SYRACUSE, N.Y. — CenterState CEO and a group of regional partners have submitted a phase-two application for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC).
BBBRC is described as a “central component” of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s American Rescue Plan.
These coalition partners proposed nine “distinct and interconnected” projects that would leverage more than $143 million against a federal investment of $92 million to “advance opportunities in the region’s emerging “smart systems” cluster, while also integrating large-scale, workforce-development programs to ensure that regional growth is inclusive and equitable,” CenterState CEO said Thursday.
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The phase-two application follows the region’s successful phase-one application that was announced last October. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) selected the region’s proposal as one of 60 finalists from more than 500 nationwide applications. The office of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) announced the $500,000 federal grant back in December.
Regional projects targeted
The organization is working with a coalition of 57 public, private, nonprofit, academic, and for-profit entities across Central New York and the Mohawk Valley on the effort.
The projects involved would target the White Pine Commerce Park in Clay; supply chain flex space at the Marcy Nanocenter in Oneida County; Oswego County supply chain site readiness; an advanced manufacturing training consortium; regional STEAM school; a Center City Innovation Hub; UAS health-care commercialization; “smart systems quantum runways;” and CenterState NY Smart Systems cluster governance, CenterState CEO said.
It is anticipated these projects will create upward of 23,060 new jobs; leverage more than $11.3 billion in private investment; increase the region’s gross domestic product 3.5 percent; create 588 new startups in 12 years; invest $80 million in startups over the next four years; train 3,500 through the workforce consortium; graduate 250 per year from the STEAM School; and invest $8 million in four years in XBE startups (XBEs are for-profit businesses that are owned, operated, and controlled by a minority group member).
“The Build Back Better program creates opportunity to scale support of existing industries and those looking to find growth within the region, while aligning strategies with a vision of equitable progress,” Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, said in a release. “I am immensely proud of how our region has come together to make us competitive for this large-scale award, which validates that the region is poised for smart systems industry growth. Through partnerships, sound strategies and regional expertise — and now, with the potential of game-changing Build Back Better investments — the CenterState New York region stands ready to accelerate its already strong growth trajectory, while connecting those opportunities to the resources and talent needed to succeed.”
Project descriptions
- White Pine Commerce Park — The plan would spend $25 million in infrastructure improvements at this 1,300-acre site, “complementing existing assets” to accommodate the specific site needs of a large-scale semiconductor manufacturer or a group of smaller advanced-manufacturing companies and supply companies, “helping build the infrastructure needs necessary to grow the cluster.”
- Supply chain flex space at Marcy Nanocenter — It would also invest $7.75 million to build a flex-space facility for lease to supply-chain firms looking to co-locate with Wolfspeed and Danfoss Silicon Power, which have already invested $1.5 billion and plan to bring 900 jobs. The facility would strengthen the I-90 corridor between semiconductor investments in the Capital Region and Central New York, CenterState CEO contends.
- Oswego County supply chain site readiness — The plan also calls for investing $7.5 million to build 10 shovel-ready sites supporting a minimum of 700,000 square feet of new industrial facilities for employers that would create up to 1,200 new jobs. The site is “strategically located” within 10 miles of White Pine Commerce Park and with jobs “accessible to disconnected rural populations.”
- Advanced-manufacturing training consortium — Another $9.5 million would create a consortium of education/training providers and industry employers that will engage and train 3,500 residents, “focused on women and people of color.” Anticipated placement rate is 80 percent into seven, smart-systems demand occupations to help “increase and diversify” the cluster’s workforce. The new workforce-training model would include Onondaga, Cayuga, and Mohawk Valley Community Colleges; Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES; SUNY Syracuse Educational Opportunity Center; SUNY Morrisville and others.
- Regional STEAM School — The plan would also invest $10 million to renovate a historic school building located in a “historically disinvested” Syracuse neighborhood within the Syracuse City School District (enrollment 20,000) into a regional “STEAM” high school.
- Center City Innovation Hub — Another $8.3 million would target the construction of two floors and renovations to CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden business-incubator building, creating a new “Center City Innovation Hub.” The project would also include the launch of the NYS Center for Smart Cities and a new XBE focused accelerator program. The interior space and equipment original to its EDA-funded opening in 2004 will be updated, CenterState CEO said.
- UAS health-care commercialization — The plan would also spend $12 million in testing the safe and reliable commercial use of drones in partnership with Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse using NUAIR’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificate of authorization to fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).
- Smart Systems quantum runways — Invest $10 million to accelerate quantum science and technologies, “critical for advancing” smart systems components, technologies, and product development.
- CenterState NY Smart Systems cluster governance — The plan would also spend $2 million to build the coalition’s capacity to design, implement, and iterate “critical cluster enabler strategies” around governance; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); equitable benefits and cluster growth sustainability, the CenterState CEO said.
