The Hudson Valley is said to be short on shovel-ready sites where industry or relocating firms can set up shop in modern facilities. But Ulster County is seeking to remedy this situation by trying to revamp an aging industrial park into a modern green commercial and industrial facility while also doing the long-term work to prepare a green field into an industrial park in the future.
Tech City in Kingston and the Winston Farm in Saugerties both made progress this year in their bids to host businesses, but while 2010 looks promising for both ventures, no guarantees exist that the projects will have the funding to go forward. As business improves with the recovering economy, the hope is both will be positioned to garner funding to create modern business parks.
Tech City seems further along the route to a new shovel-ready site. The former IBM campus that has some 27 buildings on about 250 acres and is in the midst of a master planning process while simultaneously revamping the campus in the town of Ulster, turning a “Father Knows Best”-era IBM monolith into a modern green business park that will serve industrial, commercial, office and even retail business needs.
“We”™ve got good news to let the public know about,” said Tech City owner and Chairman Alan Ginsberg.
The facility has attracted ten new clients to its facilities this year and is applying to the state for a $5 million grant under the Economic Development Corporation”™s Upstate Regional Blueprint fund for adoptive reuse of the IBM site.Â
The master plan calls for demolition of some buildings, construction of some new buildings, renovation of other buildings and a new street configuration that will create front-door addresses for businesses that would otherwise be lost in the anonymity of a sprawling business park. The use of solar power and green roofs on the rehabilitated facilities could ensure the sustainable aspects of the project.
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Demolition has already begun. The town of Ulster Town Board is now in the final stages of assessing the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the master plan. Ginsberg didn”™t want to predict when final approval would be received, because there is a new town supervisor taking office Jan 1. But he said Tech City and the incoming administration have already established a good working relationship.
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“Once we have approval the whole dynamics of this property totally changes so when we have this conversation next year, we talk about the numerous other companies that are on site,” said Ginsberg. “People no longer have to call it the former IBM site, but will call it a great green property.”
The 800-acre Winston Farm in Saugerties also seeks to become the site of a green business park, but has a longer road to travel before work can begin. The town held a series of conceptual meetings over the course of 2009 for a 250-acre business park and has sent out requests for proposals to roughly 20 companies interested in performing the work connected with the EIS.
The RFPs are due back on Dec. 30 and the work “will take at least a year,” said town Supervisor Greg Helsmoortel. “A lot of groundwork has already been done.”
The Schaller family which owns the site is largely footing the bill for the EIS, expected to cost up to $1.2 million. After that, what funding will be available is guesswork.
“That could be a combination of things,” said Helsmoortel. “It could be the owners alone or the owners might take some equity partners. That part I don”™t think can be answered by anyone at this time.”
Ginsberg had the same general reaction to questions about paying for the Tech City project. He pointed out that it was a five year plan being considered within a volatile economy. “I”™m not comfortable talking numbers yet,” said Ginsberg. “Let the plan be approved, then we will price it out.”
