Silicon carbide device manufacturing company Cree has announced plans to invest around $1 billion and bring in 600 jobs to Marcy. The company will bring good paying jobs to the area IF the plan goes through. Deerfield Resident Brad Green remembers the last time a major announcement was made for the same area.
"It’s not the first time, but its promising news and hopefully it does go through which will boost everything around here."
Almost three years ago, Austrian semiconductor manufacturer AMS pulled out of their decision to invest $2 billion in the Marcy Nano-center. Ams’s decision led to an investigation that convicted four men in a corruption scheme. Alain Kaloyeros, the former president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, was convicted of rigging bids on major economic development projects across upstate New York. The scheme became known as the Buffalo Billions, and it’s left some people skeptical of future developments. People like Frankfort resident, John Rice.
"They got this nano-tech facility sitting here that’s doing absolutely nothing pretty much right now. Millions and millions of dollars and man hours put into building this thing, and nothing’s come of it, so it’d be great if somebody got in here and started doing some work and putting people to work. There’s a lot of people out of work in this area that need jobs," said Rice.
Mark Bronson is a Norway resident who's also feeling skeptical about government announcements.
"We have a history of you know corruption and deals not going through, so we’ll see what happens," he said.
These are just a few of the comments reflected on social media sites:
Cree will receive a $500 million grant from the Empire State Development, and be eligible for additional incentives.
Josh Kirk talked about the amount of money designated to this one company.
"It seems like a massive investment for the State to put into it… to one company, unless it’s a big return for us and I’d like to know what that is," said Kirk.
Cree hopes to have the facility up and running in 2022.
