Batavia, N.Y., midway between Buffalo and Rochester on the New York Thruway, was the nation's third-strongest performing micropolitan area for new corporate projects and expansions in 2005, drawing a $9-million veal-raising and processing investment from Provitello in nearby Elba and heavy equipment facility investments from Doyle Helicopter and Milton Caterpillar among others.
   The Elba project comes from a joint venture between CY Heifer Farm and Cambridge, Ont.-based Grober Group. Until the recent arrival of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Canada, Grober would buy calves in New York, raise them in Canada and then return them to New York for slaughter. The new barn and processing complex allows the whole process to stay in the States. The facility was constructed to European animal-raising standards so that the company can export in the future.
   Other investments in the area include a $2-million expansion from porcelain high-voltage insulator manufacturer Lapp in LeRoy, and distribution facilities from bottlers Crickler and Wright Associates, Adtech Graphics, Provident and Mega Prop.

Redevelopment Always in the Air T he Northeast is layered with brownfields, and hence with redevelopment projects. But while many seem to migrate away from corporate and industrial end users in their new forms, some remain targeted toward them.    Such is the case with the 1-million-sq.-ft. (92,900-sq.-m.) office and R&D complex that IBM just unloaded in East Fishkill. With the assistance of Colliers International Advance Technology Real Estate Group (ATREG), the property was sold to Preferred Real Estate Investments, Inc., the Massachusetts-based company that has had a string of successful redevelopments in the region. The complex is part of the larger Hudson Valley Research Park, located in an Empire Zone.    "Preferred has the resources, vision and experience to create a strong redevelopment here," said Doug Barrett, Senior Vice President and Associate Director of ATREG. "They specialize in converting former industrial plants into mixed-use projects and identified that the IBM campus is uniquely suited for advanced technology manufacturing as well as corporate headquarters, lab and data center."    "IBM's West Campus is a highly flexible campus that includes undeveloped parcels for future expansion," said Stephen Rothrock, senior vice president and managing director of ATREG. "There is advanced infrastructure including significant power, water, and air to meet manufacturing or data center requirements."

   Lapp's investment comes at the same time that the 90- year- old company had to institute a 9.6- percent energy surcharge on insulators made in LeRoy because of exorbitant energy prices. With factory locations in its headquarters of LeRoy; Sandersville, Ga., and Wunsiedel, Germany, Lapp recently repurposed the Sandersville facility to exclusively distribution, transferring production to facilities in India and China. As part of the repositioning, production of line post and station post insulators currently being made in Sandersville is being transferred to Lapp's LeRoy facility. Company employment in LeRoy has gone from 125 in early 2005 to 155 in early 2006. Since 1996, Lapp has been the only domestic producer of porcelain suspensions, which are used by power companies for running high voltage transmission lines.
   "However, given the increases in costs for energy and materials, it is increasingly difficult to make these units in the United States," said Rob Johnson, vice president and general manager for Lapp, early in 2005. "Furthermore, the market price for suspensions has been driven down so far that it is no longer economically viable to make them domestically, forcing us to look elsewhere to remain competitive," Johnson said. The company spun off its bushings unit in 2004, and in late 2005 announced a recapitalization by New York City- based private equity firm Andlinger & Co., Inc., that promises further upgrades to existing facilities as well as expansion into new markets.
   High energy cost is one if the proverbial big strikes against choosing to locate industrial operations in New York. Asked if the energy cost in its home territory continued to be a challenge, Matt Bailey, vice president of marketing and sales for Lapp, tells Site Selection that the company continues to view natural gas and electricity prices as "a key cost driver for our operations in LeRoy."
   No details are available on the plans in the wake of the Andlinger recapitalization, but asked if large utility infrastructure and transmission projects on the boards (like that recently announced by AEP) hold promise for facility and employment growth at Lapp, Bailey says, "No question, the Energy Bill that President Bush signed last year provides incentives for utilities to increase spending on their transmission infrastructure. Our U.S.- served markets were up over 10 percent last year and we expect a comparable increase in 2006."
   If the $1.1- billion tax cut plan and workers' comp reform offered by outgoing Gov. George Pataki in his 2006-07 budget pass muster, perhaps Lapp and other industrial companies will find new reasons to continue operating in New York.