Gov. Andrew Cuomo began his 10-city Central New York economic tour on Tuesday morning in Syracuse to promote his plan for further regional economic development.

Cuomo boarded a bus to visit three of the most influential and heavily invested projects in the area: the Central New York Biotech Accelerator, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center and the Inner Harbor Redevelopment.

More than $1.4 billion in capital investment is being spent in Syracuse in hopes of dramatically increasing the economy and creating better job opportunities for Syracuse residents, said Robert Simpson, president of CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity.

More than 30 projects are being implemented in order to establish Syracuse as the center for regional development in Central New York, Simpson said.

The Central New York Regional Economic Development Council, the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, Syracuse University and the Strategic Implementation Assessment Team are working together to bring Cuomo’s plan of bettering the economies in Central New York to fruition, according to the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council Project Tour press kit.

“We really feel that this regional economic development process has just changed the way in which this community has come together; it is so ground up,” Chancellor Nancy Cantor said. “Shovels are in the ground and there are cranes in Syracuse like there haven’t been in years; it’s true all around the counties who are a part of this Central New York region.”

The Strategic Implementation Assessment Team offers government aid to those regions that best collaborate economically, creating competition among other areas in Central New York, Cuomo said.

“The competition, I believe, offers an incentive,” he said. “If you can do it, you will succeed and you will have financing from the state. If you do not succeed, you will be in competition with other regions.

The Biotech Accelerator, the first stop on Cuomo’s tour, is a joint project between the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Upstate University Hospital.

The next stop was a brief visit to St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, which is currently working on two different projects.

The first project is the creation of the Prospect Hill Homes. The homes will provide 50 units of affordable housing to St. Joseph’s entry-level workers in the area, according to the press kit.

The second project consists of a six-story tower expansion to the health center. The project will cost $265 million and will consist of 110 private rooms, a surgical suite with 14 operating rooms, intensive care units and other facilities. The project will create 146 jobs, according to the press kit.

The biggest project on the tour was the final stop, the Inner Harbor Redevelopment site. This project will take up to seven years and cost upward of $350 million. The development will feature a satellite campus for Onondaga Community College, housing for 4,000 students, a three-story hotel, offices and ground-level retail space, according to the press kit.

From these projects, Cuomo sees potential in the Syracuse area.

Said Cuomo: “Energy is in the air. The region is coming back; there is a positive synergy.”

 

Published on October 3, 2012 at 3:47 am

Contact Erin: erkelly@syr.edu