January 2, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
New York officials are reaping the benefits of its Start-Up NY plan to lure new businesses to the state’s tax-free zones at colleges and universities, saying this week that new jobs will soon be available from Illuminating Diagnostics, NomoCan Pharma and ProGen Life Sciences, as the firms join 10 other businesses moving to the area to take advantage of tax perks.
Those perks are significant: In return for generating jobs, businesses participating in the program can operate 10 years without state income, business, corporate and sales taxes, property taxes or franchise fees.
Biotech startup Illuminating Diagnostics said it will use the extra money saved to develop rapid diagnostic tests for hospital-acquired infections like MRSA. It will now become part of the Biosciences Incubator of the University at Buffalo and will create 32 net new jobs and plough $1.2 million into the project.
The Associated Press reported that a total of 56 businesses so far have said they will either expand or relocate to the new zones, which are located on or near campuses in Buffalo, Ithaca, Brooklyn, Binghamton, Rochester, Albany and Stony Brook.
The latest 13, which includes the three biotech and biopharma companies, said they will $11.4 million and create 268 jobs, according to Empire State Development. All in all, 56 businesses have committed to the plan, which will in turn to 2,100 jobs, said state authorities.
“The newest businesses to locate at tax-free areas on SUNY campuses in the New York City, Long Island, Finger Lakes, and Buffalo regions will have access to world-class resources, industry experts and advanced research facilities,” said Kenneth Adams, president of the state economic development agency. “And in return they will offer SUNY students the opportunity to cultivate real-world business experience.”
The program hasn’t always been enough, however last week Sinapis Pharma, one of the first companies to participate in the Start-Up NY tax incentive program, said it would move to Atlanta, after a lack of funding kept it from establishing its headquarters in Buffalo, NY. The drug development company was originally interested in researchers at the University of Buffalo but has now found that the funding and collaboration on offer were not enough to keep it in the area, although Sinapis may still open a small laboratory at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
The new 13 will be moving specifically to the State University at Stony Brook on Long Island, SUNY Ulster in the mid-Hudson Valley and the University at Buffalo, Canisius College in Buffalo, Keuka College in the Finger Lakes, SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. So far 61 schools have established more than 345 tax-free zones through Start-Up NY.
The latest 13 business are Simply Natural Clothing, ID Federator LLC, Illuminating Diagnostics LLC, FlightPartner, GradFly Inc., NomoCan Pharmaceuticals LLC, UTS LLC, Mid-Island Aggregates/Distribution LLC, Nuenz Inc., Sensored Life LLC, ProGen Life Sciences, Sustainable Waste Power Systems Inc., and Zuznow USA Inc.
