The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency is reviewing a proposal that could bring 1,000 jobs to central New York.
Trammel Crow, a real estate development company, is asking local governments to move quickly so construction can begin next spring on a 3.8 million square foot warehouse/distribution operation on property in the town of Clay that is currently the Liverpool Country Club.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon says once completed, the project will create 1,000 jobs with salaries between $30,000-$50,000 dollars. And that is something he said the community is in need of.
"I got a couple emails where people say '$30,000-$40,000 jobs, those aren’t great paying jobs.' Look folks, we have 60,000 people in Onondaga County that make under $25,000 a year. These are really important jobs, and a sweet spot we haven’t had in a long time. These jobs pay benefits, these jobs represent a career path for people out of poverty," McMahon said.
Trammel Crow has developed billions of dollars of property across the country, including a distribution warehouse for Amazon in California. The company won't divulge the name of who it’s working with until next spring, when ground would be broken.
McMahon said it was attracted to central New York because of its location between several metropolitan areas.
"We’ve been saying all along that logistics is the reason to be in New York state. We are in the middle of the state. We are 3 1/2 hours from Montreal, Toronto, Philly, Boston, New York. That’s a lot of people in North America we can touch in Syracuse," he said.
The project calls for tax breaks and zoning changes. Approvals from the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency and Town of Clay need to be in place by the end of the year for it to move forward.