Supervisors got a look at what could be Schoharie County’s future Friday when Mike N’dolo of the MRB Group detailed consultants’ top three sites for economic development, their costs, and what comes next.
MRB’s picks—all in Cobleskill--after looking at 75 possible sites?
• Forester Road, just past Dunkin’ Donuts.
• IDA-owned land on Mineral Springs Road.
• And the favorite, Shad Point, Route 145 at what’s now Gobblers Knob.
All have their advantages and challenges, Mr. N’dolo said, but all could help fill what he sees as the biggest need in Upstate New York: space for a large industrial site, probably a warehouse.
The key to attracting any potential developer is doing as much of the prep work as possible beforehand, Mr. N’dolo said.
“Ambiguity is the deal-killer.”
Those steps could include zoning changes, completing a Generic Environmental Impact Statement, and site work.
But first, Mr. N’dolo said, the county would need to acquire the property—something some counties have done through their Industrial Development Agency—to make sure public money isn’t being spent on a private project.
The 20-acre Forester Road site is three contiguous parcels owned by Art Boreali in the Town and Village of Cobleskill.
Developing it for three buildings--one 62,500 square feet, one 100,000 square feet, and 280,000 square-feet,--would require rerouting the road.
There’s also the potential for a fourth building on the site.
MRB estimates site design and engineering for all three sites to be about $35,000-$40,000.
Getting the Forester Road site “shovel-ready” would be about $250,000; “achieving this vision”—the developer’s cost--would cost about $5 million, Mr. N’dolo said.
MRB’s vision for the 20-acre IDA site, at the corner of South Grand Street and Mineral Springs Road and next to the Village Offices, is for two buildings, one 82,500 square feet and one 54,000 square feet.
The five-parcel property in the Village of Cobleksill has the advantage of already being owned by the IDA, Mr. N’Dolo said; the disadvantage is that wetlands and slope limit the buildable space.
The cost of site prep work is estimated at $1.8 million.
Mr. N’dolo was the must enthusiastic about the Shad Point site.
“This is the type of site that doesn’t exist anywhere else,” he said.
That property includes four parcels, all in the Town of Cobleskill; three of the parcels are owned by VanDyke Enterprises and include the Gobbler’s Knob Family Fun Park and one is owned by Art Boreali.
MRB sees the site as a place for 742,500 square-foot building and because of its easy access to I-88, the “priority” site.
Development costs would be comparable to those of the other sites, Mr. N’Dolo said, though it would require extending water and sewer under I-88 from Route 7, something the Town of Cobleskill is already studying.
That infrastructure would likely also draw other developers nearby, Mr. N’Dolo said.
Timeline for moving ahead—with one of the sites—is estimated at 12-24 months: three months to gain site control; six months to complete a GEIS and develop a Planning Development District; three months for site work—longer with the Forester Road site for the road re-route--and for Shad Point, 12 months for the water and sewer extension.
Answering questions from supervisors, who didn’t take any action on the report, Mr. D’Nolo said depending on its exact use, the Shad Point site could mean 300-600 jobs.