CORTLAND COUNTY, N.Y. -- Cortland County will be saying goodbye to some of its green corn fields on State Route 13 and hello to a multimillion dollar business park.
The site in Cortlandville, primarily behind Essex Structural Steel and Monarch Machine Tool Company, was chosen largely because of its location.
"It is part-way between Cortland, Ithaca, Binghamton and Syracuse, so it's in a corridor that is very conducive to many things that would attract business," said Tom Gillson, of the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency.
Congressman Michael Arcuri and Sandy Baruah of the U.S. Department of Commerce presented the county's IDA with $2 million in federal funds to be used for the construction of the new Finger Lakes East Business Park. The jobs at the business park will be strictly commercial and industrial and Arcuri said he doesn't expect it to end up another vacant office building.
A new business park plan in Cortland County is designed to provide office space for area businesses that are ready to expand or open up. Congressman Michael Arcuri and a representative from the U.S. Department of Commerce presented a two million dollar check to the county's Industrial Development Agency Tuesday. Our Allison Lazarz has more on the new project.
"I am convinced. It's like the old adage ‘if you build it they will come.’ We create the facility. We will have companies. They are coming to this area. I think things are really looking up for us," said Arcuri.
And members of Cortland County's IDA said there is a demand for office space in the area.
"We have site selectors and we have corporation representatives calling us looking for shovel-ready sites. We have been, quite frankly, remiss in that we didn't have anything in our inventory that was ready to go. This business park will help us level the playing field with other towns, counties, states that have put a significant amount of money into economic development," said Paul Slowey, a member of the Cortland County Industrial Development Agency.
The business park is expected to employ more than 1,200 people and if all goes according to plan, construction on the building will begin early next year.
In total, the project will cost more than $4 million. Additional funding is coming from Cortland County, the town of Cortlandville and money secured by Senator James Seward.