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GCEDC board approves two projects for assistance

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

The Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) approved applications for assistance from TJ Sheehan and Empire Pipeline at the agency’s Dec. 1 meeting.

TJ Sheehan, a Massachusetts-based wholesaler, is proposing to convert a former 37,500-square-foot Cargill facility in Alexander to a refrigerated beverage distribution center. The total capital investment of the project is approximately $1.678 million and it will create nine new jobs. For every dollar of public benefit there is a $20.40 return into the local economy. The incentive amount is $230,878.

The board also accepted an application and set a public hearing for a request for assistance from Yancey’s Fancy, in which the company will invest $5.5 million to expand and renovate the original Kutter's Cheese facility on Main Street in Pembroke from 6,000 square feet to 34,000 square feet. The expansion is expected to create up to 15 full-time jobs. For every one dollar of public benefit, the company is investing $117 into the local economy in Genesee County. 

In 2014-15, Yancey’s Fancy invested more than $20 million and built a 112,000-square-foot facility at the Buffalo East Technology Park, which created new 50 jobs.

“We are very excited to be supporting these exciting expansion projects which will inject significant capital investment and create 24 new jobs,” said GCEDC Chairman Paul Battaglia. “The agency is finishing the year on a very strong note.”

Empire Pipeline owns and operates a compressor station and pipeline in the Town of Oakfield and is seeking a new 15-year fixed PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). All taxing jurisdictions have consented to the new PILOT structure. The project payments will enable water infrastructure installation as part of the Genesee County Phase II improvements, some of which will support the Western New York Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park (WNY STAMP) project in the Town of Alabama.

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