Page 71 - 914INC - Q1 - 2013

The Business Council of Westchester
Regional Economic Council
Westchester Wins $23M in Economic Development Grants
Twenty-one Westchester County projects were among the recipients of the largest grants recently announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo through the State Regional Economic Council.
On December 19th state officials announced a total of $738 million funding for projects across the state as part of round two of the state’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council received the third largest funding award among the 10 regional councils. Westchester County and the surrounding Mid- Hudson region secured nearly
$93 million in state economic development grant awards, a 30-perent increase from last year’s funding for the area.
Projects, such as the biotechnology incubator at New York Medical College in Valhalla, which broke ground last month, and a major waterfront redevelopment initiative in New Rochelle are among the Westchester County projects that will receive approximately $23 million in grant funding.
The iBio
Incubator
at New York
Medical
College in
Valhalla received
an additional $1 million in
funding. The new facility will
offer laboratory and office space, services for entrepreneurs and start-up biotechnology companies. It will also provide specialized workforce training for established biotechnology companies in the region. In July, the state announced it was providing a $4 million capital grant to help NYMC under-take renovations to a 129,800 square-foot facility on its campus to build the biopharmaceutical incubator.
The Echo Bay waterfront project
in New Rochelle received $1.5 million to reclaim commercial and industrial land and provide access
to the water’s edge. The project
also includes new market rate and affordable rental housing with neighborhood retail opportunities, as well as more than five acres of public open space. Also in the City of New Rochelle, an initiative at Sound Shore Medical Center to build a
new medical office and ambulatory
Rendering of Sound Shore Medical Center’s new medical office and ambulatory services building and parking garage.
services building and parking garage received $1 million in funding. Northern Westchester Hospital’s
plan to double its emergency room space will receive a $1-million boost from the state as well. The proposed $200-million redevelopment of the 1904 Glenwood Power Plant on the Hudson River in Yonkers received $1 million.
Marsha Gordon, President and
CEO of the Business Council of Westchester and a member of
the Regional Economic Council Executive Committee, said, “This
is a tremendous endorsement of the quality and economic impact
of the projects in Westchester that were proposed for funding. My
goal as a member of the Regional Council has not only been to make sure that these very important Westchester projects are on the list for consideration but to shepherd them through the review process to a successful end. It is very rewarding to see these efforts paid off.“
5