Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2010 Archive > October > Nine wins and a full pipeline

Fewer jobs projects take root in area

By By Matt Glynn
NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER
October 2, 2010

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Buffalo Niagara Enterprise reported nine project "wins" in its past fiscal year, less than half the previous year's total.

Thomas A. Kucharski, its president and CEO, said Friday the drop-off from 19 a year earlier reflected the downbeat economy. Many companies held back on expansion projects as they waited for economic conditions to improve, an experience he said was shared by many other business recruitment groups around the country.

But Kucharski said the development organization's "pipeline is stocked with some really good projects," which he said bodes well for the fiscal year that started in July.

"From an activity standpoint, we're right up there with the most active we've been in our 10 years in business," he said. The organization has set a goal of 15 project "wins" for the fiscal year ending next June 30.

It defines a "win" as a commitment by a client-managed company to invest in new or expanded business operations.

The nine wins in the last fiscal year include 578 pledged new jobs, 1,501 retained jobs and $11.8 million in investment, the organization said. Projects announced since the fiscal year ended June 30 were not included.

As measured by jobs, GEICO was dominant. Last year, GEICO pledged to add 325 jobs and retain 1,500 jobs in an expansion of its Amherst operations. Those figures accounted for about 88 percent of all the pledged new and retained jobs among the nine wins.

Zeropoint Cleantech, a renewable energy technology provider in the Town of Tonawanda, was the leader in investment, with $3 million, ahead of GEICO's $2.4 million. Combined, Zeropoint and GEICO accounted for 46 percent of the $11.8 million in new investment recorded by the organization.

The seven other projects were ConServe, Consumer Contact, Linita Design and Manufacturing, Lackawanna Halal, NutraBlend Foods, Advanced Presentation Products and Electro Sonic of America.

Five of the nine projects were from Canada, reflecting the organization's emphasis on encouraging cross-border investment to give Canadian companies a U.S. presence.

It already markets to some other countries and will expand its international outreach to include Spain, the Netherlands and France.

The organization also has targeted the renewable energy sector. Kucharski said Buffalo Niagara is well suited to handle production and movement of large products like solar panels and wind turbine parts, with the region's access to rail and water. Plus, it boasts a strong manufacturing heritage.

"We've got our fingers crossed," he said. "We've got some real big [business prospects] in both wind and solar."

Winning a project like the Yahoo data center in Lockport helps to build the region's reputation in a particular sector and to interest other employers in that sector, Kucharski said.

The 19 project wins in the organization's 2008-09 fiscal year totaled $336 million in new investment, 810 pledged new jobs and 544 retained jobs. The investment figure skyrocketed because of the Yahoo data center, a project estimated at $300 million, which has just opened.

This year's goals include 1,000 created and retained jobs, and capital investment of $90 million.

"The bottom line is, we've got to keep plugging," Kucharski said.