Home > Research Center > Expansion/Downsizing > 2011 Archive > March 2011

March 2011

In Buffalo Niagara, there's an opportunity around every corner.  The Expansions and Contractions report produced by the NYS DOL for Western New York contains information derived from local newspapers.

Computer Task Group is looking to expand its local work force by 100 jobs. With the push to implement electronic medical records systems, the technology company is seeing rapid growth in the work that is does in the health care industry. The Buffalo (Erie County) currently has between 225 and 250 employees.

Dunkin Donuts coffee and donut chain is building an additional 20 locations in the Buffalo (Erie County) area over the next several years. The expansion is expected to create about 300 new jobs in Western New York.

KeyCorp has announced plans for its fourth new KeyBank branch in Amherst (Erie County). It will be the bank’s seventh new site in the region. Construction is slated to begin on April 4th and will employ tellers, managers, investment, mortgage and business banking advisors, all of whom are to be hired.

Scott Enterprises plans to expand its local presence with a Marriott Springhill Suites hotel in Lancaster (Erie County). The Erie Pa.-based company expects to complete its land purchase later this week, with construction of the $12 million hotel beginning later this year. The 100-room hotel will be slated to open in the spring of 2013.

I-Squared R-Element in Akron, (Erie County) a manufacturing plant that makes silicon carbon heating elements, is building a $4 million expansion. The 36,000-square-foot expansion will add 20 new jobs over the next three years to the current workforce of about 80.

The Housing Trust Fund Corp. Has approved a $516,000 block grant for Chautauqua County to help Jamestown MVP Plastics LLC in a multi-phase investment involving nearly $20 million in private money and 250 jobs. The block grant will leverage $6.6 million in private financing and more than $1 million in other funding, while helping to create 75 full-time jobs-55 of which will be for low and moderate income individuals.

Try-It Distributing plans to double the size of its Lancaster (Erie County) warehouse to keep pace with growth. The estimated $15 million project will add about 100,000 square feet. The company hopes to begin construction in May and complete the work by next February. Try-It employs 280 people at the warehouse, steadily adding jobs in recent years and expects its work force to keep growing following the expansion.

Windham Professionals, a collections agency in East Aurora (Erie County), was approved for a grant from the Empire State Development Corp. The funds will be used to help cover the cost of acquiring and installing new furniture, fixtures and equipment. The project, which will cost about $2.34 million, will retain 60 jobs and create 140 more.

Honeywell International has finished building a sample plant at its Buffalo (Erie County) research and development center, where the company will make test amounts of a vital component of lithium-ion batteries. The plant, created inside an existing facility, should start producing samples later this year. The sample plant project has added six new jobs.

DirectBuy of Buffalo, a home improvement and furnishing club that members pay to be a part of, has abruptly closed its Cheektowaga (Erie County) location. The site, which closed March 3rd, was operated by a franchisee.

The Buffalo News is looking to downsize yet again, offering buyout options to some of its employees. The resignations would be a voluntary incentive offered to 26 Guild members in three departments. This is the fourth round of buyouts since the fall of 2008.

Buffalo State College is answering a $6.4 million budget gap by not filling 56 vacant positions, including 21 faculty positions. The move will save the college form laying off workers or eliminating academic programs.

Verizon Communications has pulled its plans to build a $4 billion data center in Somerset (Niagara County). Three main reasons were given for scrapping the project: a lawsuit, the land seller, and a new acquisition. The data center would have created up 200 jobs. Verizon will need to build more data centers in the future, and Western New York will be considered.

The slowdown in Japan auto operations following the earthquake and tsunami is reaching the GM engine plant in the Town of Tonawanda. (Erie County) The plant has placed 59 workers who build the in-line 4 and 5 cylinder engines on temporary layoff beginning March 21, 2011 because those engines go to a plant in Louisiana that has been idled due to a parts slowdown from Japan. The workers were recalled on March 28th.

The American Red Cross Blood Services Division is getting ready to slash 51 jobs, most of them part-time. Last year, the Red Cross closed a tele-recruiting center in Buffalo, eliminating 63 jobs.

More than 400 teachers and 23 administrators in the Buffalo Public School system (Erie County) will be eligible for a retirement incentive approved by the Buffalo Board of Education. The incentive is available for teachers and administrators who are no longer eligible for the retirement incentive that is built into their contracts, in most cases employees that are 58 or older. The objective of the incentive is to avoid layoffs and save money in the wake of state budget cuts to school spending.