Westchester County Business Journal 4/23/2012

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WCBJ

WESTCHESTER COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL

YOUR only SOURCE FOR regional BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com

April 23, 2012 | VOL. 48, No. 17

Going down House prices fall as sales show little spark BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com

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Health care test model • 2

Richard A. Barasch, CEO of Universal American Corp. in Rye Brook.

New life for state lender

Cuomo looks to revive Job Development Authority BY PATRICK GALLAGHER pgallagher@westfairinc.com

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efore embarking on a $52.3 million capital project at its Rensselaer facilities, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., based in Tarrytown, sought financial assistance in the form of state incentives from the state Urban Development Corp. (UDC). In March, UDC – which does business as Empire State Development Corp. – proposed making a $200,000 grant to Regeneron to assist in the financing of the project, which

is expected to retain 190 jobs and create 50 more within five years of the funds’ disbursement. As the state’s chief economic development engine, Empire State Development (ESD) is charged with promoting job creation and private investment by means of statebacked loans, grants and tax credits. In the past, state incentives have generally been confined to larger companies such as Regeneron making major capital investments, as high expenses to apply for ESD New life, page 6

he median price of a single-family house in Westchester County fell to its lowest level in 10 years in this year’s first quarter, when only four more home purchases were closed than in the same quarter one year ago. The first-quarter home sales were reported by Empire Access Multiple Listing Service members in Westchester and Putnam counties. The residential market was significantly slower in Putnam County, where sales of single-family houses were down more than 19 percent and their median sale price dropped nearly 21 percent from a year ago. In Westchester, the median sale price of a single-family house was $505,500, an 8.5 percent drop from the first quarter of 2011. It was the lowest median price for a quarter since 2002, when Westchester’s median or Houses selling midpoint price first surfor $1 million or passed the $500,000 level. more made up Houses selling for $1 million or more made up 16 percent of 16 percent of total firsttotal first-quarter quarter house sales in house sales in Westchester, according to Westchester. the listing service, a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors Inc. in White Plains. In a separate Westchester-Putnam quarterly market report, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate said Westchester’s luxury market – the upper 10 percent of all one-family house sales – saw a median sales price of $2,137,500, a 12.2 percent increase from the first quarter of 2011. Sale prices in the top one-tenth of all house closings started at $1,385,000. The median price of a condominium in the county was

Ashes to ashes • 8

Going down, page 6

Sweet endeavors • 14


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