Cuomo: DeWitt hub for nano industries will create at least 350 high-tech jobs

SYRACUSE — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday night announced plans for a facility in DeWitt that will serve as a hub for emerging nano industries in Onondaga County and its first tenant.

Cuomo made the announcement during his visit for Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney’s State of the County address at the Carnegie Library in downtown Syracuse.

The DeWitt facility will specialize in providing advanced visual-production research and education to support upstate New York’s “rapidly growing” film and television industry, the governor’s office said in a news release.

The State University of New York (SUNY) College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) will lead the operation. It will focus on the use of nanotechnology to “drive innovations” in the computer-generation imagery, animation, and motion-capture technology used in film and television production, Cuomo’s office said.

Cuomo also announced that The Film House, a Los Angeles–based film and television company, will be the facility’s first tenant. It’ll move its headquarters, production, post-production, and distribution operations to DeWitt.

The project will create at least 350 new high-tech jobs and 150 construction jobs, according to the governor’s office.

The film industry and nanotech sectors are “emerging” industries, and New York is going to “reap the rewards” of innovation and high-tech jobs, Cuomo said in the news release.

“We’re bringing the industries of the future to New York, and Upstate is going to lead the way. The new innovation hub in Onondaga County will be a hotspot for research and education, bringing hundreds of new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to Central New York,” Cuomo said.

The project is based on a seven-year growth plan that includes a minimum private investment of over $150 million over the seven years, with an initial 125 jobs that will eventually grow to at least 350.

CNSE will provide $15 million to build the facility at the Collamer Crossings Business Park in DeWitt.

Onondaga County has invested $1.4 million on site work ensuring the entire business park is shovel ready and the county IDA has programs in place to assist new tenets.

Construction will begin on the 52,000-square-foot building by April 1 with completion by October. Work will then begin on an additional 52,000-square-foot building for additional tenants with completion expected by spring 2015.

Besides making smart phones “smarter,” the New York nanotechnology sector is now making the movies and TV shows that the public can enjoy watching on them, Alain Kaloyeros, senior vice president and CEO of CNSE, said in the news release.

“We welcome The Film House to New York and look forward to working with its leadership to advance discoveries in computer-generated imagery, three-dimensional high resolution graphics, and many other exciting areas,” Kaloyeros said.

The facility replicates and expands the “successful” CNSE model that partners academia, government, and the private sector to drive economic development “by attracting state of the art industries that position New York State at the global forefront of high tech innovation,” the governor’s office said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com