CUOMO AWARDS $1.5 MILLION TO HELP CREATE JOBS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NEW HAVEN, CT

WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced $1.5 million in assistance for New Haven, CT to redevelop the old New Haven Clock Company site, providing additional space for a food manufacturing company that was considering relocating. The project will result in 45 jobs and stimulate $200,000 in additional investment.

"One of the most important challenges facing cities today is cleaning up and revitalizing abandoned industrial and commercial sites that were the engines of America's economic greatness in our past," Cuomo said. "Working in partnership with communities, we can transform these areas into generators of new jobs and new prosperity in our future."

Cuomo made the announcement today in a telephone conference call with U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

Senator Dodd said: "This grant does two important things: it ensures that—when it comes to environmental cleanup and economic rebirth—time won't stand still in New Haven and the taste of economic success will be sweet indeed. It ultimately ensures a cleaner environment for the people of New Haven and provides jobs in the process. I commend HUD for providing this critically needed assistance."

Congresswoman DeLauro: "I'm excited about the possibilities this grant creates for New Haven. The New Haven Clock Company was a fixture in the city for nearly a century, providing jobs to generations of residents. It means that 133 Hamilton Street will once again be a place where hardworking men and women from the New Haven area earn a paycheck. Grants like this inject new life into old industrial sites, and turn blight into new jobs and opportunities."

The City of New Haven will receive a $490,000 Brownfields Economic Development Initiative Grant and $1 million in loan guarantees to fund the Clock Factory Redevelopment Project. For over a century, the property was home to the New Haven Clock Company, but for the last 20 years the two-acre site has been virtually vacant and most buildings deteriorated. HUD funds will be used for environmental remediation of the site, partial building demolition, site preparation and construction of a 30,000 square -foot addition to Palmieri Food Products, Inc., an adjacent food manufacturing company that has been producing sauces in New Haven for 70 years.

The company will use the HUD assistance to undertake a needed expansion of the plant, without which the company would have relocated outside of New Haven. Palmieri Food Products will spend $200,000 to equip the additional plant space. This project will result in the retention of 25 jobs and the creation of another 20 jobs. The site is located within the New Haven Empowerment Zone and the company will work with the EZ to connect neighborhood residents with new jobs.

Brownfield sites include abandoned factories and other industrial facilities, gasoline stations, oil storage facilities, dry cleaning stores, and other businesses that dealt with polluting substances. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has taken a series of actions to clean up and redevelop brownfields and return them to productive use, including: providing seed money to communities for revitalization; removing regulatory barriers to redevelopment; and providing a targeted tax incentive to businesses that purchase and clean up the sites.

The loan guarantees, also known as the Section 108 Program, provide communities with financing for job creation, housing rehabilitation, and construction of public facilities and large-scale development projects. Vice President Gore announced the Clinton Administration's Brownfields National Partnership in 1997 to bring together resources of over 20 federal agencies to address brownfield cleanup and redevelopment. HUD works with other federal agencies to provide communities with financial and technical assistance to revitalize brownfields.

Cuomo accompanied President Clinton last month on the President's New Markets Tour of economically distressed communities that highlighted the economic potential for investment in underserved markets. The President is proposing tax incentives and investment tools that will make it more attractive for corporate America to search for opportunities in such communities.

A recent HUD report titled New Markets: The Untapped Retail Buying Power In America's Inner Cities showed that America's inner city neighborhoods - with $331 billion in annual retail purchasing power - hold major economic potential for retail business growth. The report found:

• Inner city neighborhoods possess enormous retail purchasing power - estimated at $331 billion last year, or one-third of the $1.1 trillion total for the central cities in which those neighborhoods are located. The report suggests that businesses not yet operating in inner cities should not ignore that large domestic market.
• Despite their huge buying power, many inner city communities are "under-retailed," with sales that fall significantly short of residents' retail purchasing power. The report makes clear that there a large inner city consumer market worth competing for.

Content Archived: January 20, 2009