CTDI surpasses 300 employees in Glenville, will add 40 more

PHOTOGRAPHER: Via www.ctdi.com

CTDI employs more than 14,000 people in more than 90 facilities worldwide.

GLENVILLE — A telecommunications equipment repair company is continuing its rapid growth at the Glenville Business and Technology Park, leasing space in a second building as it pushes toward 350 employees.

Communications Test Design Inc. announced Monday that it will hire nearly 40 employees, buy $800,000 worth of equipment and lease most of a 98,000-square-foot building to be constructed in the industrial park.

CTDI was founded in 1975 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It employs more than 14,000 people in more than 90 facilities worldwide. It expanded to Glenville in 2014 and received grants totaling $975,000 from the state and the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority in return for a commitment to invest $11.4 million of its own money in a 150,000-square-foot facility with 150 employees.

It started off using 130,000 square feet, and within the first year, it added 20,000 square feet and boosted its hiring target to 170.

The company now has 302 employees in Glenville.

On Monday, state officials announced the company has committed to hiring 40 additional employees and occupying 78,000 square feet of space in the new building. In return, the state will provide up to $400,000 in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits. Also, Metroplex will provide a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement and sales tax exemption, the amount of which will depend on the cost and assessment of the new building.

“We have been proud to operate in Schenectady County, and our upcoming expansion further indicates our commitment to providing employees with quality jobs as we continue to expand our services offerings for our customers,” CTDI President Leo Parsons said in a prepared statement.

In the same statement, Schenectady County Legislature Chairman Anthony Jasenski said the county’s economic development efforts are reaping dividends.

“We thank the governor’s economic development team for working with us to help this company grow in Schenectady County,” he said.

Glenville Town Supervisor Chris Koetzle said the business park — a collection of parcels with varied ownership on and around the former Navy Depot — is enjoying greater success since it came under a single name and unified marketing approach.

“Just marketing it better, I think, has helped bring in more companies — and the success of the companies that are there.”

The facility also benefits from direct rail access and its proximity to an interstate highway, Koetzle added. It’s doing so well, he said, that there is a growing need for services, such as a bus line and somewhere for workers to eat.

Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said the facility is a vehicle for smart growth, as it puts new life into what once was a crumbling, tax-exempt, ex-military facility.

The new building that CTDI will occupy, for example, will stand on the site of the old Navy administration building, which partially collapsed before it was demolished and bought by the Galesi Group, developer of much of the Glenville Business and Technology Park.

“We’ve had a lot of success in this park,” Gillen said. “We’re taking abandoned Navy property that wasn’t on the tax rolls and we’re creating jobs and tax base.”