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Gov Cuomo and the Athenex Corp announced yesterday that they will be building a new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant just outside Dunkirk that will bring hundreds of new jobs to the Dunkirk area and northern Chautauqua County!
This is really a game changing kind of business for the area south of Buffalo because these are going to be primarily high tech jobs for technicians, engineers, and other degreed professionals. My guess is that they're going to be bringing in a lot of new people to the area -- and opportunities for local tech people to either stay in the area or to come back home if they've moved away. Currently in WNY, Buffalo and especially Amherst have been the technology job centers. Even in the Buffalo Southtowns (Hamburg, Orchard Park, Eden etc) lack much in the way of tech positions, so residents have to travel into Buffalo or Amherst for jobs. Now they'll have an alternative as Hamburg exit 57 is about 40 minutes from Dunkirk exit 59, and Route 20 is a pretty straight shot between Hamburg and Dunkirk, too.
Yes, this is huge for Dunkirk, not only the plant itself but the fact that it may save the power plant as well.
The article you posted provides more details than what I read locally. The local paper did not detail that only half of these jobs are directly at the plant and the other half are suppliers to the plant. And this article is much more clear as to when these jobs will be in place. Regardless, this is great stuff.
That this is a Buffalo-born company is also very good. This shows well for the state's big investment in WNY's economic core, Buffalo, and that it eventually helps all of WNY.
How much of a subsidy? Is this growth sustainable? How many companies take the tax break and split after so many years? I'm not trying to be a downer but this scenario plays out so many times in WNY. Elon Musk's company is on the ropes and he's the one building solar city. My guess is that solar city flops and Elon Musk walks away with some pretty coin.
How much of a subsidy? Is this growth sustainable? How many companies take the tax break and split after so many years? I'm not trying to be a downer but this scenario plays out so many times in WNY. Elon Musk's company is on the ropes and he's the one building solar city. My guess is that solar city flops and Elon Musk walks away with some pretty coin.
I think that this project puts the "Buffalo Billion" over the billion dollar mark.
genoobie, that's a fair point. Do any projects like this exist without some type of subsidy, anywhere? I wish we were all on an even playing field and subsidies were completely eliminated everywhere. But until then how else can jobs be built in WNY? FYI, for this plant in Dunkirk, Athenex is investing min. $1.52B & SUNY Polytechnic is investing $200M. For the portion in Buffalo, Athenex is investing a min. of $100M and SUNY Polytechnic is investing $25M. Not sure if this really spells it all out, but this seems like quite a good investment.
As far as sustainability... unfortunately the market for cancer treatment seems promising.
"The historic concrete-and-brick building in the center of the Village of Westfield was once the heart and soul of the region's grape-growing industry, as the headquarters of the well-known Welch's Grape Juice Co. for nearly a century.
But while the company still has a large presence in the area – and still produces grape juice from locally grown fruit – its longtime home may soon be hosting residents, rather than executives.
Buffalo developer Savarino Cos. is poised to acquire the four-story C.E. Welch building from the Town of Westfield and begin a $16.15 million renovation after village officials this week approved its redevelopment plan.
That fulfills local leaders' goal of ensuring that a landmark structure will not only remain intact but return to vibrancy.
"Like many communities of its size across New York State the Village of Westfield has some notable historic structures which are integral to the fabric of its central core but that, sadly, sit empty and abandoned," said CEO Samuel Savarino.
Plans call for the building at 2 S. Portage St. to be redeveloped into 46 mixed-income residential apartments and 3,700 square feet of commercial space. According to a summary, it's intended to add "much-needed housing" and street-level retail space to the village, to support walkability and strengthen the vitality and resurgence in downtown Westfield.
The building will include 31 one-bedroom and 15 two-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from 500 to 1,200 square feet, with both market and affordable rates. The commercial space is aimed at consumer-oriented businesses in the street-level space and professional service offices on the ground floor.
Previous plans called for 24 apartments and 10,000 to 12,000 square feet of commercial space. The developer was approved for $1.76 million in tax breaks to support the project.
Located at the southwest corner of South Portage Road and West Main Street, the 51,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1909 for Dr. Charles E. Welch, during a period of frenzied building activity in the village that had started in the 1860s and lasted through the 1920s.
The reuse effort has been years in the making, starting after Welch's relocated its corporate headquarters to Concord, Mass., in the 1980s. The grape cooperative remained in the building to serve the National Grape Cooperative Association until 2020, when its lease expired. It had already acquired the smaller ROR building on East Main Street in July 2019, and still has a manufacturing facility outside the town.
In the meantime, it sold the Westfield building and its 14-acre property in 2005 to a developer, who was unable to proceed with rehabilitation plans. Instead, the underused building wound up being acquired by the town in 2014 for $355,000. The town kept 12 acres for public use, but sought to preserve the rest, including the building. It began seeking redevelopment bids in 2018.
An initial agreement in December 2019 to sell the building and 2 acres of land to Landmark Development Consortium of Buffalo for $350,000 fell through when the Covid-19 pandemic hit three months later, disrupting business activity.
The town relisted the property in 2021, this time for $495,000, and attracted RANT LLC of St. Louis, which brought in Savarino. The developers are expected to close their $475,000 purchase of the property early this year, followed by the start of $12 million in construction in mid-2023. Completion is expected after 18 months."
"Wells Enterprises, whose Dunkirk ice cream plant was in jeopardy just over a year ago with nearly half of its jobs at risk, will get nearly $12 million in tax breaks from Chautauqua County to support a major renovation and expansion, after it was acquired early this year by an Italian sweets giant.
The county Industrial Development Agency approved $11.5 million in sales tax breaks and $450,900 in property tax breaks for a $250 million project that will ultimately result in a new, more efficient facility.
The privately owned company said it will spend $150 million on construction and renovation and another $100 million on furniture, equipment and machinery, according to its application to the CCIDA.
Wells will add 250 new jobs on top of 400 existing jobs, cementing the plant's future in Dunkirk, where it makes ice cream and frozen novelty products. The company's payroll in Dunkirk is about $17 million, but that's expected to rise to $26 million within three years.
"The investment in Dunkirk illustrates our passion to provide high-quality premium ice cream products that bring joy to consumers around the world," said Liam Killeen, Wells' CEO.
Wells announced plans in August for the expansion at its 217,500-square-foot facility at 1 Ice Cream Drive, where it expects to more than double its production capacity to support growth in its novelty and packaged ice cream products. The plant makes products under the Blue Bunny, Halo Top, Bomb Pop and Blue Ribbon Classics brands, which Wells is expanding nationwide under its new owner, Ferraro Group SpA of Italy.
Plans for the three-phase project call for demolishing the existing plant on the 18.3-acre site and building a 250,000-square-foot replacement over several years, while still maintaining operation and production. Wells also will construct a power substation to support the plant, on a 2.9-acre parcel at 115 W. Doughty St. Extension.
"This is just such an exciting project," said Mark Geise, deputy county executive for economic development and CEO of the CCIDA. "It really is a game changer for the county, and the north county in particular with the creation of jobs."
The CCIDA also agreed to extend a prior payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement on the substation from 2020, matching it with the new one. The project is also receiving $10 million in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits from New York State and a $6 million grant from Empire State Development Corp., in exchange for the job and investment commitments.
Wells said the project would not proceed without the $11.95 million in tax breaks that represent less than 1% of its cost.
Work is expected to begin in the first quarter, with completion by year-end 2026.
The expansion marks a major reversal for Wells, which had disclosed plans in September 2022 to cut 319 of 643 jobs in Dunkirk because it said the facility's production technology was outdated and inefficient.
But just three months after announcing the job cuts, Wells was acquired in December 2022 by Ferraro, a global food and sweets company whose brands include Nutella, Kinder and Tic Tac. That same month, the number of job cuts were trimmed by over 40% to 183, or 28% of the plant's employees.
And while Wells said at the time that the reduction in job cuts was not related to the new ownership, Ferraro soon showed it had other, more ambitious plans.
Separately, CCIDA approved a $130,000 low-interest loan to a Forestville manufacturer that provides metal stamping, machining, welding and assembly services, particularly for auto parts.
Bailey Manufacturing Co., a 70-year-old minority-owned company, will use the 10-year loan at 4% interest to support a $330,000 project to construct a 7,000-square-foot prefabricated warehouse next to its production facility at 10987 Bennett State Road. Upon completion, the project will retain 65 jobs and create two new ones.
The company needs the expansion to accommodate business growth, as its current building is no longer sufficient to store the raw materials, finished goods and manufacturing operations. The company also leases two warehouses out of town, which creates logistical problems.
“The new warehouse facility is a much-needed addition to our operation,” said Bailey Manufacturing President and CEO John Hines. “Not only will it help to significantly improve efficiencies, but will also make our operation more cost-effective over time.”
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