By Paul Post
The Saratoga Economic Development Corp. helped secure $1.5 billion in new business construction, which created and retained thousands of jobs during Dennis Brobston’s tenure as the nonprofit agency’s president.
This doesn’t include the GlobalFoundries’ $15 billion investment at Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta, where plans are in the works for a second computer chip manufacturing plant that might cost up to $10 million and create 1,000 more jobs.
Brobston, 63, retired Dec. 31 after 14 years with SEDC.
As he looked back at his tenure, he said he expects the Malta project to fuel a whole new wave of business and job growth. That’s why SEDC’s focus the past few years has been on providing the industrial space and workforce housing needed for related, support firms to locate here and succeed.
“We’re seeing the need for these things because of the economic viability of our county for new jobs,” Brobston said. “My concern with Global is that when they pull the trigger on Fab 8.2 and start to get new people in here, that we have enough capacity to handle that.”
“It’s hard to get workers if you don’t have workforce housing,” he said. “You’ve got to have a place for people to live. It’s something people all across the country are talking about. It’s definitely needed in our county because it’s difficult for some people to afford rents, which have grown to $1,200 to $1,500 for sometimes outdated apartments, let alone buy a house.”
SEDC is currently working with the Mechanicville-Stillwater Industrial Development Agency to help bring an affordable housing project to fruition on Brickyard Road in Stillwater. The project, comprised of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, is proposed by Waltham, Mass.-based Dakota Partners.
It’s specifically designed for people who earn 30-60 percent of the area’s median income.
In Saratoga Springs, Liberty Affordable Housing of Rome (N.Y.), is pursuing plans for a 215-unit housing project near Saratoga Hotel and Casino, and the Cleveland-based NRP Group has already begun work on 202 workforce housing apartments off Route 9N near Saratoga Hospital.
Brobston said he hopes GlobalFoundries “pulls the trigger sooner rather than later” on Fab 8.2, as the massive facility will require about 3,000 construction jobs alone and Micron Technology, a competitor, has plans for a new chip plant of its own near Syracuse. This could take labor away from GlobalFoundries’ project, he said.
Brobston said he’s hopeful that GlobalFoundries site work will get under way this spring.
Looking ahead, Brobston said he expects most new business investment to occur along the Northway corridor as it has in years past. The greatest need is for flexible speculation space for light manufacturing or warehousing, “so if somebody came here they could get started rather quickly,” he said.
For example, MJ Properties of Clifton Park has obtained approval for several buildings totaling 350,000 square feet at Synergy Technology Park in Clifton Park. The company is pursuing plans for a similar 280,000-square-foot project on Tabor Road in Halfmoon.
“Those are the kind of things we need,” Brobston said. “We’ve lost opportunity because we haven’t been able to have these facilities ready.”
Originally from Steubenville, Ohio, Brobston first came to Saratoga County in 1986 as regional sales manager for a West Virginia-based pallet, rack and shelving company. In 1995, he took a position as Clifton Park-Halfmoon director of economic development under a grant program through the Southern Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Previously, he ran his own printing and office supply business, and had worked as a purchasing agent and draftsman. This gave him the experience needed to join SEDC when a door opened there in March 1996.
“They were looking for someone who could talk with businesses and knew how to help them grow,” Brobston said.
Eighty percent of job creation comes from existing firms, not new entries to the marketplace, he said. That’s why SEDC spends considerable time, money and effort helping area employers grow.
For example, it played a major role in Quad Graphics’ acquisition of a new printing press that “kept them at a world class level,” Brobston said. “They hadn’t been investing as much in their Saratoga plant. We were concerned they’d eventually become antiquated and close up, leaving a 1 million-square-foot facility empty. So that retention was big.”
Several years ago, SEDC helped AgroChem, which makes a fungus-prevention foot bath for dairy cows, get a $5 million new plant built at Grande Industrial Park. Similarly, Greenfield Manufacturing Inc., which makes additives for gasoline and fuels, started out of garage in Corinth before moving to the Industrial Park where it built a new facility that’s been added onto twice, with SEDC’s assistance.
But after 10 years with SEDC, Brobston left in 2006 to become director of The Wesley Community Foundation. In 2008, he rejoined SEDC as the entity’s third president, following the resignation of former president Ken Green. It was a challenging time as it marked the onset of the Great Recession, the nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Five years later, Brobston and SEDC faced a greater trial when the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors cut the agency’s budget by $100,000, then eventually dropped all funding and contracted with a different economic development entity, the Saratoga Prosperity Partnership.
Some county officials felt SEDC was no longer effective at bringing new business and jobs to the area. In addition, SEDC refused to let supervisors sit on its board, fearing elected officials would try to push projects for their own towns and cities.
Brobston admits now that he considered ceasing operations, but felt there was too much at stake. Instead, he launched a five-year capital campaign, bolstered by $2 million from 63 large contributors. Membership fees from hundreds of SEDC business partners also kept the agency afloat, in addition to marketing fees it obtains for helping the Saratoga County, Mechanicville-Stillwater and Clifton Park-Halfmoon industrial development agencies with various projects.
“We were able to keep helping businesses grow and reduced our staff from five to three people,” Brobston said. “We got a lot of projects because we had been around, people knew our name and we did good work.”
Two years ago, the county restored $200,000 annually to SEDC and last March, seven years after its creation, supervisors voted to dissolve the Prosperity Partnership.
SEDC now has an $800,000 budget and Vice President Tori Riley is in charge while a search committee is in the process of finding a new leader. Interviews got under way in September and Brobston said he expects the next president to be named in the near future.
Brobston said he’s already received more than one offer to work for a local employer, but first he wants to start enjoying his well-deserved retirement.
“I’m going to take a few months and figure out what’s next,” he said. “I would like to take a rest for a while, that’s for sure. I got tired of dealing with the politics of the state of New York. Working with some of these things is very difficult. I enjoyed being the leader, but I’d like to do something where I’m not the leader. I just want to take time to relax and get away from it all.”