The board of directors of Empire State Development (ESD) on Thursday approved funding for several projects, including three in the Central New York region.
Empire State Development is New York’s primary economic-development agency.
The board approved a total of more than $8 million in funding that will result in the creation of 34 jobs and the retention of 100 existing jobs, the agency said in a news release.
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ESD approved $420,000 for 3Gi CNYIP, a partnership between Salina–based Mohawk Global Logistics, Syracuse–based Synapse Partners, LLC, and Brang Commercial Real Estate of Fayetteville.
The firms formed 3Gi CNYIP in 2012 to oversee the development of the Central New York Inland Port project (CNYIP) in Manlius.
Once developed, CNYIP will be an 115-acre cargo-logistics park supporting import, export, and distribution to the U.S. and international markets, according to ESD.
The agency awarded 3Gi $420,000 in assistance through Gov. Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative for the purchase of 90 acres of land next to the CSX rail yard in Dewitt, which will complete the project’s first phase, ESD said.
The funding is meant to assist developers in improving the physical infrastructure, including air service, port access, highways, railways, and broadband connectivity to get regional goods to national and global markets.
The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council (CNYREDC) believes the project will “improve competitiveness in, and connections to” regional, national, and global economies, according to ESD.
Developers expect to complete the project in May 2014.
ESD has also awarded U.S. Optical of DeWitt $225,000 through CNYREDC to assist the firm’s more than $2 million expansion aimed at retaining 80 existing jobs and creating 16 new jobs.
U.S. Optical is a wholesale optical lab that manufactures eyeglass-lens prescriptions with a process known as freeform or digital manufacturing.
Formed in 2007, the firm has been “steadily growing,” and the expansion would enable U.S. Optical to export products nationally and in the global marketplace, ESD said.
The agency also awarded the Development Authority of the North Country (DANC) $250,000 to help finance its broadband-installation project in underserved areas of the North Country.
DANC will design and install six miles of Internet fiber cable in Canton and the village of Rensselaer Falls in St. Lawrence County.
Formed in 1985, DANC provides management, services, and financing assistance for North Country regional-economic development.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
