ROTTERDAM

Rotterdam Army Depot/Rotterdam

Industrial Park
Before

• No new construction since Army Depot closed in

1969

• No Empire Zone

• No new tax base

• Logical place to build Rotterdam tax base

without impacting quality of life, yet nothing is
done
• Private economic development group in County
competing with owner of park for tenants and
space – luring tenants to other parts of County –
inherent conflict of interest

• No effort to place closed State Bakery/Building

14 back on tax rolls even though building at
220,000 square feet is one of the largest in
County
After

• Rotterdam Corporate Park – new name new

brand

• New entrance

• Improved access road

• New Rail Spur built by County IDA/Metroplex

• New $7 million FedExFreight facility 60 jobs

• New $15 million Price Chopper Freezer 70 jobs
• New $5 million DEC regional office 100 jobs
• New 250,000 square foot Railex facility -- $25
million, 300 jobs
• Building 14 former State Bakery at 220,000
square feet going back on tax rolls
New tenants for building – now able to market
100k square feet that is vacant

• Building 3 $2 million Restore NY Grant to create

220,000 square foot small business center with
ready to go 11,000 square foot bays for growing
businesses – 2 tenants already more to come

• Other new tenants like Op-Tech filling Corporate

Park
• Empire Zone shared by City creating major new
tax base in Rotterdam due to unified economic
development effort

• Rotterdam Corporate Park now largest Business

Park in Capital Region – over 3 million square
feet
Campbell Plastics
Before

• Plant vacant

• Previous economic development director

promise of 200 jobs never materialized

• Company never moved in

• Building poorly managed. Building collapsed.

No insurance
• Building off tax rolls

• Buildings problems cost County IDA

$200,000, lost taxes $900,000
After

• Site cleaned up

• Recruited Williams Scotsman – national

company as tenant
• Site back on tax rolls

• Sale netted county $500,000 toward back taxes

• Condos on property too

Looking ahead Rotterdam
• Continued smart growth at Rotterdam Corporate
Park

• McLanes site/sewer looking for prospects and

potential funding for sewer line needed to
develop site

• Hamburg Street commercial corridor

• Vstream trying to add this and former Edgecomb

Steel to Empire Zone – key manufacturing/tech
area in Rotterdam
Glenville
Stratton Air Guard Base
Before

• No base retention effort despite state

grants to set up

• Lease with Air Force expired along with

Joint Use Agreement as BRAC
approached
After
• Set up vigorous base defense system

• Prepared for BRAC

• Worked with NYS delegation base removed from

BRAC list and kept four planes from moving to
Arkansas – joint effort with SMAC. 1,400 jobs
saved

• Navy Reserve Center $20 million project – 293

Navy from Albany, 100 Navy from Glens Falls,
259 Army Guard, 225 Marines, 50 FTE’s
Airport Development
Before

• Plan prepared in 1985 for business park at

airport but never implemented despite fact that
Glenville badly needed new tax base
After

• Created Airport Business Park

• Netted County $1.05 million for sale of land and

put land on tax rolls

• Fortitech facility and campus on 20 acres– first

building opening 4/2
• New access road built on time and on budget
• Now showing other sites at Airport Business
Park

Plus, new hangar at airport creating new tax

base and lease income for County with no cost
to County vs. old concept of putting county into
hangar business

• Approval gained for Patriot Square and new

access road to be built to connect Rudy Chase
Drive along airport perimeter to create new
shovel ready sites for mixed use development
• Efforts now to upgrade FBO as important
gateway to community

• New airport business plan

Former Naval Depot in Scotia
Before

• Like Rotterdam Depot logical spot to develop

new jobs and tax base

• Poor condition, federal property off the tax rolls

• Money awarded for shovel ready in Glenville but

never drawn down
After

• Shifted shovel ready state funding to create

shovel ready sites at Glenville Business and
Technology Park

• Sold Burgess site netting County $100k and

back on tax rolls – gateway to park cleaned up

• GSA property being sold and put back on tax

rolls
• GSA clean up and transfer of 60 acres

• Sealed Air $2 million investment

• Safway $1 million investment

• Glenville Park meeting with tenants to do

general upgrades
Glenville Goals

• Former Kmart

• Commercial Corridor for Scotia

• McDonald’s

• Super Steel

• Freemans Bridge site -- $500k owed to County

Niskayuna
Before

• Nova 190,000 square feet empty

• No development at 100 plus acre Hillside

facility despite fact that this was logical site for
development and jobs. Also former military
facility
After

• 190,000 square feet filled

• Unilux 67,000 square feet $7 million 50 jobs

• New access road shovel ready sites
around Unilux as anchor tenant

• Now Niskayuna Tech Park

Plus

• GE projects

• $25 million – 75,000 square foot expansion

• 10,000 square foot prototype manufacturing

plant

• 113,000 square foot C Wing upgrade not demo

• 16,800 expansion to Energy Learning Center –
key win to get gas turbine training and wind
training here

• Full spectrum RDTE/pilot manufacturing/full

scale manufacturing and training now available
here
Niskayuna Goals

• Fill St. James – efforts this year

• River Road office building

• Niskayuna side of Upper Union Street

• Balltown Road new construction at former oil

change site already underway
GE
Before

• Reactive relationship

• Myth that main plant had only developable land

in county

• Land effort without understanding need for ROD

and consent order

• Failure to understand order book

After
• Commitment to GE to take relationship to higher
level

• ROD and consent order

• Worked thru sales tax

• Niskayuna three expansions

• Training center was key

• Wind jobs 150 followed

• Renewable Energy Center – 200,000 square

foot, $40 million 500 new jobs

• 100 production jobs

Aquifer Protection
Before

• Not one aquifer violation issued

• No effort to market water as economic

development tool
After

• Vigorous review of every project near aquifer

• New legislation passed to protect aquifer

• Vigorous enforcement

• Water – Schenectady County’s best economic

development tool
Brownfield clean ups
Before

• Little activity

• Sites cleaned up with little re-use potential –

near City highway garage
After

• Parking lots cleaned with ERP money

• Lot 6 cleaned up after soil illegally dumped there

• Duane Avenue clean up

• Cleanup of National Grid site across from 797

Broadway

• Former Big N
• Peek Street site

• GSA Glenville

• KAPL best option selected

• Freemans Bridge site

• GE main plant

Cleanups also create economic activity

Green Buildings and projects
Before

• Little activity
After
• Downtown District Energy serving Proctors,
Hotel and Center City and potential for future
expansion

• Golub HQ Leeds

• Union Graduate College geo-thermal heat

• GE Building 53 Leeds
• Bike Path

• Secured grant for Upper Union/Niskayuna to

downtown bike path via Central Park and Vale
Park

• Bike path is economic development

• Secured grant to connect bike/hike path ended

in SCCC lot to Stockade, then down Union to
North Jay to Niskayuna
• Rotterdam crossing and link from Amsterdam to
Sch’dy via Rotterdam
Canal Square
Before

• Five empty buildings not on the tax rolls – owned

by IDA

• Vacant lot at corner of Broadway and State

Bechtel
Before

• Pilot – no county and school taxes for 20 years

• Minimal City taxes $1 square foot after 20 years

• Bechtel announces departure

After

• Bechtel decision to leave reversed 160 high

paying jobs saved

• New pilot put in place with real tax payments

• Closed Sunoco becomes new Union Grad

School
Center City
Before

• Off the tax rolls with Pilot locked at flat $10k for
20 years

• Building run down in heart of city

• Tried soccer but they play outside 8 months a

year so not enough rent to support costs
After

• Sold and put on tax rolls

• Taxes $100k

• UDAG paid back $750k

• New tenants MVP and more to come

Pizza Block
Diamond Cinema Site
Before

• Site demo and site work underway without

signed contracts for 14 screen multiplex with no
hard money or signed deals
Federal Renewal Community
Before

• Lost $48 million

• Schenectady last place among 40 RC’s in US

After

• Program fully utilized but cannot get lost credits

back
Train Station
Before

• $30 million plan with no reality just a drawing –

federal match done incorrectly
Big N
Before

• Vacant eyesore
After

• New 260k office for Golub HQ

• Biggest brownfield success story in Upstate NY

Broadway
Before

• Dorp Salvage

• Broken buildings despite major entrance way

• Messy gateway
401 State
Carls
MVP
409 State Street
OPM
• Over $30 million in OPM wins – state/federal
grants

• Full utilization of RC and other programs

Pilots
Before

• Pilots not taking advantage of Empire Zone

• Lost $20 million plus

After

• Fixed pilots
Staff
Before

• 6 at Metroplex
After

• 4.5
County
Before

• 8 at Planning
After

• 7.5 at Planning

• Only three at Planning not supported by some

grant funding
Town Payments
Before

• $0
After

• $29 million – record amount in 2008 due to sales

tax activity level
Construction Coordination
Before

• State Street work bogged down projects often

torn up two or three times
After

• 178 weekly construction coordination meetings

City IDA
Before

• Money borrowed from City but never paid back

• Properties collected and neglected

After

• City paid back $335k

• Five buildings and four properties sold and put

back on tax rolls
County IDA
Before

• Loan fund failure rate 40%

• Owed County $350k

After

• County paid back $350k

• Loan fund terminated

Audits and Spending
Before

• Economic development group had no audited

financials
After

• Audits every year

• External and internal controls

• Compliance with Public Authorities Law

• OSC Audit
World Trade Center
Before

• WTC cost $4 million for land and annual support

over 10 years with minimal results
After

• Sold WTC franchise saving County $200k each

year
Business Center
Before

• Very few tenants

• Costly to County to operate

After

• 25,000 square feet filled, central spot for small

business support

• Much reduced County support costs – Metroplex

staff and manage under unified plan

• Reduced staff
 Employed in County

• 70,400 in 2003

• 72,600 in 2007

• 72,066 in 2008

• More people working in County than at any point

in 28 years
 Labor Force

• 73,700 in 2003

• 76,300 in 2007

• 76,000 in 08

• Highest since 1990

Overall goals and looking ahead
 Smart Growth Business Parks with
Shovel Ready Sites
• Glenville Business and Technology Park

• Patriots Square

• Airport Tech Park

• Niskayuna Tech Park

• Office park at renamed St. James Square

• Rotterdam Corporate Park

• Opus Business Park consider renaming

• I-88 Park

• Broadway Commerce Park

• College Park

• Mohawk Landing

• 890 Business Park

 City Progress

• Down Broadway to Proctors Block down Jay to

College Park

• Fix Erie with OPM

• Lower State – Student housing

 Key Commercial Corridors

• City and towns replicate success of Upper Union

Street
 Training

• Need much more focused effort – youth training,

One-Stop at 797 Broadway, new initiatives at
SCCC

• Need to work harder and smarter given down

national economy
 Van Dyck

• Tried to save venue at a time when there was

little other activity in City and just after Diamond
Cinema was cancelled

• $275k loans

• $100k plus recovered through auction

• Now pursuing personal guarantees

• Kept the name – cleared up title

• New venue will generate sales tax revenue that

will recover amount between amount recovered
to date and $275k
411 State Street
Before

• Two empty dollar stores downtown

• Needed to move development across State
Street

• Provided secured loan of $1 million plus $250k

façade grant
• All money went into building

• Additional private investment in building = $1.9

• All of this went into building

• Developer ran into greatly increased scope and

increased costs for this four floor 26k square foot
building

• Developer ran short of funding before building

was completed
• Finished office space in past three months to get
owner occupancy

• Pursued SBA guarantee once building was

owner occupied

• Lending environment limited ability to close loan

even with SBA guarantee

• Developer now taking on investor to finish the

project
Questions and Answers