Cliffs: two established, (respectable? I dont know anything about them) companies with no Buffalo presence are investing 3/4 of a billion each to bring over 800 high tech jobs to buffalo. Not to the suburbs, it will be right on the water where republic steel used to be.
The previously contaminated industrial property, which is now vacant, takes up more than 200 acres in total, bounded by the Buffalo River to the north, Tifft Street to the south and a set of railroad tracks and the Tifft Nature Preserve to the west.
Hopefully it works out and isn’t the next Solyndra or it’s local equivalent, NanoDynamics (55 million in state funds that we basically just pushed off an old shipping pier into Lake Erie). That area could really use a win.
I thought about that as well. $225M for 850 jobs is about $265k/job, which seems high to me, although I really have nothing to base it on other than my thought of “how long would it take for that investment to be repaid, so to speak?”
But then, its convincing 2 large companies to come here with no previous presence in Buffalo, and put some serious skin in the game. Its not like Buffalo attracts this level of employer every day, so I guess we should expect to pay a premium for this kind of attention right now.
It’s also nice to see not every single dollar i/we pay the state get funneled downstate.
This initial $225M investment could also be the catalyst needed to start attracting other large, (hopefully) well paying employers.
I think I’m ok with it. I still don’t like Cuomo, but I like that hes trying to buy votes and play catchup for the years of neglect.
yep, I am. thats certainly a legit variable here. And it sounds like they have a couple years to really ramp up hiring, so we might be looking out 4-5 years or so to realistically hit 850 jobs. A lot can change by then.
we deserve this money. the state is spending 4 billion for rebuilding the tappan zee bridge alone. ny metro population 23.4 million, buffalo Niagara 1.135 million.
If state money is being equally distributed then 225 mill is about our share of that.
and that’s not even scraping the surface of public dollars spent downstate
Neither of those companies have ever turned a profit and they’re both start ups
I wonder if they’re both running off venture capital
Hopefully they do well but alternative energy is pretty crazy right now if someone comes out with a better product it could easily knock over other companies.
I’m really curious what they did to get two tech start up companies from California to come here or even consider it.
If you spend ten min researching the solar manufacturing industry you will understand why a US manufacturer cannot survive in the USA. The short version is the chinese government is discounting solar beging sold so aggressively that it is being sold for less than the cost to manufacture it. On the surface this is a very poor use of money. Best wishes to everyone involved but it will be up and running and out of business in a few short years.
helios works is a perfect example of this.
two months ago!
edit: now I am irritated. why does the government keep trying to help. throwing money around like this is ignorant. reducing the taxes rather than redistributing money would be so much more helpfull.