New York

Medidata to Invest $20M for Expansion in NYC

Medidata Solutions (NASDAQ: MDSO) announced a consolidation and expansion of their operations in New York. The company provides a cloud-based platform for clinical development solutions in the life sciences sector.

Medidata

Medidata (photo – mdsol.com)

Medidata will be spending $20 million to consolidate all their NYC operations into a single facility in West Soho, Manhattan that will also house their global headquarters.

The new lease covers three floors and offers 98,500 square feet of space. As part of the expansion, the company is adding 250 new jobs.

The expansion project secured by New York also saved 271 existing jobs that would otherwise have been relocated out of the state. Medidata has additional North American locations in Edison, New Jersey and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

In order to make sure the company stayed put in New York, Empire State Development (ESD) offered Medidata $2.75 million in performance-based tax credits.

ESD President and CEO Kenneth Adams said that life sciences and high-tech industries were critical for being competitive in a global economy, and Medidata’s choice to grow in New York further cemented the state’s reputation as a location where innovative companies are able to grow and thrive.

Medidata Solutions CEO Tarek Sherif said that the company had drawn on New York’s deep talent pool and resources to grow into an industry leader in clinical technology solutions for the life sciences sector. He added that they were committed to keeping New York as their global headquarters as the company continues growing.

Medidata’s cloud-based platform optimizes the entire process of clinical trials from conceptualization to conclusion, and helps reduce the overall cost of clinical development.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said that they had focused on promoting innovative industry clusters that create high-paying jobs, and he said he was happy Medidata was taking advantage of that and expanding their operations.

Medidata Solutions was founded in 1999, and has since grown to include 20 of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies among their customer base, in addition to government facilities, academic institutions, research organizations and others.

The company went public in June 2009, and generated revenues worth $218.3 million last year. They already have more than 900 employees located in facilities across the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.

NY Kicks Off $760M Third Funding Round for Regional Councils

New York today officially launched the 2013 round of competitive economic development funding for the state’s ten Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs).

NY Regional Councils

NY Regional Councils (photo – regionalcouncils.ny.gov)

This is the third round of funding for the REDCs under the Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) process.

The first two rounds over the last two years have committed $1.5 billion for more than 1,400 projects, which has helped create and retain around 75,000 jobs.

This time, the REDCs will be getting a total of $760 million in funding and tax incentives. Out of this, $220 million will be competitive funding, including $150 million in grants and $70 million in the form of tax incentives.

Five of the REDCs billed as “top performers” will get $25 million each out the $150 million, while the other five REDCs will be competing for the balance of $25 million. Each REDC will also be eligible to get a maximum of $10 million in tax credits.

The remaining $540 million out of the total of $760 million will be allocated through the CFA process to projects submitted by each of the Regional Councils.

NY Lieutenant Governor Robert J. Duffy, who is also the REDC Chair, said that the past two rounds of the competitive funding process have shown what a difference can be made to local economies by listening to regional community and business leaders.

Along with this announcement, New York also unveiled another competition for the REDCs. This competition, called Innovations Hot Spots, requires each Regional Council to come up with a plan for a business incubator to support startups and promote commercialization of academic research.

The incubator must be connected to a higher educational institution with a proven ability to transition projects from labs to the marketplace. Applicants must maintain and run the incubator for three years, and be capable of generating a 2:1 funding match based on the amount of state grants they get.

Five incubators will be approved this year, and another five in 2014. The ultimate aim of setting up these incubators is to attract more venture capital and research spending by private industries in New York.

Financial Restructuring Board Proposed for Distressed NY Local Governments

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo outlined a proposal for creating a Financial Restructuring Board to assist distressed local governments in managing their finances.

Gov. Cuomo proposes Financial Restructuring Board

Gov. Cuomo proposes Financial Restructuring Board (photo – NY Governor’s Office)

In his presentation, the Governor said that more money was not the solution.

He said the state’s AIM (Aid and Incentives for Municipalities) program neither reflects performance nor the needs of local governments, even though it accounts for a huge share of the big city budgets (excluding NYC).

For example, Buffalo’s $161.285 million in AIM funds makes up 33.21 percent of their $485.621 million FY 2013 budget. The percentages for Yonkers (24.46), Syracuse (24.07) and Rochester (18.06) are similarly high.

Gov. Cuomo said that it was time to stop talking about it, and start doing something. He added that Albany was different from Syracuse, which was different from Buffalo and Jamestown and so on.

The Governor said there was no one size fits all solution, and they needed to bring each one in and work with them to come up with an individual restructuring plan for each locality.

Jamestown Mayor Samuel Teresi noted that this was the first attempt ever at understanding the structural economic problems that cities and local governments in the Upstate region have faced for generations.

The plan involves the creation of a Financial Restructuring Board comprised of one restructuring professional from the private sector, accompanied by state officials including the Sec. of State, Budget Director, AG and Comptroller.

Their first task would be to come up with the standards for defining fiscally distressed local governments in New York. The eligible candidates could then request assistance from the board and work together to develop a restructuring plan.

The board would have $80 million to work with, allocated in the FY 2013-14 Budget for reorganization plans. If a local government accepts funding, the recommendations made by the board would be binding on the recipient.

Apart from drawing up detailed financial plans for several years, other measures the board is expected to push for include use of shared services, functional consolidation and mergers, and reduction in the number of public officials.

New York Announces Plan to Create Resort Gaming Destinations

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled a plan to create resort gaming destinations in Upstate New York, which he said would be the core of a strategy to combine economic development, tourism and Upstate revenues.

NYS Tourism Summit

NYS Tourism Summit (photo – NY Governor’s Office)

As per the plan, Upstate New York will be divided into six regions (see map), and they would be competing for three casino resorts, with no more than one resort allowed in a region.

The evaluation criteria for selection of the destinations include the number of jobs the project would create, the capital investment committed (floor of $250-$500 million), projected revenues for the local and state government, franchise fee, local support, and a plan to integrate the project with regional tourism.

Winning projects would be provided an exclusive license to operate in the region for five years, and no additional casinos would be allowed in New York City and Upstate. The host community and county would each get 10 percent of the revenues, while the state would get 80 percent.

This revenue would be used to add to education funding in addition to the annual formula, and for providing property tax relief and local cost reimbursements.

The location selection process for the casinos would respect the exclusivity of the three existing Indian gaming sites in the state.

Gov. Cuomo said this was a unique opportunity to revitalize the local economies of Upstate communities and create thousands of jobs. He said that New York’s neighbors such as Connecticut and New Jersey have benefited for years from New Yorkers going there for gaming, and he wanted to reverse the trend to attract more visitors and tourists.

New Jersey has 35,000 direct gaming industry jobs, and additionally supports 100,000 indirect jobs. The gaming resorts in New Jersey spend $2.3 billion which goes out to more than 2,000 suppliers all over the state.

The tourism industry in New York already employs more than 700,000 workers and generates $57 billion in annual spending, resulting in $7 billion in local and state tax revenues.

In addition to the resort gaming plan, New York is also planning a $60 million tourism campaign, which was announced yesterday following the first-ever NYS Tourism Summit. This year’s outlay for promoting tourism is more than thrice the $19 million spent last year.

Under the plan, Upstate tourism will get free advertising space from the MTA and Port Authority worth $2 million, to put up thousands of posters on subways, buses, airport arrivals and at kiosks. The Times Square Alliance has additionally agreed to provide the state with space in the visitor center for marketing attractions.

Citi and Veterans Institute Team Up to Launch Seed Funding Competition

Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) announced that they have teamed up with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) to launch a seed funding competition for veterans to launch or grow their business.

Citi-IVMF business competition

Citi-IVMF business competition (photo – citigroup.com)

IVMF was launched as a nationally focused institute in June 2011 by New York’s Syracuse University to leverage educational resources in support of veterans and their families.

The Citi-IVMF collaboration, called the “Citi Salutes: Realizing Your Dream Business Competition,” requires participants to submit their business plan by Nov 8, 2013 in order to be eligible for a grant of up to $25,000 to implement this idea.

The competition will be awarding a dozen grants worth a total of $130,000, funded by the Citi Foundation.

Mike Haynie, executive director and founder of IVMF, said that access to capital was the biggest obstacle entrepreneurs face, and their partnership with Citi would help many veterans overcome this challenge.

Business plans must be submitted by graduates of the V-WISE or Boots to Business entrepreneurship training programs. Applicants are additionally required to have at least a 51 percent stake in a small business.

Both V-WISE (Veterans as Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) and Boots to Business are IVMF initiatives launched as a partnership between IVMF and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

V-WISE offers a 15-day online course for the basics of entrepreneurship, followed by a three-day conference where students get in-person training from expert entrepreneurship educators.

Since the program is funded by the SBA and managed by Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, costs to participants are minimal and limited to a $75 registration fee and travel expenses to the conference (hotel stay and meals are free).

Boots to Business offers a three-phase training program that helps transitioning military members and their spouses to become small business owners.

Ten finalists from each program will get to present their business plans to a judging panel at the V-Wise conference in Jan 2014, and a grand prize of $25,000 will be awarded to the best plan.

The second and third award winners get smaller amounts. There will also be special awards in three categories including an “Impacting Veterans Prize” and prizes for the best social and technology venture plans.

Jerome Byers, Head of Citi Small Business, officially launched the program at the V-Wise conference which took place May 3-5, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. Byers said they are pleased to support a program encouraging entrepreneurship as a pathway for post-service success for veterans.

Find out more about IVMF programs and the Realizing Your Dream competition at vets.syr.edu.      

NYC Launches Pilot Program to Integrate Electric Taxicabs

NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg got the first ride in the city’s first all-electric taxi, one of six Nissan Leaf vehicles donated by the company to the City for a pilot taxicab program that could eventually “electrify” a full one-third of New York’s 13,237 iconic yellow medallion taxicabs.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg takes first electric taxi ride

NYC Mayor Bloomberg takes first electric taxi ride (photo – NYC Mayor’s Office/Spencer T Tucker)

The pilot program is meant to find out if the six Nissan LEAF electric vehicles will be able to keep up with the 24/7 business and operational model of the NYC taxi industry.

It will help the city’s TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission) come up with the foundation for a plan to convert one-third of the taxi fleet to electric vehicles by 2020.

If that eventually leads to an all-electric taxi fleet, the environmental and financial benefits would be significant, including:-

- Reduction in 90,000 tons of annual Co2 emissions;

- Reduction in fuel costs, which are around$17,500 per year at current gas prices; and

- Reduction in maintenance costs due to the elimination of wear and tear associated with internal-combustion engines.

Mayor Bloomberg said that even though the “Taxi of Tomorrow” won’t be on the roads for another six months, they were already looking at the taxi for the day after tomorrow. He added that the Nissan Leaf project would help provide answers to important questions on how to incorporate electric taxis into the fleet.

The Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability worked on this project in partnership with the U.S. Energy Department, NYC Transportation Department, and the New York Power Authority, among others.

Seward Park Cooperative is helping provide the electric vehicle fast charging stations required for the pilot program. These fast charges installed at several locations will be capable of charging the LEAF battery from zero to 80 percent in half an hour, making it possible for the vehicle to be used even by single shift drivers on a tight schedule.

Sergej Mahnovski, director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability, said that meeting the one-third fleet electrification goal would be the equivalent of taking 50,000 regular cars off the road.

Joe Castelli, vice president, Nissan Commercial Vehicles, said that the LEAF taxi pilot in New York would help the company improve its electric vehicle technologies for future applications.

The Solar Foundation Report on National Solar Jobs Census

The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit The Solar Foundation (TSF) put out its third annual solar jobs census, which shows that the U.S. solar industry now supports 119,016 jobs, which is a 13.2 percent (13,872 jobs) growth in solar jobs in 2012 as compared to 2011.

National Solar Jobs Census

National Solar Jobs Census (photo – thesolarfoundation.org)

Solar jobs are defined by TSF as those where workers spent at least half their time on solar related job functions.

California leads the rankings of the top 10 states with the most solar jobs. The Golden State has a full one-third of all solar jobs in the country, which is four times higher than the 9,800 jobs in Arizona, which is ranked second followed by New Jersey in third place.

These three states also top the rankings for the most solar capacity. Although New York does not figure in the top three states for solar jobs or installed capacity, it does top the list of states providing the most public workforce funding for solar companies, followed by California and Texas.

Andrea Luecke, executive director of TSF, said that this latest data proved that the solar industry has become a dependable job creator, and that employers were confident about further growth in 2013.

As per the census, nearly 45 percent of solar firms will be adding new jobs, while less than four percent will be cutting jobs.

A majority of the jobs (57,177) are in the installation sub-sector. Solar manufacturing jobs actually fell by 8,000 last year, but the number is expected to grow by nine percent this year. Finance, R&D and “other” solar industry jobs accounted for 8,105 jobs. This sub-sector grew at a stunning 46.1 percent.

Gianluca Signorelli, renewable energy finance manager at Rabobank, N.A., said in a statement that the bank’s solar team has grown to manage the increase in demand for solar financing, and this spurt in demand has obviously led to employment growth across all sub-sectors in the solar industry.

Causes of growth listed in the report are reduced component pricing, favorable state legislation and federal tax incentives. The report notes that if costs continue to decrease, the increase in installation demand will require the solar industry to provide employment for 340,000 workers by 2030.

Read the full TSF National Solar Jobs Census 2012 – Download (pdf)

NY Kicks Off IT Consolidation With New SUNY Data Center

New York State will be housing a new data center at SUNY’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in Albany. The project will be a partnership between CNSE and several state agencies.

CNSE Data Center event

CNSE Data Center event (photo – cnse.albany.edu)

For the last decade or so, New York has been trying to find a feasible solution for consolidating more than 50 data centers operated by state agencies in separate locations.

The cost for building a new data center from scratch which would be capable of consolidating all this was estimated to be around $250 million. This spending will now not be required since the state has signed a 15 year lease for use of the facilities at CNSE.

In addition to that, consolidation of the state’s IT infrastructure is expected to result in another $100 million in annual savings on reduced rental space. The new CNSE data center alone will be responsible for half of these savings.

The total estimated savings over the next two decades from this consolidation process is expected to be around $500 million. CNSE additionally estimates that private contractors and companies setting up shop to support state employees working in the data center will create between 500 to 1,000 jobs over the next five years.

CNSE is setting aside 10,000 square feet in the NanoFab Xtension Building for the state. Another 30,000 square feet will be available in an adjacent building currently under construction, in addition to 10,000 square feet of collaborative space in a third location.

For all this, CNSE will be working with the New York State Office of Information Technology Services. ITS was created in 2012 with the aim of concentrating the state’s IT expertise and resources into a single agency. One of its mandates is data center consolidation.

Governor Cuomo said this partnership with CNSE and the data center would usher in a new era of IT efficiency and security, as well as “maximizing economic development and innovation opportunities.”

He added that the data center project was an example of how New York State is leveraging technology for improving government operations.

DuraVent Expansion in New York to Create and Retain 161 Jobs

Venting systems manufacturer M&G DuraVent, Inc., announced plans to expand and relocate in Albany County, New York.

DuraVent

DuraVent (photo – duravent.com)

The company is moving from its old 65,000-square-foot facility in downtown Albany to a new 140,000-square-foot facility in the town of Colonie.

The relocation and expansion within Albany County will retain the existing 58 jobs, and the company announced that it would be creating 103 new jobs at the bigger facility in Colonie.

Some of these new jobs will be created to handle existing work that is being consolidated into Colonie from the company’s other plants outside the state.

M&G DuraVent Albany vice president and general manager Michael Wolfe said the new and expanded facility would enable them to take on production of M&G DuraVent’s Polypro, and environment-friendly and 100 percent recyclable alternative used for condensing gas appliances.

Wolfe said the expanded facility would also help them grow in future. The company’s parent is looking to expand its engineered venting systems from Europe to the U.S., and the Colonie facility sets up New York as the prime candidate for this future growth.

DuraVent had decided it needed to expand and consolidate its operations, and had to choose to stay either in Mississippi or in New York. State officials in New York moved in quickly and offered the company a $1.5 million incentive package to stay and expand in the Capital Region.

Empire State Development Corp. (ESDC) pitched in with a million dollars in Excelsior Jobs tax credits. Another $416,000 in CDBG grants was offered by New York State Homes and Community Renewal through Albany County. The NYS Department of Labor, through the regional council and CFA system, has already offered the company $50,000 as a training grant.

As a result, DuraVent has now decided to stay put in New York, and will additionally move some of its operations in Mississippi and California over to the new Colonie facility.

NY Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said DuraVent’s decision to expand and add jobs in the state was good news for the Capital Region, and demonstrated that businesses are once again starting to see New York as a place to invest and grow.

ESDC CEO and Commissioner Kenneth Adams said he was happy they were able to help DuraVent expand and create a hundred new jobs. He added that DuraVent’s choice to stay and expand in the Capital Region, despite competition from other states, demonstrated the unique assets of the region that make it attractive as a place to do business.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to Create 400 Jobs in Tarrytown, NY

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN), New York’s largest biotech company, announced plans for an expansion in Westchester County, NY

Regeneron

Regeneron (photo – regeneron.com)

The expansion of Regeneron’s laboratories and corporate headquarters in Tarrytown will create 400 new high-skilled jobs.

NY Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said this announcement advances the state and Hudson Valley’s reputation in the biotech sector.

Leonard S. Schleifer, president and CEO of Regeneron, said the company had been in New York since its inception 25 years ago, and they were grateful for the financial support from the state that allowed the company to grow and create more jobs.

The company had been considering sites for the expansion in other states until they were offered $8.5 million in Excelsior tax credits by New York. The Town of Mount Pleasant IDA is additionally offering Regeneron local incentives, details of which were not disclosed.

Apart from two locations in New York, the company also maintains a third facility in Baskin Ridge, New Jersey. They relocated their NJ clinical development staff into this place in July 2011, facilitated by a Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP) grant offered by the NJ EDA.

Town Supervisor Joan Maybury said the Mount Pleasant IDA was excited to support the project, and noted that Regeneron’s decision to expand its headquarters in Tarrytown was great news that would create hundreds of jobs and would help attract more investments from other innovative companies.

Regeneron is adding 300,000 square feet of office and laboratory space to the existing 590,000 square feet complex in Mount Pleasant. Another 85,000 square feet of space from a previous expansion is scheduled to be occupied later in 2013.

The two new buildings to be constructed in this expansion will help house Regeneron’s growing workforce, which has increased from 682 to 2,000 in the last six years.

This includes 1,300 employees at its Tarrytown headquarters in Westchester County, and nearly 600 more at a product supply and manufacturing facility in Rensselaer, NY. The rest are located in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Last year, the company had announced a $70 million investment for a manufacturing expansion in Rensselaer which is slated to create 300 new jobs.

Combined with this latest expansion in Tarrytown, Regeneron will be adding 700 new jobs in New York in the next few years, along with capital investments worth around $170 million.

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