Griffiss Business and Technology Park in March 2005 welcomed the announcement that Family Dollar Stores would create up to 465 jobs at a $60-million regional distribution center located on the former military base in Rome. It was just one of many success stories the 3,500-acre (1,417-hectare) facility can boast of in the decade since the 416th Bomb Wing ceased operations there.
   The Mohawk Valley park now is home to more than 60 employees and 4,200 employees, including 1,800 still associated with defense agencies. One of those, the Air Force Research Laboratory, is constructing a $25-million headquarters for its Information Directorate. And $13 million is going toward the renovation of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service facilities, where employment is projected to grow from the current 380 to at least 1,000 in coming years. More than 70 acres (28 hectares) of obsolete Air Force housing and 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.) of obsolete warehouses have been removed to make way for industrial development.
   A similar dynamic, runway included, is unfolding in far-northern Plattsburgh, where the under-construction Plattsburgh International Airport is adding passenger facilities to its already sizable industrial services, and billing itself as "Montréal's U.S. airport," as it's situated just an hour south of the Québécois city and only 45 minutes from Lake Placid. The passenger terminal is expected to be complete in 2007.
   The overall airport park features 1.5 million sq. ft. (139,350 sq. m.) of industrial space and a 12,000-ft. (3,657-m.) runway, and claims Empire Zone status. Its rail facilities, including a new railyard, hook into the main CP line from Montréal to New York. And the Plattsburgh Aeronautical Institute, an FAA airframe and power-plant school, is set to open in 2008.

Southern Upstate Soon Cris-crossed by Interstate T he 2006 completion target date for I-86 holds strong promise for Chemung County and others in the southern tier. As such, yet another investment property may soon be yielding fertile results. This industrial park in Chemung Co. is bound to grow even faster than it already is once I-86 work is complete. Hudson Realty Capital LLC early in 2005 funded a $15-million bridge loan secured by a 2-million-sq.-ft. (185,800-sq.-m.) industrial complex on 345 acres (140 hectares), allowing the property owner to retire two mortgages and then obtain a long-term mortgage.    The complex was originally developed by the U.S Army, in the 1940s, as a supply and storage depot, and wasn't converted to private use until the 1980s. Its distribution space is over 60-percent occupied, up from 30 percent in 2004. "The area economy is continuing to show strong signs of improvement, and demand for space of this nature continues to increase. These were important considerations that favorably influenced our decision to provide the loan," said HRC Managing Director Spencer Garfield.    Company leaders also cited the Interstate's impending completion, which is expected to generate $3 billion of additional revenue in the region. That effort, which will link up to the Elmira/Corning Regional Airport, was launched by Gov. George Pataki in May 2000. The entire 381-mile (613-km.) length of Route 17 is scheduled to be fully converted to Interstate 86 by 2009.    Among the companies already operating in Chemung Co. is United Tech-nologies' Sikorsky business unit, which early in 2005 decided to build and test a new coaxial helicopter model at its Schweizer Aircraft complex there, which it purchased in 2004.