Jan. 20, 2004: 2003: The Year of
Business Turnaround in Oswego County By L. Michael
Treadwell, CEcD, Executive Director of Operation Oswego County
2003 did not start on a promising note. State
and national economies continued to struggle, a war began, and in
Oswego County, the community faced the fallout of the Nestle closing,
and in August, another long-time Fulton manufacturer, Sonoco Flexible
Packaging, announced it was also closing.
However, after months of intense hard work,
negotiation and teamwork by economic development advocates for Oswego
County, both plants are back in business. The Nestle plant will
be reutilized by New York Chocolate and Confections Company, a consortium
of cocoa suppliers from the Ivory Coast who will manufacture bulk
chocolate at the plant, and The Fulton Chocolate Company who will
produce low carbohydrate and private label candy bars.
The Sonoco Flexible Packaging plant will
be utilized by Spear USA of Ohio, a division of Spear Group Holdings,
LLC of London, England. The company produces clear labels for the
beverage industry including Budweiser, Bacardi, Pepsi and SoBe.
Within the first two to three years in business,
the combined employment of the three companies is anticipated to
be in the 500-600 range with the potential to grow. All three companies
are interested in hiring former employees of the plants.
The investment of these companies would not
have been possible without the invaluable assistance our state and
local partners including the County of Oswego Industrial Development
Agency, Sen. James Wright, Assemblyman Will Barclay, former City
of Fulton Mayor Michael Stafford, former Oswego County Legislature
Chairman Morris Sorbello, Empire State Development, Niagara Mohawk,
and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer. The reuse of these two facilities
provides not only a significant economic impact associated with
re-establishing jobs that were lost due to the plant closures, but
in addition, it creates the potential to generate additional jobs
and economic stability for the future.
While the turnaround of the Nestle and Sonoco
plants certainly was the major success story in 2003, small business
development proved once again to be the economic development anchor
in Oswego County.
Operation Oswego County is authorized to
finance projects using the SBA 504 loan program, which is designed
to promote economic development growth and job creation in small
businesses and make the overall financing structure for a new business
or project more attractive and affordable. For the period January
through September in 2003, OOC facilitated the approval of 10 loans
for a total of $1.6 million-- up 150 percent from 2002. Businesses
such as Trapasso Tire and Auto Service in Fulton, Advantage Carpets
retail carpet business in Oswego, Suncatchers Tanning Salon in Fulton,
Riverview Automotive in Fulton, Garden Gate Greenhouses in Minetto,
and Linda's Top of the Hill Diner in Volney all benefited from the
SBA 504 program in 2003.
The following economic development projects
and initiatives facilitated by OOC represent some of the major success
stories in the past year and will continue to contribute toward
making Oswego County more diversified and economically stable.
- Felix Schoeller Technical Papers
invested in a $6.2 million imaging paper expansion project at
in Pulaski which resulted in 25 new jobs;
- SUNY Oswego broke ground
for a $25 million, 111,492-square-foot Campus Center, which will
include a convocation center/ice rink, food court, retail kiosks,
meeting rooms and student activities areas. The project will create
nearly 50 jobs with an estimated $2.1 million in new annual payroll;
- WiseBuys Stores, Inc.
will be a new department store located in the former Ames building
in Pulaski. The $1 million Pulaski store will be one of five stores
in the North Country and will create 55 jobs;
- Oswego Hospital broke
ground for its $28 million Renewal Project which includes a new
outpatient surgery center, intensive care unit, maternity department
and new operating rooms. This expansion project will create 55
jobs;
- Lighthouse Lanes, a
new $3.2 million, state-of-the-art, 24-lane bowling center, opened
for business in the city of Oswego creating 17 jobs;
- Whitewater Grill, an
upscale restaurant and full-service bar, located on the west bank
of the Oswego River in Oswego opened creating 30 jobs;
- The Fulton Tool Company
relocated to the former Oswego Wire building in Fulton which was
reconstructed for the company whose building was destroyed by
fire last May. Ten full-time employees were retained and 20 additional
jobs are expected to be created;
- DeWald Roofing Company, Inc.
of East Syracuse, will relocate its business to the town of Hastings
creating 40 jobs;
- Empire Fresh-Cuts will
construct a new 27,000 square-foot onion processing facility in
the town of Oswego. The $2.9 million project will create more
than 30 jobs; and
- My Pet Enterprises,
provider of My Doggy™ and My Kitty™ products for pets,
relocated from Baldwinsville to the Oswego County Start-up Facility
(SUF) in the Oswego County Industrial Park in the town of Schroeppel.
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