WCBJ
WESTCHESTER COUNTY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
YOUR only SOURCE FOR regional BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com
December 24, 2012 | VOL. 48, No. 52
Region grabs winner’s share of state pot BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com
A
“This is truly a historic day for the New York State Thruway Authority,” said Howard P. Milstein, Thruway Authority chairman, after the agency’s board unanimously awarded a $3.142 billion design-build contract to a four-company consortium of construction industry heavyweights at its Dec. 17 meeting. “It’s also a historic day for the procurement process of New York state.” The winning bidder, Tappan Zee Constructors, submit-
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. 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.
Bridge, page 6
Region, page 6
B
usiness leaders in Westchester County see a turnaround ahead for the region’s construction industry and a five-year bounty of jobs and business opportunities here after state officials took a major step recently with the selection of a contractor for the Tappan Zee Bridge project.
FINA
7
Saugerties Saugerties South
Woodstock
West Hurley
Lake Katrine
Hurley
ULSTER
Lincoln Park Rhinebeck Kingston Port Ewen
209
9 9W
Liberty New Paltz
44
17
ST. PK WY.
BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com
Y L L
South Fallsburg
Harwinton
Fairview
DUTCHESS
Poughkeepsie Arlington Spackenkill
87
Monticello
Wallkill
Torrington
44
Hyde Park Haviland
Highland
Ellenville
Winsted
TACO NIC
Project will reignite building trades
7 202
Red Oaks Mill Hillis
Myers Corner Sproutville New Milford Oakville Brinckerhoff Middle Hope Waterbury Walden Balmville 84 Orange Lake Glenham Newburgh Beacon 84 Stewart Naugatuck PUTNAM Scotchtown New Windsor Maybrook Lake Carmel Vails Gate East Middletown Cornwall On Hudson Washingtonville Middletown Firthcliffe Brewster Hill 9W West Point ORANGE Danbury Newtown 6 84 Merriewold Lake 84 Goshen Highland Falls Bethel Mahopac 17 Kiryas Joel Highland Mills Ansonia Monroe FAIRFIELD Derby Jefferson Valley-Yorktown Shelton Orange Peekskill Ridgefield Yorktown Heights Buchanan Warwick Trumbull 87 Stony Point Milford WESTCHESTER Croton-On-Hudson Stratfield-Brooklawn West Haverstraw Mount Kisco Pomona Haverstraw Stratford 684 7 Ossining Bridgeport Sloatsburg ROCKLAND Westport Briarcliff Manor New City Armonk 202 Viola Thornwood Spring Valley Monsey West Nyack Hawthorne Suffern Norwalk North Tarrytown Nanuet Stamford 287 Tarrytown oun d Pearl River Darien Elmsford Piermont a nd S 95 Tappan g Is l White Plains 1 Irvington Lon Dobbs Ferry Hartsdale Port Chester Scarsdale 87 Eastchester Rye 287 Yonkers Bronxville Mamaroneck Paterson Larchmont Marlboro
@
Montgomery
209
Port Jervis
206
and the winners are... • 23
80
80
Clifton East Hanover
Mount Vernon
New Rochelle
Passaic Nutley
Kings Point
South Huntington