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Capital District

Headlining major corporate locations in the Capital District is State Farm Insurance Co.'s new $15 million, 125,000-sq.-ft. (11,613-sq.-m.) North Atlantic Operations Center in Malta, Saratoga County. The facility currently employs 269, but it can accommodate as many as 400 workers.

"This is fantastic news for State Farm Insurance, the people of Saratoga County and the entire Capital District," says Gov. Pataki. "Since 1991, State Farm has grown remarkably, adding over 500 good-paying jobs here at their Malta offices and some 700 statewide. This new facility is a testament to the hard work and dedication of State Farm's employees and New York's revitalized business climate that is allowing companies like State Farm to expand all across the state. I want to thank State Farm and CEO Ed Rust for their unwavering commitment to New York state."

Adds Jim Ryman, regional vice president of State Farm's North Atlantic Regional Office: "We're very pleased with the growth State Farm has experienced in upstate New York since opening our doors in 1991. Our new facility will allow us to service our customers better and more efficiently."

In another big move, Breda -- an internationally known transportation manufacturing company -- is establishing a production facility at the Scotia-Glenville Industrial Park in Schenectady County, investing more than $16 million and creating as many as 500 new jobs. The firm is renovating an existing 240,000-sq.-ft. (22,300-sq.-m.) building.

"We plan to establish a world-class manufacturing plant in Glenville," says Paolo Longo, vice president and general manager of Breda Transportation. "After plant renovations are complete, we plan to build an advanced design, low-floor transit bus . . . This product will provide clean, reliable service for transit riders throughout North America."

Breda considered New York for a new facility several years ago, Longo reveals, but "the time was not right and the business climate was less attractive than it is now. Gov. Pataki has sent a clear message to companies like Breda that New York has changed and that jobs are his No. 1 priority."

Target, a division of Dayton-Hudson Corp., which has 166,000 employees and operates 850 stores in 41 states, is investing $86 million to construct a 1.2 million-sq.-ft. (111,480-sq.-m.) distribution facility in Saratoga County. The new facility will service 100 retail stores in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region, and will employ 620 full-time and 115 part-time workers.

High-tech moves in the Capital District include an expansion by Flow Management Technologies, a software development company that provides Internet technology services. The company will invest approximately $29 million over a five-year period, creating 475 new jobs. And state assistance to Plug Power, a world leader in fuel cell research and development, will support an expansion that is expected to boost employment to 500 by the end of 2000.