Business Facilities - May 2008 - (Page 36)

FEATURE By Fred Arcuri, Vice President, GLDC AWAKENING IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY The transformation of Griffiss Air Force Base into a thriving business and technology park ECONOMIC C onventional psychiatry recognizes the KublerRoss model for people experiencing the grief associated with death and dying. The model more commonly is referred to as the “Five Stages of Grief,” which are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Though the Kubler-Ross model traditionally is applied to people dealing with human mortality, Steve DiMeo, president of Griffiss Local Development Corporation (GLDC), the agency charged with the redevelopment of Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, NY, witnessed the same emotional evolution on a regional level after the base realigned, first in 1993, and again in 1995. “There was a definite sense of community-wide, catastrophic loss,” says DiMeo. “There was disbelief that it could ever happen to us, and there was a palpable anger and sense of betrayal. In the end, we were left with an overwhelming M AY 2 0 0 8 regional depression and a period of self-loathing.” Acceptance, DiMeo notes, can only come from tangible results. During the past 15 years, the results are impressive: Griffiss Business and Technology Park now is home to 60 businesses, supported by more than $320 million in public and private investment and employing more than 5,600 people. The diverse collection of enterprises that have set up shop at the former Air Force base include the Oneida Financial Center; AmeriCu; Nunn’s Home Medical Equipment; East Coast Olive Oil; Goodrich Corp., and Empire Aero Center. Mohawk Valley Community College has established an aircraft repair school at Griffiss to support the region’s aviation industry. Some of its graduates work at Empire, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., which operates an aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility that employs 500. The Griffiss Business and Technology Park has been Mohawk Valley, NY’s center of economic development for more than a decade. Oneida County Airport anchors the Griffiss Airfield, with its 11,820foot-long runway Mascoma Corp. is developing a $30 million cellulosic biomass R&D plant at Griffiss this year, and Wingate Inn is about to open a 76room hotel at the park. ASSET VALUATION AND EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT According to DiMeo, managing expectations was a critical part of the base transformation process. “Leadership is critical, and you have to show the community that 36 PHOTO CREDITS: ISTOCKPHOTO; ROB DUCHOW

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Facilities - May 2008

Business Facilities - May 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots The UK's Most Lucrative Locations, Pound for Pound Economic Development in a Flash Corporate Moves: Massachusetts Florida: A Ripe Climate for Innovation Innovating Big in Rhode IIsland Retail Set to Ride Out a Recession Corporate Moves: New Jersey South Carolina: A Sweet Spot in the Southeast Endless Opportunities in North Carolina Economic Awakening in the Mohawk Valley Metro Spotlight: Alexandria, LA Where Call Centers Call Home Texas Receives First Business Facilities State of the Year Award Advertiser Index Inside Livexchange

Business Facilities - May 2008

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