A runner-up a year ago in a new statewide competition for economic development dollars, the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council impressed Albany officials this month with a strengthened strategic plan judged one of the top three in the state.
Competing with nine other regional councils appointed in 2011 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the mid-Hudson Valley council was awarded $25 million in capital funds for its winning plan for jobs creation and economic development in its sprawling seven-county region. In all, businesses, nonprofits and municipalities, from Westchester County to Ulster County, stand to receive a total of $92.8 million for 84 projects awarded through the state”™s 2-year-old consolidated funding application process. (View map of regional winners here.)
The regional award total is a nearly 39 percent increase from the valley”™s share of competitive funding in 2011, when state agencies awarded $67 million for 61 projects.
The state”™s top awards last year ranged from $100.3 million to $103.7 million and went to Western New York, Central New York, the North Country and Long Island. Statewide, $785 million in capital grants and employer tax credits were approved last year
New York”™s regional economic development pot was smaller this year, at $738 million. The Finger Lakes regional council won the largest award, $96.2 million, for 76 projects. Another best plan presenter, the Southern Tier region, won $91.1 million for 62 projects.
Among the state”™s top four award winners in 2011, the North Country and Central New York Councils were judged top performers in the second year of the governor”™s regional economic development strategy. They received $90.2 million and $93.8 million, respectively, in 2012 funding.
In Westchester County, New York Medical College will add a $1 million state grant to the $4 million awarded by the state last year for a planned iBio Incubator for entrepreneurs and start up biotechnology companies. To be built in a vacant laboratory and office building on the Grasslands health care campus in Valhalla, the center would also provide specialized workforce training for existing biotech companies in the region, state officials said.
New York Medical College officials previously estimated the cost of the public-private partnership project at about $12 million. Of three priority projects identified by the regional council in its first-year plan, the biotech incubator was the only one awarded funds by the state in 2011.
Another priority project to assist businesses in the region, the proposed New York State Cloud Computing and Analytics Center at Marist College in Poughkeepsie was awarded $3 million this year after receiving no funding in 2011.
