UPDATED 4:15 p.m. โ Details regarding some of the funded projects are starting to trickle out. The Finger Lakes Council’s award includes a $5 million Empire State Development grant for High Tech Rochester to establish a facility for high-tech startups in the city’s Downtown Innovation Zone. The facility will include office space, conference rooms, and […]
Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council
An Earth Day wish: move the tech park
With a name like Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council, you’d think we’d get some actual regional planning. Instead, the goal seems to be insuring that every area in the region gets a share of state money. All right: I’m being snarky. The council does have representatives from throughout the Rochester-Finger Lakes region working together […]
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 […]
[UPDATED] Finger Lakes projects will receive $59.8 million from state
The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council will receive $59.8 million in state funding and tax incentives to advance projects it’s identified as priorities across the nine-county area. The award were just announced as part of the ongoing state Regional Economic Development Council awards. Details of the funding are not yet available, but earlier this […]
The park and resurrection
Rochester scored a win a couple of years ago when New Jersey-based Natcore Technologies moved its solar cell research and development work to Eastman Business Park. Eastman, which is the former Kodak Park, beat out several competitors in the company’s nationwide site search. And recently, state and Natcore officials announced that the company plans to […]
Week Ahead: RCSD budget, College Town groundbreaking, active transportation summit, food truck in Henrietta?
This is an updated version. The Rochester school board will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, for a final review of Superintendent Bolgen Vargasโs proposed budget for the 2013 to 2014 school year. This could be the last opportunity for board members to listen to parents, teachers, and students about the impact of […]
Utilities deal under review
When Recycled Energy Development agreed to buy and operate the utilities at Eastman Business Park, many local business and government leaders were relieved. Local and state officials consider Eastman Business Park a key economic development asset. And the utility system — especially the cheap and plentiful electricity generated on the site — is a large […]
Sustainable Rochester
A consortium of counties and planning agencies in the Rochester area expects to finish a regional sustainability plan by the end of March. | Project planners are gathering data and developing baselines for several things, including greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, and energy use, says David Zorn, executive director of the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning […]
[UPDATED] Week ahead: Sibley COMIDA hearing, State funding awards, Vargas meeting, state Electoral College convenes
On Wednesday, December 19, the state will hold a ceremony to announce funding awards for the regional economic development councils. Details havenโt been announced, but the co-chairs of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council mentioned the event during the councilโs meeting last week. And media reports say the event will be held Wednesday, and […]
Economic development awards coming up
On December 19, the state will announce this year’s funding awards for the regional economic development councils, reports The Business Review, an Albany-area publication. The awards will be announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Maria Bartiromo, the host of CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” The Business Review reports. The 10 regional economic development councils are competing for […]
[UPDATED] Yes, Rochester really would let RBTL go to Irondequoit
UPDATE: In a voice mail earlier today, RBTL board chair Arnie Rothschild said that the league has never attempted to raise money for a new theater, because city officials have never come out and said they want the theater. RBTL wouldn’t fund raise, he said, until the city made the theater project a priority. Rothschild […]
College Town kickoff
Demolition of three older office buildings on Mount Hope and Elmwood avenues will mark the beginning of the College Town project next month. The 16-acre mixed-used development targets the west side of Mount Hope between Elmwood Avenue and Crittenden Boulevard. The project was initiated by the University of Rochester to help integrate the institution and […]






