Press release:
Java Farm Supply is expanding its operations to the City of Batavia by subleasing the entire two-plus-acre property located at 45 Center St., formerly known as United Rental. Java Farm Supply will be hiring up to 15 sales and service employees for this new tractor dealer location. Renovations to the property will begin immediately in preparation for a late February opening.
“I have been working to secure this lease for a while,” said Tony Mancuso, of Mancuso Commercial Realty. “We are really happy to be filling another vacant downtown building and creating jobs. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Java Farm Supply represents more than 20 different brands of new and used farm equipment from advanced agriculture machines and compact tractors to lawn and garden equipment.
“Opening the Batavia location is a leap of faith for us,” said John Bookmiller, owner/partner. “Our business has grown steadily but, it is still a big commitment for our family-run operation.”
Mancuso Commercial Realty coordinated the transaction with help from the Genesee County Economic Development Center and the Batavia Development Corporation. City Manager Jason Molino also helped the process by highlighting the favorable zoning and daily drive-by traffic counts at the corner of Ellicott and Center streets. The summer farmers’ market across the street from the site was also a factor in closing the deal.
"The GCEDC is excited to have assisted Java Equipment on securing a site for their expansion into Genesee County", said Chris Suozzi, VP Business Development for GCEDC. "It's a perfect use of the former United Rentals building in the City of Batavia."
Java Farm Supply has been in business since 1951 in North Java, Wyoming County, and currently employs 25 people representing two locations. The first company expansion was the opening of a sales office in Yorkshire, Cattaraugus County. The City of Batavia will host Java Farm Supply’s third sales office as well as the company’s second equipment servicing location.
Both the Batavia Development Corporation and the GCEDC are likely to support the project through financing and/or tax exemptions.
Interested job seekers should visit www.javafarmsupply.com to download an employment application.
Howard, am I the only one
Howard, am I the only one that finds it very odd that so many agriculture-based companies are expanding in the Batavia area--all the while the GCEDC is promoting an industrial park in Alabama which will wipe out agriculture in that town and, eventually, in most of Genesee County? Lest anyone think I am extreme in my thinking, they should read the plan put forth by the GCEDC that says that immediate remedies must be put in place to protect existing and future agriculture if the STAMP project is allowed to go forward. These recommended "remedies," a.k.a. "farmland protection measures" are very costly to the tax-payers and severely limiting to farmland owners. Cost estimates are in the millions of tax dollars. Farmland owners will not be able to sell or use their land to their own best advantage.
Why does it make sense for our tax dollars to support a GCEDC which gives its government employees huge bonuses, gives tax breaks to foreign companies, forgives them the sales taxes that would've been shared among the local municipalities, and is working on a project that will kill off the very industry--agriculture--that will feed these new businesses? For example, with more than 400 additional traffic trips per hour predicted if the STAMP project "succeeds," how will anyone be able to drive the farm equipment that Mr. Bookmiller is hoping to sell ? Mr. Bookmiller should attend the public meeting at the South Alabama Fire Hall on Thursday evening before he fully commits to a lease on that building!