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STATE TO PROVIDE HALF THE FUNDING FOR $44 MILLION SPORTS COMPLEX IN DOWNTOWN UTICA
A rendering of Nexus Center, a $44 million, “tournament-based,” sports complex that the Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority will build in downtown Utica. The state has awarded $22 million to help cover the cost of the project. (Photo credit: Utica Comets website)
UTICA, N.Y. — The Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority will use a $22 million state award for the construction of Nexus Center, a $44 million, “tournament-based,” sports complex in downtown Utica.
This facility will be adjacent to the Adirondack Bank Center, the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a news release. Adirondack Bank Center is the home of the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets, Utica College men’s and women’s hockey programs, and the Utica Jr. Comets youth-hockey organization.
The 169,440-square-foot Nexus Center will “primarily” host ice hockey, box lacrosse, soccer and other field sports, and “will draw competitive youth teams from across the U.S and Canada,” Cuomo’s office contends.
The Nexus Center is projected to host 24 hockey and 24 lacrosse tournaments each year and is estimated to annually host more than 322,000 visitors who will spend more than $26 million a year during their stay in the Mohawk Valley region, per Cuomo’s news release.
“The Nexus Center is part of our bold vision for making Oneida County a sports, tourism and recreation destination,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. said in the governor’s release. “I am thankful to Gov. Cuomo for supporting this project with vital funding that will bring the Nexus Center from concept to reality.”
The Nexus Center will feature more than 25 locker rooms, commercial office space, college-classroom space, a retail section, food and beverage services, and other multi-purpose training space.
The facility will focus on out-of-town tournament participants year-round, while catering to local athletes during the week for practices and training. When the Nexus Center is not hosting a tournament or other events, it will function as a community sports and recreation center for area sports organizations, high schools, and colleges.
Future plans for the Nexus Center include expanding to a four-season sporting center, with the potential to add outdoor multi-use sports fields to the north and into the Harbor Point area, “a vision consistent with the Utica Harbor master plan,” per Cuomo’s release.
MASONIC MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE TO USE $6M STATE GRANT FOR RENOVATION WORK, ADD UP TO 30 NEW JOBS
UTICA, N.Y. — Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) of Utica will use a $6 million state grant to renovate its 5,500-square-foot basement area and increase its laboratory space.
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul made the grant announcement during her State of the State presentation in Utica on Tuesday.
MMRI said, in a news release, that it will use the funding to renovate a 5,500-square-foot basement and sub-basement to increase laboratory space and accommodate up to five additional research faculty members. The additional researchers will also be able to recruit between four and eight additional scientists to their laboratories, totaling an additional 25 to 30 new jobs.
The project also involves construction of a procedural suite that will allow MMRI to continue its research efforts.
“This investment will continue the groundbreaking and lifesaving research that is being conducted at [MMRI], thanks to the world-class talent [it] brings to the Mohawk Valley, benefiting both the region and state for generations to come,” Howard Zemsky, president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development (ESD), said in the MMRI release.
The grant will help further MMRI’s research and help it develop therapeutic approaches to “move more quickly” into human-clinical trials, per the release.
The funding will also allow MMRI to “continue its transformation into a 21st century interdisciplinary, translational research facility,” expanding its focus from traditional heart disease to other areas including diabetes and obesity, autoimmunity, and cancer.
“These resources will provide MMRI the opportunity to broaden our current cardiac-research program and expand to areas outside the cardiovascular-disease space, such as studying mechanisms that cause neurodegenerative disease, autoimmunity, diabetes and cancer, all in an effort to find novel treatments for these devastating ailments,” Dr. Maria Kontaridis, MMRI director of research, said.
“The support that we have received from New York State is extraordinary and has allowed us to recruit top tier faculty to the Mohawk Valley from universities like Harvard and Yale and from top research hospitals in Los Angeles and as far away as Saudi Arabia,” David Schneeweiss, chairman of the MMRI board of directors, added.
MMRI is currently involved in a $25 million, multi-year “transformational” project that the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council has identified as a “priority project.”
Didn't know where to put this, but since this is from the NBC affiliate in Utica and in the metro area, here is a nice, inspirational story from West Canada Valley HS in Herkimer County: https://www.wktv.com/content/news/Se...505489661.html
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