The following press release divulged to selective media has been obtained through third party sources by the acid-tongued bloggers brigade. Yonkers Tribune thereby shares it with all our readers to delve into the veracity of this plan that has already cost the taxpayers an investment of over $1 million.
It reads as follows:
Incentives to Attract New, High-Growth Enterprises with Attractive Lease Rates and Amenities
YONKERS, NY (March 24, 2011) – Yonkers Mayor Philip A. Amicone today announced the Y-Enterprise program, designed to attract, cultivate, and retain high-growth businesses to Yonkers. Y-Enterprise will target companies of varying sizes with incentives to move to Yonkers and build their businesses in New York’s fourth largest city. Yonkers, overlooking the Hudson River, has a rich history of building businesses, from Otis Elevator to Domino Sugar, and now, with this latest initiative is aggressively seeking to engage vibrant start-up businesses as well.
The cornerstone of the Y-Enterprise program is the Y-Enterprise Business Center, a vibrant full-service business incubator dedicated to emerging enterprises, offering emerging businesses the opportunity to focus on business development and growth strategy costs before rent and other infrastructure.
“We’re making Yonkers a destination for business and pleasure,” said Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone. “The city and the Y-Enterprise Business Center are located less than 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan by train, making access to New York City faster and easier to than it is for many companies that are based in the five boroughs. The future holds unlimited possibilities for our city.”
The program offers “Y-Innovate” for entrepreneurs in the start-up phase who have only one to two employees, at an estimated cost of $500 per month per employee, “Y-Accelerate” is for entrepreneurs seeking to expand their customer bases and who have from one to eight employees. Office space would range anywhere from $1,000 per month to up to $2,500 for space with Hudson River views. “Y-Expansion” will help grow those companies ready for larger spaces to accommodate more than eight employees.
The combination of private offices and communal space also allow for the proliferation of the entrepreneurial spirit throughout the facility. Cross pollination of ideas and business flow are an expected byproduct of the start-up environment. Tenancy in the Y-Enterprise Business Center will also enable qualified businesses to take advantage of significant Federal and New York State tax incentives.
The Y-Enterprise Business Center offers significant infrastructure built in, enabling a business to focus from day one on its mission, rather than administrative details. The Center offers internet and telephone service, access to high-tech meeting rooms and conference facilities, fax, scanner and photo copy machines as well as reception and administrative staff.
The businesses will be provided with business development, legal and accounting support, advice on accessing capital sources and have access to the Westchester/Hudson Valley business community. The center will also offer free networking events on a monthly basis to help them grow within their prospective industries.
“Yonkers is a city on the rise and the Y-Enterprise program will have a major role in that upward momentum,” said Lou Kirven, Commissioner-Planning/Development. “The goal of the Y-Enterprise program is to identify, promote and support the next generation of scalable businesses and enable them to move through the program, from a start-up, to the next stages of development, and perhaps become the next Otis or Kawasaki, which were the backbone of the Yonkers business community.”
The 8,000 square foot Y-Enterprise Business Center is located in the city’s i-Park Hudson, in the heart of downtown Yonkers, steps from the rail station and overlooking the Hudson River and the magnificent Palisades. The revitalization of downtown Yonkers is creating exciting new public spaces, residential offerings, businesses and economic opportunity. The Y-Enterprise program is funded through the New York State Capital Assistance Program with matching funds from the City of Yonkers. The unveiling of the Y-Enterprise Business Center space will take place in mid-April 2011.
For more information about the Y-Enterprise initiative or for a tenant application, please visit www.Y-Enterprise.com
About Yonkers, NY: Revitalization Attracts Businesses, Retailers and Commercial and Residential Developers
With its easy access to New York City, Westchester, the Hudson Valley and Connecticut; attractive rents; and significant support from Yonkers itself in the revitalization efforts, the city is poised for growth.
In December 2010, the City of Yonkers took a big step in its downtown revitalization with the “daylighting” – or uncovering – of a portion of the Saw Mill River, which had been buried beneath the pavement of Larkin Plaza since the 1920’s. The project is creating an exciting new four-acre public space in the center of downtown Yonkers to be called Larkin Plaza Park. In addition to aesthetic value, the daylighting project is creating jobs, providing economic benefit and clean water improvements for both the Saw Mill and Hudson Rivers. The daylighting project is funded by the City of Yonkers, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Empire State Development Corporation.
In that same month, Lord & Taylor announced it would open its first new store in over a decade at the Ridge Hill mixed-use complex being developed in Yonkers by Forest City Ratner Companies. The 80,000 square-foot Lord & Taylor will anchor the retail component of the 1.3-million-square-foot development. Ridge Hill is one of the largest mixed-use projects in the country, encompassing 80 acres.
Additionally, biotech firm ContraFect Corporation started construction on a new 15,000 square-foot headquarters in downtown Yonkers at i-Park on Hudson. ContraFect signed a 15-year lease on December 10th.
Philip A. Amicone is serving his second term as Yonkers mayor. Under his stewardship, New York’s fourth largest city has experienced its strongest economic growth in almost a century, with record employment and dramatic improvements to city programs and services developed through an aggressive economic expansion that has brought in new jobs and revenues to the city. Mayor Amicone is a licensed Professional Engineer and has made job growth and economic expansion the dual pillars of his administration.
Lou Kirven serves as Commissioner and is responsible for the leadership and overall direction of the City of Yonkers Department of Planning and Development. Lou oversees business/economic development and attraction, residential and public facility development activities, strategic master planning, financial and real estate portfolio management and intergovernmental relations. Lou is a graduate of Simon’s Rock, Tufts University and Georgetown University Law Center. Lou serves on the Boards of the Westchester Community College Foundation and the Fairchester Chapter of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
