Schenectady County officials call 2014 a winner for development

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

From high-tech arrivals and its business parks to renovations of long-vacant shopping plazas, revitalized neighborhoods and a winning casino proposal, Schenectady County officials declared 2014 a win for economic development Tuesday night.

In all, the county was promised $482 million in new investment and 1,826 new jobs in 2014, said Ray Gillen, chairman of the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority, in his annual report to the county Legislature.

“We’re not about losing now,” he said. “We’re about winning. That’s what this team is about. We’re about winning. We’ve got to keep the momentum going.”

Metroplex, which administers six local economic development agencies, announced 68 economic development projects last year, up from 57 in 2013 and 60 in 2012. They ranged from massive job-creating projects like the Rivers Casino now slated for the old Alco site to smaller, blight-tempering projects like façade improvements to rundown buildings and demolitions along neighborhood corridors.

The biggest job winner was the announcement that the state had picked Schenectady’s Mohawk Harbor site for one of three upstate casinos. The developers behind the project have promised 1,200 jobs and recurring revenue for the city and county. Gillen used a single superlative repeatedly to explain Schenectady’s win over three other Capital Region sites.

“We had, by far, the best community support, the best site, the best operator,” he said. “We had the best developer. The state said all this in writing, by the way. We had the best proposal, the best training program with SCCC. We had the best team.”

The casino is only possible because of preparatory work the Galesi Group has been doing at the 60-acre Mohawk Harbor site, known more commonly as the Alco site, Gillen said. The entire $480 million redevelopment will also include two hotels, condominiums, town houses, apartments, office and retail space, a harbor and a bike-hike trail.

“The signature project for the team is the Alco site,” Gillen said. “We removed almost 1 million square feet of dated buildings. The site had been allowed to go to ruin, just decaying and rusting. A whole generation of Schenectadians drove by this facility and saw it rusting into the ground, and we needed to change that.”

Downtown Schenectady and the nearby lower State Street corridor also landed some promising new developments in 2014, he said, ranging from a new hotel and train station to office space and apartments. New York City invention company Quirky moved into Center City in May, promising 180 jobs over three years. Just down the street, at the old Robinson lot and nearby buildings, Highbridge Development and Prime Companies are planning a $20 million housing and retail development, thanks to a $1.3 million grant from the state.

Neighborhoods also got a piece of the economic development pie last year, none more notably than Eastern Avenue. Six blighted buildings were knocked down along the corridor and others got a mix of façade improvements and renovations, in large part because of a $3 million grant secured by the local land bank. Major new projects are planned for Hamilton Hill, where a developer wants to transform two old school buildings on Craig Street into housing for low-income families, veterans and seniors. Meanwhile, a new library branch, literacy center and retail development are headed for Central State Street this year.

“It’s a momentum business,” Gillen said of the county’s economic development efforts. “Money follows money. Investment follows investment. We’ve got to keep the pace up and show that Schenectady is in the winner’s column when it comes to new investments and jobs.

The towns benefited in large part from new arrivals at their business parks and the development of shovel-ready sites.

In Niskayuna, a rebranding of the 100-acre Hillside Commerce Park to the Niskayuna Commerce Park and the completion of an $18 million Army Reserve Center has resulted in a $7 million investment in two new buildings by a developer hoping to lure new tech companies.

In Glenville, the Airport Business Park has benefited from state and Metroplex grants to improve sewer and water infrastructure and to build a new, 20,000-square-foot hangar for longtime tenant Richmor Aviation. The Glenville Business & Technology Park scored 400 new jobs last year after competing against other Northeast sites for a regional facility for global repair vendor Communications Test Design Inc.

In Rotterdam, the 260,000-square-foot former state bakery building in the Rotterdam Corporate Park is finally slated to go on the tax rolls next year, once its handed over to the private sector.

A full audited financial statement of Metroplex spending will be available in March.