November 2023 Meeting Summary
Summary of COMIDA Meeting for November 21st, 2023Observed by Deborah Rice Gordon
This COMIDA meeting can viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQLiOcOWybY
Be advised that the sound quality is poor at times.
Monitoring Reports:
Kevin Loweke gave the local labor monitoring report. In October, the residency of 625 workers was checked with a few workers having a non-compliance issue involving residency or identification. All complied upon re-inspection.
Financial Update:
The financial report for October 31st was discussed. Overall, the budget is sound, however details cannot be reported due to the poor sound quality of the recording.
Project Application Reviews:
Requests for sales tax exemptions, recording tax exemptions and/or real property tax abatements were approved by the Board for the following projects:
- Unearthly Materials, Inc. for the acquisition of machinery and equipment for their operations at 322 Blossom Road in Rochester. Their research aims to revolutionize technology by pioneering room temperature superconductors.
- ProtiFi LLC for the renovation of an existing facility at 71 Perinton Parkway in Fairport. This project is an expansion that involves constructing a new wet laboratory, manufacturing, clean room and office spaces in the industrial park.
- Germanow-Simon, Corp. for the renovation of existing facilities at 392 and 408 St. Paul Blvd. and 19-23 Emmett Street in Rochester. G&H/GS Optics will locate their photonics engineering and manufacturing operations in these facilities.
- RES Exhibit Services LLC for the renovation of an existing facility at 301 Longleaf Blvd. in Greece.
The following modification requests were approved:
- 850EB LLC, a real estate entity, requested approval for an extension of the sales tax exemption through December 2024 for their renovation of the Aqueduct Building in Rochester for Constellation Brands.
- The I-Square mixed-use development in Irondequoit requested approval for an extension of the sales tax exemption through December 2024. The applicant is selling The Market at I-Square to an unrelated entity. The applicant will retain ownership of the Baker Street land and the balance of land improvements at Town Center.
- The fees for approved projects to date total a little over $10.3 million and represent a strong year.
- An assessment of the commercial and industrial real estate market in Rochester will be available in December.