Name change at Griffiss business park honors DiMeo

ROME — Pick a spot in the Mohawk Valley, spin around, and point. Odds are good, you’ll be pointing at some project that Steven J. DiMeo had a hand in. A graduate of T.R. Proctor High School, DiMeo began his economic-development work in the Mohawk Valley in 1984 when he worked for the Department of Urban and Economic Development in Utica. In 1986, he became its commissioner. But it was the 1993 battle to save the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome and the subsequent redevelopment of the closed base into a thriving business and technology park that is perhaps his most publicly recognizable career accomplishment. The park is also home to the Mohawk Valley EDGE offices, where DiMeo served as president from its founding until his death on March 6, 2024. “The day of his passing, I met with the staff that morning,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. says. Amid the sadness, talk quickly turned to ways to honor the memory of the man who led so many economic-development efforts across the region — from fighting to keep the Air Force Research Lab in Rome to bringing the semiconductor industry to the area with Wolfspeed.

They all agreed something must be done, but “it’s got to be the right thing,” Picente says. Looking around the region, you could point a finger at dozens of projects, he says, “But it started at Griffiss.” Once a bustling Air Force base, Griffiss was listed as one of the bases targeted under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), a congressionally authorized process the Department of Defense uses to reorganizes its base structure to improve efficiency and operational readiness. Despite all efforts waged by DiMeo and other area economic-development leaders, the 3,689-acre Griffiss Air Force Base closed in September 1995. The Griffiss Local Development Corporation (GLDC) became the entity responsible for figuring out how to reuse the base. DiMeo, as a representative on the board, worked together with GLDC to turn those acres into what is now the thriving Griffiss Business & Technology Park. Shawna Papale, acting president of Mohawk Valley EDGE, recalls talking with GLDC Board Chair Elis DeLia and others when the topic of renaming the park in DiMeo’s honor came up. While people were “ready to change the signs the next day,” she says, things had to go through the proper process. Picente agrees and a big part of that process was making sure DiMeo’s wife, Dianne, and their three children were on board. “The whole family, we’re just honored,” Dianne DiMeo tells The Central New York Business Journal. The park is now known as the Griffiss Business & Technology Park at the Steven J. DiMeo Campus in his honor. Looking at the transformation of the base is amazing, she adds. “It was such a huge undertaking,” she says. “I think most people would look at that and say, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to reach that vision.’” Steve DiMeo never gave up on that vision, and that’s why it’s so necessary to honor his work and his legacy, Papale says. “Anybody who comes to it or just comes through it is in awe,” she says of the bustling park, which is home to nearly 70 businesses employing thousands of people. “Steve would tell us, ‘Don’t change the sign. You don’t need to do that,’” Papale says. But “he and his family deserve that honor.” There will be a ceremony, set for Sept. 13, to unveil the new signage. While the name changes, the work remains the same, Papale says, and MV EDGE continues to take the blueprint DiMeo left for them to continue the vision. “Steve would want us to keep moving forward,” she says.