April 23, 2010 Tech park work gets serious By Drew Kerr - The Post-Star
MALTA - Every day, sewage produced at the GlobalFoundries construction site is sucked up, placed on a truck and carted away.
So, there is a bit of an imperative to finishing the infrastructure at the Luther Forest Technology Campus, where GlobalFoundries is currently building its $4.6 billion computer chip factory..
Given the hundreds of workers on site now, the urgency is particularly pronounced when it comes to finishing the connection between the tech campus and Saratoga County's wastewater treatment plant in Mechanicville..
"That's one of those things we want to get done pretty much as soon as possible," Mike Relyea, the executive director at the budding technology campus in Malta and Stillwater, said earlier this week during a visit to the 1,400-acre site..
Although the connection remains on the to-do list, progress is being made elsewhere at the technology park, which economic development officials hope will serve as a hub for the region's growing high-tech industry..
More than five miles of interior roads have been laid. About 550 acres of developable land has been cleared and graded. And the county's 28-mile water line leading into the park was recently finished..
Work to complete the remaining infrastructure resumed at the technology park last month and crews are now scrambling to erect a 5 million gallon water storage tank, install electric lines and finish a new substation with enough power to supply the city of Albany..
By the end of the summer, just over three years after construction began, the park's infrastructure should be at least 95 percent complete, Relyea said..
A few electrical lines may have to be buried next year when the temperature is warm, while efforts to install fiber optic cables and bring water and sewer connections to each individual site will also have to be finished..
The work could be done all at once or phased in, based on how much money and interest is coming into the technology park, which straddles the Malta-Stillwater town line..
About $90 million in state money is expected to be put to use at the technology campus and there have been no delays in funding yet. But how the state's fiscal woes will affect the revenue stream is unclear, Relyea said..
"Whether we build all this infrastructure at once or we phase it in will depend on the market and the financing," he said..
Economic development officials, meanwhile, have bolstered efforts to promote the park to site-selectors from across the world..
Eleven other sites are available - for both office space and manufacturing - but none are under contract yet..
Relyea said he and others are "talking to people" but they have no "official prospects.".
The campus could attract tenants after GlobalFoundries announces its suppliers in the coming months and those businesses get serious about deciding where to locate..
"In the next six months, we expect some of those firms that have expressed interest to go from OK, you're one of our options,' to Can we locate here?'" Relyea said..
Even with GlobalFoundries advancing toward completion, and considering an expansion, challenges remain for those looking to attract businesses to the park..
The campus is a part of the state's Empire Zone program, which offers businesses tax incentives for locating in New York, but the program is now being phased out..
Relyea said he hopes state leaders will come up with a new way to draw businesses..
"The state is going to have some challenges because of our tax structure," he said. "There needs to be some kind of incentive program that can be easily understood by prospective businesses or our job is going to be harder."
