that note, West Chester PA is slowly moving towards building a ballpark.)

:)

I guess that whole - no state development money for sprawl is already out the window then.

I guess that whole - no state development money for sprawl is already out the window then. :ohno:I do not see how it is possible for you to be more wrong.

Question: How is the rehab of a 40 year old building contributing to sprawl?

Answer: It isn't, get over your parochialism there is a whole world outside the 39 run down square miles of Buffalo.

I guess that whole - no state development money for sprawl is already out the window then.
As soon as they announced that I knew it was just fluff. I'm not commenting on the Grand Island project, but in general they gave no boundaries where "sprawl" starts and where the developed area ends. We assume they meant around the first-ring burbs, but in Albany they probably consider the entire Buffalo Niagara area as "developed area" even if the site is actually in the middle of a forest.

:)

Verizon cancels the data center planned for Somerset:
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2011/03/17/verizon-scraps-niagara-co-plans.html

I guess this is a mixed bag. New investment and jobs are all good, but man, was this going to cost NYS a lot in public subsidies (something like $200,000 per $80,000 job per year!).

There might well be a lot of truth to the suggestion that they were just playing the two regions against each other to extract the most public money from each. I doubt that's unusual at all in these kinds of deals.

Hotel Tower Planned For Casino

Business First

Date: Monday, August 8, 2011, 8:27am EDT

The Seneca Nation of Indians has formally announced a $53 million project to add 200 hotel rooms to the Seneca Allegany Casino

The Monday morning announcement was made in Salamanca. The move was previously approved by the nation’s council and the board of directors of Seneca Gaming Corp.

The project will double the number of hotel rooms at the Salamanca facility, which opened in 2007. The new rooms will be housed in a second hotel tower.

Seneca Allegany Casino and Hotel has 2,000 slot machines and 30 table games, as well as a 2,300-seat events center.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2011/08/08/new-tower-planned-for-salamanca-casino.html

Hotel Tower Planned For Casino

Business First

Date: Monday, August 8, 2011, 8:27am EDT

The Seneca Nation of Indians has formally announced a $53 million project to add 200 hotel rooms to the Seneca Allegany Casino

The Monday morning announcement was made in Salamanca. The move was previously approved by the nation’s council and the board of directors of Seneca Gaming Corp.

The project will double the number of hotel rooms at the Salamanca facility, which opened in 2007. The new rooms will be housed in a second hotel tower.

Seneca Allegany Casino and Hotel has 2,000 slot machines and 30 table games, as well as a 2,300-seat events center.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2011/08/08/new-tower-planned-for-salamanca-casino.html

I hope it looks nothing like the first building. A point tower would be nice.

A quick rundown of some of the projects on the board for Ithaca, NY.

Downtown:

A second tower for the Holiday Inn (the new one is the one on the left). This is in the city approval process.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6853911069_8c628280fa_o.jpg
http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20120125/NEWS01/201250371/Hotel-owner-Holiday-Inn-renovation-bring-business-during-Ithaca-s-off-season


Seneca Way - mixed Use on the east side of downtown. This is scheduled to start construction in 2012.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6853911041_05b30bf45c_o.jpg
http://cornellsun.com/node/48546


Breckenridge Place - approved mixed income/affordable housing project being built by Ithaca Neighborhood Housing scheduled to begin in 2012.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/6853911149_1f0fea6f62_b.jpg
http://ithacanhs.org/wcb.html


Cayuga Place Residences - upscale apartments with office space on the first floor. Approved, awaiting financing.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/6853911183_cbed2b75c9_b.jpg
http://www.bloomfieldschon.com/cayugaplaceresidences/01/


Hotel Ithaca - approved awaiting financing.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6853911255_8e880b3bdd_o.jpg
http://cornellsun.com/node/44269


In the Collegetown Neighborhood:

309 Eddy Street residential, currently under construction.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/6853911123_f270cd3fe3_o.jpg
http://sharma-arch.com/content/view/on-the-board2.html


Collegetown Crossing - residential with retail on ground floor. In approval process.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7050/6853911223_25f747e8aa_o.jpg
http://cornellsun.com/node/49315


Another project under way is the over 600 bed Collegetown Terrace apartments. Here's a couple of articles:

http://ftla.com/projects/college-town-terrace/

http://cornellsun.com/node/47242

:)

I don't know if I posted this, but here's a picture from last April of the Tuscarora Nation House, on the Tuscarora Indian Nation in Niagara County. The community center opened up in November.


http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/9135/img3053pb.jpg

What's up with the scale here? They've managed to make a 6 floor building look areound the same height as the 3 floor structure next to it.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/6853911123_f270cd3fe3_o.jpg

What's up with the scale here? They've managed to make a 6 floor building look areound the same height as the 3 floor structure next to it.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7058/6853911123_f270cd3fe3_o.jpg

It is a bit off, but it's the only rendering I could find. Here's a view of the block from the bottom side:

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/111/365126112_88287e4acb_z.jpg?zz=1 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/22001166@N00/365126112/)
Ithaca, NY (Oct '03) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/22001166@N00/365126112/) by exithacan (http://www.flickr.com/people/22001166@N00/), on Flickr


This gives a better angle as to how steep the street is, and that might have thrown the rendering off. The new building is going where the old red building with the white porch is located. :)

Batavia gets taste of growth as regional appeal helps attract yogurt plants
Regional appeal has helped Batavia attract global investment, and more could be on the way


In a business park off Route 5 in the Town of Batavia, a burst of development is unfolding.

Alpina Foods will soon open a $20 million yogurt plant. Nearby, Muller Quaker Dairy, backed by PepsiCo, is building a $206 million yogurt plant on track to open in summer 2013.

The focal point of this activity is the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. The two plants are expected to employ more than 230 people combined, and the job number could go higher.

These kinds of projects - that depend on tons of milk from area farms and draw global attention to the region - don't come along every day, which is why area officials spent about nine years laying the groundwork to ensure a site would be ready when opportunities arose. About $8 million was spent acquiring land to form the park and adding infrastructure suitable for food processors, said Steven G. Hyde, president and chief executive officer of the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

....

http://www.buffalonews.com/storyimage/BN/20120915/BUSINESS/120919297/AR/0/AR-120919297.jpg&exactW=602&maxH=602&AlignV=top&Q=80
Alpina Foods' yogurt plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in Batavia, above, is due to open next month, and the nearby 363,000-square-foot Mueller Quaker Dairy plant will open next year.

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120915/BUSINESS/120919297

Lockport's Grigg-Lewis Foundation announced the largest gift in its history today, a $4 million donation that may clear the way for construction of a twin-rink ice arena complex in downtown Lockport within a year.


http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120925/CITYANDREGION/120929383/1002

Haven't posted much here lately, but I did run across this info from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, including info and some pics/renderings:

http://www.downtownithaca.com/files/all/downtown_future_1.pdf

:)

Quite a few and well-designed projects- much larger cities should be jealous of what's planned in Ithaca.

Is Cornell building anything?

Is Cornell building anything?

Actually there's quite a bit of construction planned and going on at Cornell. Here's a site with a bunch of info (new & old):

http://brancra.wordpress.com/?s=cornell+construction

Gruzen Samton * IBI Group designs new 87,000 s/f Human Ecology Bldg. at Cornell (http://nyrej.com/62629)

http://cuprogressive.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/291622_10150343330150132_8570160131_10225834_4934825_o.jpg
http://cornellprogressive.com/2011/08/17/campus-to-look-slightly-different/


Ithaca, NY Gruzen Samton · IBI Group designed a new 87,000 s/f Human Ecology Building (HEB) at Cornell University to accommodate the needs of several departments, chiefly Design & Environmental Analysis and Textiles & Apparel. The new building provides state of the art labs, office and support facilities enhancing the student experience and fostering creative research. A multipurpose space, the Commons, acting as the college's living room, connects the existing College of Human Ecology buildings with the new facility and provides a forum for students and faculty from various departments to meet and cross-pollinate ideas.

The design provides flexible, state-of-the-art laboratories and classroom spaces, serves as a gateway to the academic campus when approached from the residential North Campus, and gives a new identity to The College of Human Ecology. Occupied spaces have been placed on the perimeter to maximize their exposure to daytime lighting. Rooms have been equipped with Watt-Stopper occupancy-based lighting controls. The facility uses fully integrated building systems and is a high performance, environmentally sustainable design in compliance with NYS Executive Order 111, performing 46.6% better than a baseline building per ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1. The Human Ecology Building is LEED Platinum certified.

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For those interested, here's a new site which has listed all the current projects in the city of Ithaca. Many are underway, others approved or in the approval process, and a couple which are proposed. Click on the current projects title on the left to get the list, and then click any of the specific projects.

http://ithacabuilds.com/


Collegetown Terrace, Holiday Inn, Harolds Square, Marriott, Cascadilla Landing and Seneca Way are among the more interesting. :)