Speeches given by County Executive Maggie Brooks are typically precise and business-like, so last night’s State of the County address, Brooks’ 10th, was a wild ride by comparison, featuring a selfie with a Berenstain Bear, a mouthy Belgian Malinois (a canine officer), and a splash of audience participation. Brooks’ tone was also a little sharper than […]
economic development
Posted inNews & Opinion
Local colleges moving forward on START-UP NY plans
Three local colleges could soon be active in START-UP NY, a state program that provides substantial tax breaks for businesses while linking them with public and private higher education institutions. Schools that want to participate have to develop a plan and submit it to state officials. The plans are supposed to identify the type of […]
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Biz park for sale
Kodak has put Eastman Business Park up for sale. The company had been selling and leasing out parts of the park, but now Kodak wants to offload the remaining property entirely. The announcement comes just a month after Kodak, the State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency agreed on a trust […]
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Eastman Business Park officially for sale
This morning, Kodak announced that it’s putting Eastman Business Park up for sale. The company had been selling off chunks of the park to outside businesses or leasing space in its buildings. But now the company wants to offload the remaining property entirely. From its press release: “Kodak believes the uniquely well-equipped site can best continue […]
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[UPDATED] Senecas show they’re serious by buying land in Henrietta for a casino
The Seneca Gaming Corporation has acquired a 32-acre property on Clay Road, which runs between Brighton-Henrietta Town Line Road and Hylan Drive, in Henrietta for a possible casino. A press release did not disclose what the company, an affiliate of the Seneca Nation of Indians, paid for the property. It did say that the property is […]
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Kodak and EPA agree on clean-up plan for Eastman Business Park
When a bankruptcy court decided that Kodak could emerge from Chapter 11, its permission was contingent on the company’s ability to reach a deal with the federal Environmental Protection Agency regarding pollution at the site. Kodak and the EPA have made that deal. Specifically, the EPA has endorsed the 2013 settlement between the New York […]
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Legislator wants schools representative on COMIDA board
Over the past year or so, the Monroe County Industrial Development Agency has approved tax-incentive packages for businesses over the objections of local school district officials. Most recently, COMIDA’s board approved an incentive package for an expansion at Marketplace Mall over the objection of the Rush-Henrietta school district. In June 2012, representatives of the Greece […]
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WEEK AHEAD: Incentives for Hart’s, county charter discussion
At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Monroe County Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) will hold a public hearing on a tax incentive package for Hart’s Local Grocers, the new grocery store opening in downtown Rochester this spring. Hart’s will be located at 10 Winthrop Street – in the former Craig Autometrics building – in the city’s East […]
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Morelle wants investigation of Medley’s state tax credits
State Assembly member Joe Morelle is calling for Empire State Development to investigate whether the Medley Centre project still is, or should be, eligible for its Empire Zone benefits. Developer Scott Congel bought the Irondequoit mall and the company that owns it, Bersin Properties, several years ago. Over the years, his plans for the mall […]
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START-UP NY: Big boost or big giveaway?
New York has a problem. The state’s public and private universities produce well-educated students and foster plenty of technological innovation, but out-of-state companies are often the ones to benefit. It’s a trend that state government and business leaders have tried, with limited success, to reverse for years. But some elected leaders and economic development officials […]
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NY’s economic development Hunger Games
New York is three years into its economic development Hunger Games. The analogy between a fictional dystopian death match and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature economic development initiative isn’t entirely precise. While the Cuomo initiative pits regions of the state against each other in an annual competition for limited resources, nobody dies. And the distribution of […]
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COMIDA grants incentives to mall project
A planned expansion at Marketplace Mall won’t just be retail space, it’ll be a tourist destination. At least that’s the argument that the mall’s owner and Monroe County Industrial Development Agency are advancing. The mall’s owner, Wilmorite, plans to re-use the former Bon-Ton space for an as-yet-unannounced purpose. Wilmorite will also build a new anchor building […]
