An expanding Sensis has a positive sense of Syracuse.

There are a lot of reasons why Sensis Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of air-traffic, radar and surveillance equipment, is investing almost $13 million in a projected 86,000-square-foot research and development facility in Syracuse. Chief among them is that Sensis simply likes what it sees here.

Jud Gostin, president of Sensis, finds the area “a wonderful place to live, with an excellent quality of life. It’s a great place to work and raise a family.” In his never-ending search for quality program managers and system and design engineers with defense and aviation industry experience, Gostin can rely on the deep pool of experienced engineers in Syracuse. “The area workforce is incredibly dedicated,” he says, “and with the local universities and technology companies, Central New York has all of the ingredients to be a high-tech hot bed.” Sensis expects to draw on that vast talent pool when its new facility is completed, sometime late next year. The new building will house the growing company’s corporate staff and Air Defense Systems business, which will research and develop radar systems and information processors.

Describing his company’s expansion and its vision for the future in Syracuse, Gostin concludes, “It is affirmation that we’ve done things right in the past, and gives us confidence that we will continue to grow and flourish here in Central New York.” Encouraging words from a person whose business is detecting things.

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Lockheed Martin adds jobs, space, and a prestigious award.

For Lockheed Martin in Syracuse, it just keeps getting better.

First, the company recently announced that it was investing over $1 million to revitalize 45,000 square feet of practically abandoned space at its Liverpool, NY campus. That project is now complete, and the building is bursting with productivity, housing their Multi-Mission Surveillance Radar.

Then, in September, the local plant received IndustryWeek’s 2003 Best Plants Award, which “recognizes world-class manufacturing capabilities and a management mindset of continuous improvement.” Bottom line? IndustryWeek—the leading manufacturing management magazine—considers the Syracuse plant one of the 10 best manufacturing plants in North America.

“[The winners] set the standard for excellence in manufacturing today,” said IndustryWeek editor-in-chief Patricia Panchak.“ They define the winning strategies for achieving world-class performance.”

On the heels of that announcement, the company said in late October that it will hire 100 engineers by mid-year 2004 to support a $413.5 million contract for the System Development and Demonstration phase of the Advanced Hawkeye radar program. The new engineers also will work on the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), under development by the United States, Germany and Italy to protect ground combat forces and critical installations against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and other air threats.

“We are a company with a passion for invention and we pride ourselves on developing original solutions that redefine what is possible,” said Dr. Doug Reep, vice president of technical operations.

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Tessy injects more jobs into the local economy

“I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastics.”

Yes, that’s Mr. Robinson, dispensing advice to Benjamin in The Graduate. But it could have been Roland Beck, president of Tessy Plastics Corporation, when the company recently announced its expansion plans. In fact, the company, which employs about 400 here, is building a 60,000-square-foot facility in addition to their 150,000-square-foot facility in Elbridge, a suburb of Syracuse. It also has facilities in Lynchburg, Virginia and Shanghai, China. The company has flourished in Central New York, manufacturing parts for business machines and the medical, automotive and cell phone industries, since its inception in 1973. With customers all over the country and the world, Tessy supplies parts to companies like Gillette, Duracell, Xerox, Welch Allyn, and many more. Beck attributes his company’s achievements to one key element: “The secret to success, in my opinion, is people. People who care enough to make a good product, and care enough to innovate. This area has a lot of good, intelligent, hard-working, trainable workers.”


Tessy's Advance Molding Facility will more than double by early next year.

So why expand here, and not their plant in Virginia? Just one more word: incentives. After landing a large piece of business that precipitated the expansion, the company landed favorable incentives, courtesy of Onondaga County and New York State. County Executive Nicholas Pirro told a gathering at the groundbreaking ceremony that “Tessy is a good example of how a strong company, with the right support, can continue to grow and prosper right here in Onondaga County.” The result is a $6 million project and 100 new jobs for the world-class plastic injection molding company.

For any companies that are listening, it sounds like good advice.

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Syracuse is New York State’s jobs growth leader—again!

The September numbers are in, and the Syracuse metropolitan area is in—first, that is. With a solid 1.2% increase in job growth over the same period last year, Syracuse metro had the largest job growth of any metropolitan area in the state with an increase of 4,300 jobs. What’s even more impressive is that Syracuse grew in spite of the manufacturing slowdown that has plagued most of the nation, including Syracuse.

The Syracuse economy, as noted by both the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and J.P. Morgan, is one of the most diverse in the state. According to J.P. Morgan, the “relative sturdiness of the Syracuse economy is due to the diligent efforts to diversify the region’s economy.” The Fed put out a report indicating that “for the most part, diversified economies grow faster than those concentrated in select industries,” citing Syracuse as one of the three most diverse economies in New York State.

Here’s the proof: in Syracuse, the mining/natural resources/construction, leisure and hospitality, education and health services, professional and business services, and financial activities sectors showed job gains.

The breadth of activity helped the Syracuse area’s unemployment rate stay lower than the state’s and nation’s. It also helped show businesses why Syracuse, the jobs growth leader, is a great place to do business.

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Have SuccesSyracuse delivered to your desktop.

To receive SuccesSyracuse electronically, please drop us an e-mail at info@SyracuseCentral.com (or click ‘Contact Us’ below). Your request will be confirmed via e-mail, and your electronic subscription will begin with the next issue.

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Opportunity is just a click away. So go ahead—click away!

If you haven’t seen our new web site, www.SyracuseCentral.com, you might be missing some important news that could affect your next move. In addition to the latest updates on potential tax credits and incentives for your company, there’s a load of valuable information on resources for business, like empowerment zones, workforce data, utilities, tax rates, real estate, the lowdown on the Empire Zone program (including a calculator to estimate your potential tax savings), infrastructure, and much, much more.

You’ll also find easy access to quality-of-life information that makes Syracuse and its metropolitan area so attractive to business and people. Get the facts on the low cost of living, available (and affordable) housing, education, colleges and universities, health care, parks and recreation, night life, and everything you’d ever want to know about living and working here.

Please give us a click! Your business will benefit.

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For the best tax-incentive programs in the country, get in the zone(s)

It’s a fact: Syracuse has become THE location for business and jobs growth, and one great reason is that we’re “in the zones”—the New York State Empire Zone and the Federal Empowerment Zone, that is. Not all of Syracuse, of course, but if your business expands or relocates in one of these zones, you could be in for a tax-incentive windfall.

Consider this: if you expand or relocate into one of our designated Empire Zones, you could wind up paying no taxes for up to 10 years.

And there’s more. Syracuse is one of only seven Federal Empowerment Zones in the country (as designated by HUD). For Syracuse, that means a share of the $17 billion economic stimulus pot to promote jobs and economic growth. For businesses that locate and expand within the zone, it means Wage Credits, Work Opportunity Credits, Welfare to Work Credits, Tax-exempt Facility Bonds, Qualified Zone Academy Bonds, taxable income deductions, financing and capital gains tax relief, and more.

Syracuse. The right combination of affordable real estate, experienced labor, inexpensive cost of doing business, superior quality of life, and outstanding tax incentives could put your business on EZ street. Did we say windfall?

Find out more, including a list of available land parcels, at www.SyracuseCentral.com, and get in the zone, while you still can!

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Airport-accessible space is virtually here.

An outstanding opportunity to own space in a prime location is right around the corner—from the airport. Located in Hancock AirPark, an industrial park next to Syracuse Hancock International Airport, is an almost-completed, 50,000-square-foot virtual spec building. When it’s finished, this exceptional prime real estate will be pre-approved for a light industrial application, with office space and loading docks already in place. All you have to do is design the interior space and apply for the building permit.

The AirPark is located in the NYS Empire Zone and qualifies for development in the Federal Empowerment Zone (see “Zone(s)” article).


An artist's rendering of the soon-to-be finished building for light industrial application in Hancock AirPark.

Site plans, renderings, expansion opportunities, and a 3-D look at the building and park will be available on our web site, www.SyracuseCentral.com, soon, so please check back often. Or, if you’d like to be notified when the information is available, please e-mail us at info@SyracuseCentral.com.

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Q: How can you live and work in the country’s #1 basketball city?
A: Move to Syracuse!

That’s right—Sporting News just named Syracuse the number one basketball city in the nation. Of course, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise to the resident sports fanatics who’d jump through a flaming hoop to watch their 2003 NCAA Champion Syracuse Orangemen men’s basketball team at the Carrier Dome. After all, it’s many of these same folks who support our area’s professional baseball, hockey and soccer teams, as well as Syracuse Orangemen football and Le Moyne College baseball (2003 MAAC regular-season and tournament champions).

Guess you might say that, around here, whether you’re talking b-ball or business, we know a bit about rebounding.

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