The Fulton County Center for Regional Growth (FCCRG) isn’t waiting for the completion of the high-tech industry’s expansion in New York’s Nanotechnology Triangle to act.
Anticipating the needs of the supply chain businesses that will move into the county to take advantage of its prime location in the center of the triangle, its affordable commercial real estate sites and buildings, and the tailor-made educational programs that supply a skilled workforce, the FCCRG is working now to provide shovel-ready sites.
With grant funding, the organization hired Sandy Mathes of Mathes Public Affairs in Coxsackie to do a county-wide analysis of sites that could be transformed into shovel-ready locations to facilitate any business’ entrée into the area. He found over 200 sites.
“There are extensive opportunities and availability of quality sites throughout the county,” Mathes said.
The FCCRG’s shovel-ready sites preparation initiative goes far beyond identifying potential sites. The organization’s efforts will result in quick and easy access for businesses relocating to the area.
Mathes narrowed his list down to the top 20 potential development sites, providing FCCRG President Ron Peters and his team with an immediate starting point for their development efforts.
“They’ve identified (what) they’re going to be working on,” Mathes said. “They’re advancing their top site to a more predictable time frame and being proactive with approvals at the state and local levels,” he said.
The site’s high level of power availability was one attribute that catapulted it to the top of the list. “Right now, this site has been earmarked as the top site in Fulton County to advance toward an industrial park because of its attributes and amenities,” said Peters.
He has been monitoring the trends in the past five years of the growing requirement for high levels of electric power. “The need for power has been increasing, and companies need sites like this with a lot of power provided to them. This site is positioned well as an industrial park and also a place for advanced manufacturing.”
Peters estimates that it will take roughly 18 months to get this top choice ready for companies to move in. The FCCRG plans to take title to the 240-acre parcel in the third quarter of 2023 and finish the engineering process by year’s end. This Phase I project includes identifying at least five sites that the FCCRG will develop into industrial sites within the 97 acres of the parcel located in Fulton County.
Peters and his team of economic development specialists will also be obtaining certification of the site from New York State as a shovel-ready site, taking advantage of Empire State Development’s FAST NY Shovel-Ready Grant Program which provides up to $200 million in grant money to prepare and develop sites to shovel-readiness. This will allow the FCCRG to make any necessary infrastructure improvements including public water and sewer, electric power, natural gas, fiber optics for broadband capabilities, and roads.
“In the ever more competitive practice of economic development, having a place where a business can locate without having to invest heavily in site improvements definitely gives a community an edge up,” said Jeff Janiszewski, Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Development/Global NY at Empire State Development.
The FCCRG also stands ready to assist incoming companies in formulating funding plans for their desired projects.
PRIME LOCATION
Fulton County is an ideal location for companies that supply the high-tech industry. “The cluster for advanced manufacturing has grown,” Mathes said, referencing computer memory chip specialist Micron’s plan to build a $31 billion semiconductor chip plant with four 600,000-square-foot clean rooms in the town of Clay, north of Syracuse and GlobalFoundries’ 800-acre expansion of its $15 billion chip plant in Malta, New York. This is in addition to Wolfspeed’s $1.2 billion fab near Utica and NY Creates’ research, development, and commercialization facility in Albany.
“Fulton County has excellent power capacity and access to major thoroughfares in New York State,” Mathes said. “Now that the cluster has gotten stronger, it is more enticing for supply chain companies to come into the area.”
Fulton Montgomery Community College also continues its rigorous workforce development efforts to meet Fulton County employers’ needs for specially trained workers. The college partners with employers to create unique certificate, microcredential, and degree programs that provide the education and training required for rapid employment at specific companies.
“Most counties do not make the investment or implement this aggressive strategy of proactive readiness.” Mathes said.
Fulton Montgomery Community College also continues its rigorous workforce development efforts to meet Fulton County employers’ needs for specially trained workers. The college partners with employers to create unique certificate, microcredential, and degree programs that provide the education and training required for rapid employment at specific companies.
When businesses are ready to take advantage of what Fulton County has to offer, the county is prepared, with the FCCRG paving the way—literally and figuratively—something that differentiates the county from other areas.
No matter what the reason…
Fulton County has a beauty all its own. making it your ideal destination to call home.
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