By Operation Oswego County
Recent news from Onondaga County has sparked excitement in the Central New York region. Governor Kathy Hochul, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, and Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra recently announced one of the largest economic development projects in U.S. history —a transformational public-private partnership with Micron Technology to build a cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing campus in Onondaga County, New York. Micron has committed to invest $100 billion over 20+ years. The new chip fabrication facility is expected to provide 9,000 direct jobs, many of which are high-paying, technical jobs. When complete, the complex will include the nation’s largest clean room space at approximately 2.4 million square feet, the size of nearly 40 football fields. To land such a project, a mega site with access to plentiful power, water and a skilled regional workforce was required. At 1,400 acres, the White Pines Commerce Park in Clay, NY fit the bill.
While this project is a huge boon for Onondaga County, Oswego County, only a few miles to the north, anticipates spillover opportunities for development, especially in the areas of supply chain companies and housing. These additional investments are anticipated to result in approximately 40,000 indirect jobs, across the Central New York region. Oswego County, through site development and workforce initiatives, is prepared to meet the demand.
Strategic Land Acquisition and Capacity Building
A year ago, the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency (COIDA) purchased 185 acres adjacent to the Oswego County Industrial Park, operated by Operation Oswego County, in Schroeppel, NY. This strategic acquisition more than doubled the park size. The park sits along NYS-481, just seven miles from the site where Micron’s facility will be built in Clay, NY. The COIDA and the County of Oswego are committed to make the Oswego County Industrial Park a premier location for semiconductor supply chain businesses that would do business with Micron.
The County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency also has plans to build a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing start-up facility on the former Nestle site in the City of Fulton. The facility will be built in partnership with the City of Fulton and Oswego County. The project is being developed with the intent to lease to early-stage businesses within the semiconductor supply chain. The intention is for them to grow, graduate and locate in one of the industrial parks or other strategic sites in Oswego County and the Central New York region.
Additionally, the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency is working with the new owner of the Riverview Business Park in the Town of Volney to redevelop 800,000 square feet of vacant former warehouse space at the former Miller Brewery. This multi-phase project, starting in 2023, will be one of, if not the largest, available industrial facilities in Central New York. It will be developed ahead of Micron’s buildout in Onondaga County, 15 miles to the south. The County of Oswego IDA also owns over 200 acres of vacant industrially-zoned property adjacent to the Riverview Business Park, that will be available for future development. This vacant property was purchased from Oswego County with the intention of strategically-aligned industrial development at the Riverview Business Park.
Workforce Training Initiatives
The County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency and Operation Oswego County were significant partners with Cayuga Community College, along with industry partners Novelis and Huhtamaki, in the development of the Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI). The AMI will help prepare the manufacturing workforce for Oswego County and the Central New York region. Located adjacent to the College’s primary building on the Fulton Campus, the AMI is a 7,800-square-foot facility features industrial power and networking to support training units in pneumatics, hydraulics, motors, piping and industry-grade programmable logic controls stations, and a classroom for instruction. The institute opened in May 2022.
The Oswego County P-TECH program offers students entering 9th grade a means of earning a high school diploma and an Associate Degree in either Mechanical Technology or Electrical Engineering Technology through a partnership between all nine Oswego County school districts, the Center for Instruction, Technology and Innovation (CiTi), and Onondaga Community College (OCC), as well as industry partners. Many graduates are offered internships or employment upon graduation. This popular program has the capacity to turn out hundreds of graduates per year who will be ready to fill openings in the advanced manufacturing and semi-conductor industry cluster.
Equipped with sizable buildings and land for development, plus programs in place to train workers, Oswego County is poised for the influx of new development and investment to support Micron.
For more information about how Oswego County could meet your business’s site location or workforce needs, contact L. Michael Treadwell, Executive Director of Operation Oswego County, Inc., at (315)343-1545 or ooc@oswegocounty.org.
