State grant of $330,000 to fund improvements
The county was awarded a $330,000 grant from the New York State Department of Transportation that officials announced on Tuesday, March 29, would go toward improvements and expansion of the county’s Airport Business Park in Glenville.
The park was formed 20 years ago and currently houses Fortitech, which plans to build a new 48,000-square-foot facility. The existing taxiway is expanding by 10,000 square feet to allow for planes to reach the 3-acre site marked for new hangers. Also, Tech Park Road, which was created to connect Fortitech to Route 50, is expanding by 185 feet to connect the proposed four shovel-ready sites that total 23 acres of land.
The idea is to try and bring in some global businesses that like the location next to the airport, but these are some of the things that need to be done so we can market it for the best that it can be, said County Spokesman Joe McQueen. `Our goal is to get those properties on the tax roll because right now they are not generating any property tax.`
Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, D-Niskayuna, said in a statement another goal is to create new jobs in the county. McQueen said the county hopes to attract businesses looking to supply GE and GlobalFoundries.
`The goal is really to turn the airport into a job generator and a place where we can expand the tax base,` said Ray Gillen, chairman of Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority and Commissioner of the county’s Commission on Economic Development and Planning. `We are actively marketing and showing the sites to potential tenants.`
Gillen said he could not name which companies the county has shown the site to, but there appears to be interest.
`Many communities around the country have built successful business parks at the airports. It is a very successful model we are following,` said Gillen.
The Schenectady County Airport currently houses Stratton Air National Guard Base, a Joint Armed Forces Training Center used by Guard and Reserve military units; Richmor Aviation, an aviation training facility; an Air Traffic Controller Training Facility sponsored by Schenectady County Community College and the Schenectady County Recreation Center, which houses an indoor ice skating arena. More than 2,000 people currently work at the airport.
`It is a very attractive site; it is a nice looking site, and it is also on the Route 50 corridor,` said Gillen.
Each new hanger built at the airport would also pay real property taxes through the use of a payment in lieu of tax agreement to help raise revenue immediately. Having the sites ready is key to attracting new businesses, said Gillen.
`Sites are one of the fundamentals of attracting growing companies. It is a corridor that leads north to Saratoga where the GlobalFoundries plant is going on and it has a lot of potential and we are seeing some real results there,` said Gillen.
With a number of suppliers wanting to get on board, it appears the county’s goals will be accomplished.
`We are taking to some of those suppliers and it is a nice potential locations for some of the companies,` said Gillen. `There are some that are going to continue to ship where they are there is often a gathering or clustering of suppliers around the new facilities.“