WATERTOWN — Work is under way to expand the administrative offices of the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. (JCLDC), which is housed at the Watertown Center for Business & Industry (WCBI). The WCBI, which includes four buildings and is located at 800 Starbuck Ave. in Watertown, is a business incubator created through public and private […]
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WATERTOWN — Work is under way to expand the administrative offices of the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. (JCLDC), which is housed at the Watertown Center for Business & Industry (WCBI).
The WCBI, which includes four buildings and is located at 800 Starbuck Ave. in Watertown, is a business incubator created through public and private partnerships in 1994.
The JCLDC needs a larger space that’s more “efficient,” says William (Billy) Soluri, site manager for the WCBI.
He spoke with the Business Journal News Network on June 3.
“They’ve made due and they’ve added on their current location a few times over the years, but now it’s to the point they need to expand and to expand in their current location … isn’t feasible,” Soluri says.
The JCLDC offices are moving into a 4,600-square-foot space in the incubator’s Building B, more than doubling its operating area. The JCLDC has operated in a 2,200-square-foot space in Building A-B that’s separate from the four buildings in the business incubator, Soluri says.
“It’s a great space for a startup company coming in that needs a nice office and conference room,” he says of the space that the JCLDC will vacate.
The project is in the construction phase, with crews trenching sewer lines and making sewer connections, he says.
Capital Construction & Development Corp. of Watertown is the general contractor on the project. Empire Northeast, Inc. of Gouverneur is the contractor handling the plumbing and mechanical work, according to Soluri.
Jordstat Construction, Inc. of Alexandria Bay is the electrical contractor on the project, he adds.
Aubertine & Currier Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors, PLLC is handling design work on the project.
The construction work started in March. Soluri hopes to have contractors complete the work by October.
The Watertown Local Development Corp. is providing the funding for the project, which will cost between $450,000 and $475,000, he says.
“If they weren’t here, and we weren’t able to get our project funding through them, this project probably wouldn’t be happening right now,” says Soluri.
About the JCLDC
The Jefferson County Local Development Corp. is a nonprofit that is “closely affiliated” with the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), says David Zembiec, deputy CEO of both organizations.
“The IDA actually formed the LDC to do many of the economic-development activities that the IDA cannot do,” says Zembiec.
In explaining the relationship between the two, Zembiec says the Jefferson County IDA can provide tax incentives such as property or sales-tax abatements on a project.
The LDC is a nonprofit that can focus on marketing, providing grants, and workforce-development efforts but doesn’t have the power to grant tax benefits, he adds.
The IDA contracts with the LDC to provide administrative services so “many of the same people” staff both organizations, according to Zembiec.
About the WCBI
The Watertown Center for Business & Industry is part of surplus industrial space that Jefferson County accepted as part of a deal brokered in 1994 with New York Air Brake, LLC (NYAB), the city’s largest manufacturing firm, to remain in the state after the Munich, Germany–based Knorr-Bremse Group purchased the company, according to a fact sheet on the facility.
NYAB manufactures of train-control systems for the railroad industry
The Watertown Industrial Center Local Development Corporation (WICLDC) has owned the WCBI since 1995.
The city of Watertown, Jefferson County, Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency, Jefferson County Job Development Corp., Development Authority of the North Country, New York Air Brake Corp., and Watertown Local Development Corp. partnered to form the WICLDC, according to the fact sheet.
The WCBI currently has 21 tenants with employees who work in more than 170 full- and part-time jobs.
The tenants include New York Air Brake, which utilizes warehouse space in Building C; a local office of Newport News, Va.–based Ferguson Waterworks, which has an office and warehouse space in Building B; and ServPro of Jefferson County, which has an office and warehouse space in Building A, according to the WCBI’s tenant directory.
The facility is about 82 percent occupied with more than 100,000 square feet under lease, the fact sheet says.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com