START-UP NY May Lead To New Business

Photo courtesy of Flickr user azipaybarah.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user azipaybarah.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user azipaybarah.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user azipaybarah.

According to President Donald Christian’s January Faculty Report, SUNY New Paltz submitted their campus plan to the Research Foundation and SUNY System for preliminary review for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s START-Up New York initiative at the end of December.

The goal of START-UP New York, whose legislation was adopted in June, is to institute tax-free zones of up to 200,000 square feet for new or recently expanding businesses that are adding net new jobs, within one mile of a SUNY campus.

Participating companies will not have to pay income, sales, property and business or corporate state or local taxes in its first five years, though they will pay national taxes. Businesses will pay varying amounts in taxes over the next five years based on income.

Each SUNY school is required to submit a campus plan that details the mission of the school and what it looks for in prospective companies that will partake.

According to the Faculty Report, the plan outlines the primary criteria used to select firms and they include: “alignment with specific elements of our campus mission and ability to enrich academic programs; opportunities for involvement of faculty (e.g., through enhanced research opportunities) and current students (e.g., through internships); and likelihood of hiring appropriately educated and qualified New Paltz graduates.”

SUNY New Paltz Community and Government Relations Associate Richard Winter said that when looking for businesses the school can partner with, they want to ensure companies will match up with the school’s academic strengths so the two can establish a “framework for a lasting relationship.”

He said the plan is for students to have the chance to build employment opportunities by way of internships.

Winters, Christian and Chief of Staff and Associate Vice President for Communication Shelly Wright will be leading the search for potential companies that would be involved in the initiative. A search that is ongoing as the deadline for submission into the START-Up program is not until 2020.

According the report, the school has surveyed commercial real estate available in the vicinity that could be used to match the needs of companies joining as partners. This comes as a result of limited space on campus to allocate to potential companies.

It’s also stated in the START-Up initiative that no academic space be taken away to for use of companies participating in the initiative.

The school recently acquired a “house and 3.6 acres of land at 82 S. Manheim Blvd.,” part of which could be made available for something in the START-Up initiative.

“We have not determined how this property will be used, either for Start-Up or other purposes,” Christian said in the report. “The previous owner of this property approached the College about our interest in 2011, well before START-Up NY. This property — directly across from the Hasbrouck quad — is particularly strategic for future needs of the College. We took advantage of this opportunity, but are not actively seeking property to purchase.”