Empire State Development approves grant funding for various projects

An organization in Oneida County and a business in Broome County are among the recipients of grant funding that Empire State Development (ESD) approved on Thursday.

The ESD board of directors approved more than $26 million in funding for projects that will create nearly 150 new jobs and retain more than 1,000 jobs throughout the state, the agency said in a news release.

The board approved a grant of up to $557,000 for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Oneida County is Oriskany, one of 56 CCE offices statewide.

CCE will use the funding to lead an 18-month, statewide effort to increase agricultural and food exports, and also contract an export agent to oversee a direct-marketing campaign for that effort.

The first eight months of this program are expected to create between $500,000 and $750,000 in revenue from exports to China alone, “which has a huge market of willing buyers,” according to ESD.

ESD is using money from the Economic Development Purposes Fund for that grant, the agency said.

ESD also awarded National Pipe & Plastics, Inc. of Vestal a grant of $400,000 from that same fund.

The firm is a manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe for residential, agricultural, commercial, municipal, and export markets.

The company’s headquarters in Vestal recently added capacity for 10 million pounds of high-density polyethylene pipe per year. National Pipe is moving all of its New York manufacturing and shipping operations from its current plant in Vestal to a larger facility in Endicott, according to ESD.

National Pipe will use the money to purchase and install new machinery and equipment for the expansion project.

The grant will help keep more than 170 jobs in New York. The funding enables National Pipe to expand product lines, become more competitive, and improve manufacturing efficiency, according to ESD.

National Pipe had considered out-of-state locations for this project, including its facility in North Carolina. The fiscal benefit to New York is estimated at more than $3.3 million, the agency said.

The ESD board also approved a Regional Council grant of more than $397,000 for the Griffiss Local Development Corporation (GLDC) in Oneida County.

The grant will allow the GLDC to upgrade its facilities to support a new high-speed network for research operations at the Griffiss Institute, an organization that facilitates the work of private industry, academia, and government that’s focused on cyber security.

The GLDC is charged with facilitating and coordinating the redevelopment efforts of the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome. The park currently has more than 70 employers with more than 6,200 workers, according to ESD.

Additionally, the city of Watertown will use a Restore New York grant of up to $2.5 million to rehabilitate and reconstruct the vacant Woolworth building into a mixed use facility, the agency said.

The six-story building has been vacant since its closure in 2007.  Watertown will use the grant to continue work in revitalizing the city’s downtown business district.

Once complete in late 2014, the project will add 11,000 square feet of retail space and 50 residential-rental units.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com