Tryon Boys and Girls Center starts transition to business park

The shuttered Tryon Boys and Girls Center in Fulton County is a step closer to becoming an industrial and commercial business park.

Empire State Development’s board of directors approved a plan to transfer the boys and girls center in the towns of Perth and Johnstown to the Fulton County Industrial Development Agency (FCIDA). The agency will be tasked with turning the property, which is more than 500 acres, into a business park called the Tryon Technology Park and Incubator Center.

New York’s attorney general and comptroller offices must still approve the transfer. If they do, design work is scheduled to begin this year, with the business park finished by December 2015.

The state closed the Tryon facility last year in an effort to consolidate government services and boost the juvenile justice system’s efficiency. It was one of 11 correctional and juvenile facilities closed.

“I have repeatedly said that government must be more efficient, more effective, and more responsible — and that promise is what sparked today’s action,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release. “When I visited the Tryon facility, I found an empty and deteriorating building where taxpayer dollars were going to waste, but now it has a new beginning as a place for cutting-edge technology and job creation that’ll boost the local economy.”

Redeveloping the site carries a projected price tag of $3.14 million. It is set to be funded in part by a $2 million grant awarded in last year’s round of Regional Economic Development Council funding.

It would not be the first business-park development overseen by the FCIDA. The agency also handled development of the Glove Cities Industrial Park, the Crossroads Industrial Park, the Johnstown Industrial Park, and the Crossroads Business Park.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com