The Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council failed to bring home one of the state”™s top funding awards announced this month by Gov. Cuomo for public and private projects. Yet business leaders and public officials in Westchester said the county and region scored a big win with a $4-million state grant to develop a biotechnology business incubator at New York Medical College.
The incubator for startup biotech enterprises, to be built in a redeveloped laboratory and research center on the Valhalla campus, was the first-ranked of three priority projects proposed by the 21-member regional council in the strategic five-year plan for economic growth and jobs creation it sent to Albany in November. The other two top projects, a proposed cloud computing center at Marist College in Poughkeepsie and a high-risk assessment clinic for autistic children at the private nonprofit Center for Discovery in Sullivan County, were awarded no shares of the state”™s $785-million funding pot.
The state”™s top awards, ranging from $100.3 million to $103.7 million, went to four regions judged to have the best strategic plans. They were Western New York, Central New York, the North Country and Long Island.
The seven-county mid-Hudson region was awarded $67 million for 61 projects, including 17 in Westchester County. The governor”™s office in its summary of project funding said more than $30 million will go to develop affordable housing and for community revitalization, while more than $8 million will be invested in local manufacturing firms and more than $3 million invested in critical infrastructure improvements for local municipalities.
At The Business Council of Westchester, President and CEO Marsha Gordon, who served on the mid-Hudson council, called the awards “a major win for Westchester and the region.” The diverse public and private projects “have the potential to totally transform our economy,” she said.
Dr. Leonard Schleifer, CEO at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and co-chairman of the regional council, called the $67 million in funding “a great start ”¦ I think it”™s going to allow us to start to execute on our strategic plan and continue into 2012 with a fair amount of energy and enthusiasm and try and make the next application even better.”
Schleifer said Cuomo indicated a similar competitive funding process will be used again in 2012, “so there”™ll be more opportunities for the projects that didn”™t get funded.”
At New York Medical College, officials awaited official notice from Albany of the $4-million award. It amounts to about one-third of the college”™s estimate of the biotech incubator”™s cost earlier this year.
“It”™s not the full amount that we need,” said Dr. Robert W. Amler, dean of the New York Medical College School of Health Sciences and Practices and the college”™s vice president for government affairs. “But we”™ll certainly take advantage of what”™s there and we”™ll have to figure out” how to raise funds to cover the remaining cost.
“It”™s a critical step forward,” Amler said of the state”™s financial support, and will help the college leverage additional financial resources from the federal government.
Westchester County Economic Development Director Laurence Gottlieb said the award for the biotech incubator “was an incredible win for the county, and I think it”™s a huge win for the region.”
The advanced-research incubator for businesses is a critical missing piece that Westchester needs to promote itself as a biotech industry cluster, he said.
