In August 2012, Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger and Broome County Executive Debbie Preston unveiled renderings of the proposed high-tech incubator in downtown Binghamton. Empire State Development has just approved $7 million in funding to the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, Inc. to support construction of the incubator. (Photo courtesy of Binghamton University website)
The Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, Inc. will use a $7 million grant to support the construction of an incubator in downtown Binghamton.
The grant represents nearly one-third of the total funding that the board of directors of Empire State Development (ESD) approved during its meeting in New York City.
ESD announced the various project and funding approvals in a news release distributed on Wednesday.
Projects at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, Lewis County General Hospital, and at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena will also benefit from funding that the ESD board approved during the session.
The board approved a total of more than $20 million in funding for 30 projects that will create new jobs and retain existing positions, ESD contended.
The Southern Tier regional economic-development council had recommended the funding for the Binghamton incubator project.
The nonprofit Southern Tier High Technology Incubator formed in April 2012 to build, own, and manage such a facility, according to ESD.
The incubator will provide infrastructure for up to 12 businesses focusing on research and development in energy, microelectronics, and health care.
The nonprofit will use the grant funding to help in the first phase of the incubator’s design and construction. The organization wants the incubator to encourage industry-university partnerships.
The incubator expects to help create more than 900 jobs within the next nine years.
Besides the incubator project, Broome County government will use a grant of up to $500,000 for a portion of the costs to renovate the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, ESD said.
The arena, which covers more than 153,000 square feet, attracts about 250,000 visitors annually for sports and entertainment events.
The Southern Tier regional economic-development council recommended the funding for Broome County, which contends the upgrades and improvements are “necessary” for the facility’s operations to maintain its role in the region’s tourism, according to ESD.
The ESD board also approved a grant of $575,000 that Crouse Hospital will use to help pay for the renovation of the facility’s neonatal intensive-care unit.
The improvements will include a new roof, a sterile-procedures room, and isolation rooms.
The Baker Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which serves a 16-county region of Central New York, admits 900 premature and critically ill infants each year, ESD said.
Crouse in 2012 identified the need to upgrade maternity-center services, but “lacked the equity” required to pay for the expansion project and applied for the grant, ESD added.
Crouse isn’t the only Central New York hospital benefitting from ESD’s funding approval on Wednesday.
Lewis County General Hospital will use a grant of up to $300,000 to help pay for the construction of a 7,500-square-foot addition that will function as a dialysis center at the hospital’s main facility in Lowville.
The hospital employs more than 600 people, according to ESD.
The North County regional economic-development council had recommended the funding.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
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