[caption id="attachment_18589" align="alignright" width="479"] O-D photo Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses an assembly gathered Thursday at Quad-C on the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus in Marcy, announcing that two major companies will be investing billions here for nanotechnology, a development that could eventually generate as many as 4,000 new jobs by 2025.[/caption]

Christmas in July came a month late for the Mohawk Valley and that’s OK. We’ll take it. After years of planning and hard work by many people throughout this community and beyond, it was announced this past week that two companies will invest billions of dollars and bring roughly 1,500 additional jobs to Nano Utica.

The region should be ecstatic. This is the biggest economic development the region has seen in decades and it will change the face of this community in a way most of us have never seen. Now our goal is to find ways to build on this foundation so that it can become even bigger and better.

The potential is enormous.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to town and announced that an old friend — General Electric — was returning. GE, a longtime economic staple in Utica that left for greener pastures years ago, will invest $200 million in Nano Utica and bring 470 jobs to Quad-C on the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus in Marcy.

In addition, the governor said, Austria-based chip manufacturer AMS will occupy a wafer fabrication plant nearby and invest $2 billion to support the creation of a 360,000-square-foot wafer fabrication facility, with construction expected to begin next spring. This is expected to bring at least 1,000 jobs.

That brings the total investment in the Marcy facilities to more than $3.5 billion, and puts the total expected jobs at 2,500.

It is important to remember that this is not just a win for Oneida County. Development of nanotechnology here will be felt throughout a multi-county region, and, coincidentally, at a time when six counties are vying for one of three $500 million grants in an Upstate Revitalization Competition. Such major development could have significant impact on efforts to win that grant.

With such growth, we cannot maintain the status quo. Some of what must change already is underway, thanks to people with vision. And it is because of that change that this week’s development was made possible. Had we not laid the groundwork, the region might have been passed by.

That’s why we can’t stop here. This is not the end of our economic struggle. It is the beginning of our economic revival. And as we move forward, we must continue to address the needs that are out there and continue to build.

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Posted Aug. 23, 2015 at 4:00 AM | By Observer-Dispatch Staff