ESD awards COR Development, Oneida County organizations grant funding

COR Development Company, LLC will use a $3.6 million state grant for work on its Loguen Crossing project, a mixed-use commercial and residential-redevelopment project.

That work is underway at the site of the former Kennedy Square Apartments, located just north of the campuses of State University of New York Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University.

The grant is part of $19 million in funding that the board of directors of Empire State Development (ESD) approved during its meeting in New York City on Thursday.

ESD distributed a news release about the grant awards on Friday.

In addition, the ESD board approved grant funding in smaller amounts for Med-Care Administrators, LLC and the Mohawk Valley STEM Opportunities, both in Oneida County.

STEM is short for science, technology, engineering, and math.

ESD is New York’s primary economic-development organization.

Fayetteville–based COR Development will use its grant to support demolition, environmental remediation, asbestos abatement, and infrastructure upgrades as part of site preparation for the future development of Loguen Crossing.

The company has completed the first phase of the overall $300 million plan to redevelop the former Kennedy Square complex.

The project, a proposed a mixed-use urban neighborhood, will include 140,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space; 230,000 square feet of office space; and 280 apartments and townhouses, according to ESD.

The Central New York regional economic-development council (REDC) identified it as a regional priority project, consistent with the council’s goal to “revitalize the region’s urban cores, main streets, and neighborhoods,” according to ESD.

Med-Care Administrators
Med-Care Administrators LLC of Marcy will use a grant of up to $200,000 for a portion of renovation costs of an expansion project involving a move to a new 15,000 square-foot commercial building in Marcy.

Med-Care Administrators is a company in the medical billing and management-consulting industry that helps medical practices with revenue enhancement, management processes, and controlling practice expenditures.

The company purchased a former car dealership site and has converted it to professional office space.

The work has involved a roof replacement; structural repairs; environmental remediation; landscaping; installation of a new heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system; electrical and plumbing upgrades; parking-lot repairs; and installation of new workstations.

Med-Care will retain 41 employees and create 10 new jobs as part of the project, which is the company’s first with ESD.

STEM program
The Workforce Investment Board for Herkimer, Madison & Oneida Counties of Utica used a working capital grant of up to $90,000 to pay for a program providing 75 young people with summer internships introducing them to local professionals in the region’s  “growing” STEM sectors, ESD said.

The nonprofit Workforce Investment Board conceptualized the program after it identified that “disadvantaged” students lack educational and life experiences that would lead to jobs in information-technology.

Program interns met with local professionals in the region’s STEM sectors, securing career guidance and summer stipends for their time in the program.

The board anticipates that the interns will attend college, obtain degrees, and pursue a career in the STEM fields that will have opportunities in the Mohawk Valley region.

The project is consistent with the Mohawk Valley REDC’s strategic plan to expand workforce development and training programs that are aligned with regional concentrations and employers demand for labor, ESD said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com