High-Tech Focus: From Bio-tech To New Media

Manufacturing, however, isn't the only high-tech business coming into the state. Gov. Pataki, in his State of the State address, cited Buffalo as being a fertile area of high-tech job creation in biotechnology. The governor announced plans to make Buffalo a national leader in biotech research and business development by creating a new Biotechnology Research Center at SUNY at Buffalo. "It will complement the highly successful biotech research park at SUNY Farmingdale and the SUNY Albany Biotech Incubator in Rensselaer County," said Gov. Pataki. "This incubator plan will help grow new industries and new jobs for western New York, and new hope for the future."

In order to bring one high-tech firm into the area, Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp. went so far as to sell its own office in downtown Buffalo to Rights Exchange, a software development company. Rights Exchange will invest $2.6 million to expand its operations, creating 118 new jobs in Buffalo and 22 in Manhattan. "That's the type of company that we're looking to attract downtown," says Alan DeLisle, president of Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp. "We're targeting information technology firms and are having some good success with that."

DeLisle adds that downtown Buffalo also won several call centers and information technology firms, including Softbank Services and The Great Lakes Collection. "We have a very fiber (optic) rich network in downtown Buffalo," he adds. "And it is connected to all of the Canadian systems as well."

In New York City, the new media industry has taken off. Silicon Alley, the area of Manhattan south of 41st Street, is now home to more than 1,100 new media companies, and there are approximately 1,500 other new media companies throughout the city. Incentive programs like Plug 'n' Go, which provides low-cost, pre-wired office space, are attracting even more businesses into the area.

"[New York City] is a haven for a lot of the Internet start-up companies," says Peter Hennessy of The Staubach Co., Houston. "It's fundamental because it has a vibrancy and it has access to capital, so they come here."

Although New York City is a tight labor market, there is space for new companies. A few years ago, many big corporations moved their back-office locations out of Manhattan, leaving space to fill. Now many smaller companies, who need those synergies associated with being in Manhattan, are filling those spaces. "Smaller organizations are making New York City their home, or they at least have a presence there," says Steve Hall, vice president at The Staubach Co. "In the past, you had a lot of major corporations. Now you're seeing a lot of mid-tier or smaller-tier companies in the city also."

For example, 12 new tenants signed leases in a Silicon Alley building. The 12 tenants, including several new media and information technology companies, leased a total of 15,635 sq. ft. (1,452 sq. m.).

"There are very few large blocks of space left downtown," says Peter Riguardi of Colliers ABR. "The new media companies, as well as the state and city agencies, have been the leading gobblers of those spaces."

Long Island also serves as a breeding ground for several small and mid-sized high-tech firms. The latest is Computer Associates, a software developer, which will undertake a major expansion at its worldwide headquarters in Islandia and create 1,100 new jobs by the end of 1999.

F.I.R.E. Sector Still Growing

When you think of New York, you usually think financial, insurance and real estate companies. And rightly so, but some of the state's latest announcements haven't just occurred in the "city limits."

For example, Illinois-based Superior Bank, a $1 billion federal savings bank, chose to move its regional headquarters from New Jersey to Orangetown in Rockland County. Superior Bank, which operates in 48 states and Washington, D.C., will move into a 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,935-sq.-m.) space in Orangetown. The company will bring 466 permanent jobs and will add 500 more over the next five years.