Published in the New York State Real Estate Journal

Read more here: https://nyrej.com/an-upstate-economic-renaissance-is-underway-broome-county-must-be-ready-to-benefit-by-stacey-duncan

Upstate communities have long fought against an unfair and outdated narrative that our regions aren’t business friendly.

The economic development community is working hard to change this narrative. We’re highlighting our unsurpassed quality of life, easy access to transportation systems, educated and talented workforce, and – most importantly – ample room to grow.

These efforts are starting to bear fruit. Across the region, we’re racking up successes and outcompeting other states to land big projects that will be nothing short of transformative, generating good-paying jobs and creating opportunities for generations to come.

It’s critical that we continue to do the work to ensure this upward trajectory continues, and that Broome County can fully participate in the Upstate economic renaissance that is well underway.

Exhibit A of this transformation is President Joe Biden’s recent announcement of more than $6 billion in federal funding for Micron, which is planning the nation’s largest semiconductor manufacturing facility within an easy driving distance of Binghamton.

But there’s more where that came from. All across Upstate, there’s evidence that businesses have recognized the potential we have to offer and are making investments in sustainable, future-focused projects that will put our region on the cutting edge of technological advancements and poised for long-term growth.

GlobalFoundries has firmly established itself outside of Albany in the last decade. Wolfspeed officially opened the world’s largest 200mm silicon carbide semiconductor facility outside of Utica earlier this year. Edwards Vacuum is building a $319 million dry pump manufacturing facility in Western New York.

A key common thread runs through all these projects: They are or will be located on specially designated business campuses that offer ample land, availability of critical infrastructure, and, most importantly, access to the people and workforce training to fill thousands of jobs.

The concept behind putting together strategically located shovel-ready greenfield sites is hardly new. Especially in today’s fast-paced, global economy, with fierce competition not just from other states but other nations, industries are transient. They’re looking not just for incentives, but for ease and speed of development, access to amenities, and high quality of living for their employees.

As both governor Kathy Hochul and senate majority leader Chuck Schumer highlighted at President Biden’s Micron grant announcement, having a shovel-ready site for the company was key to wooing them to the Empire State. In senator Schumer’s words, Onondaga County put together the plot of land that “could grow into a field of dreams for new investment.”

The last time a large-scale corporate park was stitched together in Broome County was in 1984 — an entirely different era when legacy corporations like IBM still maintained a robust local presence. Since then, the day of the anchor business has passed, and shovel-ready sites that can accommodate a wide range of smaller, nimbler businesses are more important than ever before.

Over the past several decades, our original corporate park has attracted large logistics facilities that have generated hundreds of jobs and $1 billion in annual economic benefits.

That park is now nearly at capacity, which is a good problem to have. But we can’t sit idly if we want the next wave of investments to reach Broome County. Areas within geographic proximity to the billions of dollars in microchip-related development that’s underway must be equipped to land suppliers and other businesses that will surely follow.

Our potential is considerable, and still largely untapped.

The Binghamton area, for example, has been designated a federal tech hub to help lead the nation in battery storage manufacturing, bolstering the domestic battery supply chain as the need for clean energy storage explodes. That designation will help attract new investments in clean energy-related businesses even beyond battery manufacturing. Already, we’ve seen Raymond Corp. announce they will expand their electric forklift manufacturing operations into Broome County, and we believe this is only the start.

Those businesses need to be able to hit the ground sprinting as they establish themselves and grow to meet the demands of the burgeoning clean energy economy.

We have a conceptual vision for how to capitalize on the surge of growth Upstate is experiencing. But that vision won’t come to fruition without significant collaboration and community engagement.

Ensuring sites are pre-reviewed and prepped for development is just one half of what it means to be shovel ready. The other critical piece is working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders – businesses, residents, educational institutions, nonprofits, governments and more – to ensure we’re growing in a manner that is appropriate and in keeping with what makes our community unique.

Upstate is poised for an era of exciting and meaningful growth – the kind of growth that will attract new residents and ensure those who are already here can stay and flourish for generations to come. We need to be prepared to seize this opportunity. By working together, I’m confident we can make that happen.

Stacey Duncan is the executive director of The Agency, and president and CEO of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, Binghamton, N.Y.