Delay pushes planned Clay window plant to Pennsylvania - Lost Opportunity (New York: 2009, homes)

[bellafinzi]

Empire Zone delay pushes planned Clay window plant to Pennsylvania

by Rick Moriarty / The Post-Standard
Thursday March 26, 2009, 6:54 AM

Clay, NY -- A California company has opened a window manufacturing factory near Pittsburgh instead of a Syracuse suburb because it took New York officials too long to approve tax incentives for the project, the company's top executive said Wednesday.

Kevin Surace, president and chief executive officer of Serious Materials, of Sunnyvale, Calif., said the company decided to put the manufacturing operation in Vandergrift, Pa., after New York state officials took several months to review the company's application for Empire Zone benefits for a site under consideration on Morgan Road in Clay.

Serious Materials opened the plant in a former window factory in Vandergrift two weeks ago and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the plant last week with Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell. The plant employs 35 people, and the company expects to employ 150 at the facility by the end of the year as it ramps up production, Surace said.

Empire Zone delay pushes planned Clay window plant to Pennsylvania

[ckhthankgod]

Great.....I wonder how many times this happens in NY State?

[jrice]

amazing, but yet for that economic waste thats going to be Destiny USA they had the initial frame work for tax incentives relative quick. But yet, for something like this, that would have produced decent paying jobs, that would have enabled more people to purchases homes ,etc (something that retail jobs can not do) they drag their feet

[RollsRoyce]

I'm sure if this project were going to Buffalo or Rochester, the WNY-bred political hacks that head up the Empire State Development's Upstate HQ in Buffalo would have done everything in their power to assist. This governor is completely incompetent and has no understanding of business and taxation. Unfortunately the only likely people to take the helm after Patterson leaves are Cuomo and Giuliani. Although he played a vital role in cleaning up NYC, Giuliani could care less about anything north of the GW Bridge, let alone upstate. Same can be said for Cuomo.

On to another development project: it appears Bitzer Scroll is moving forward with their project in Salina. Several weeks ago the company received approval from the DeWitt town board to relocate their existing office to an Empire Zone at the former GM Plant in Salina. In order to receive Empire Zone benefits, a company that was previously located outside an Empire Zone has to get approval from the jurisdiction where they have existing operations. According to a legal notice in the Post-Standard, Bitzer invested about $10 million in the project to date. Hopefully this expansion will not be impacted by the economy as air conditioning compressors are probably not a big commodity since construction has hit a standstill not only in the US but in much of the industrialized world.