First of its Kind Ag Park Breaks Ground Posted on Dec 06, 2009 by czambito
Batavia, NY...The official ground breaking of New York's first business park dedicated to Agri-Business took place this morning. The ground breaking ceremony for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park was held at the Kennedy Building of the Genesee County Fairgrounds, located at 5039 East Main Street Road in Batavia adjacent to the Ag-Park.

The 200 acre park is located between State Routes 5 and 63 in Batavia and sits in close proximity to Oakta Milk Products, a regional dairy products processing plant. When the infrastructure installation is complete, the site will contain nearly 200 "Shovel Ready" acres that will be serviced by industrial class electric, gas and rail. The park is dedicated to agri-business applications including food and bio-fuels processing and is owned by a unique public/private partnership. It also has access to 6 million gallons of aquifer water daily, ideal for food production applications, and sits in an Empire Zone.

The Genesee County Economic Development Center, along with it's real estate affiliate the Genesee Gateway Local Development Corporation and an affiliate of Farm Credit of WNY share ownership of the park which was largely enabled by a state grant recently approved by Empire State Development and a matching grant from Genesee County. The GCEDC, Town of Batavia, National Grid and National Fuel are also providing funding. Phase 1 construction, being completed by Zoladz Construction Company Inc. of Alden, NY, will include water, sewer and roadway base installation.

"The park will be a huge asset to Genesee County, which is largely an Agricultural producing community," said Steven G Hyde, President and CEO of the GCEDC. "More than half of our land countywide is assessed as Ag land and this gives our local farmers a chance to market and sell their products close to home, lowering their transportation costs and improving food quality and safety for consumers."

At full build out, the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park is expected to employ nearly 1,200 people and have a direct economic impact of more than $2 Billion over the next 25 years. The park hopes to have its first occupant break ground in the spring. A Canadian food processor intends to build a $15 million facility in the park, creating 100 new jobs.