Four communities in New York have been ranked among the top 10 “micropolitan” areas in the country for economic development.
A micropolitan area is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a urban core with at least 10,000 residents but less than 50,000 in total population.
Site Selection Magazine has ranked Batavia fourth, and tied Ogdensburg, Massena and Plattsburgh at eighth place for the number of new or expanded corporate projects in the past year.
Editor in Chief Mark Arend explains the ranking is based on the number of capital investment projects. “They must meet one of the following criteria. A project has to involve either a minimum of one million dollars in capital investment, create twenty or more new jobs or involve twenty-thousand or more square feet of construction. We do various database analyses to determine which areas were the most successful in attracting those projects. In our March issue we recognize the top states for projects, the top metropolitan areas and also the top micropolitan areas. Upstate New York has a couple of micros in our ranking this year.”
Plattsburgh North Country Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Garry Douglas credits part of the North Country’s success to its proximity to Canada and the creation of the Regional Economic Development Council. “The addition to Plattsburgh this time of the Ogdensburg and Massena area to the top ten shows us that across the North Country, across the region, the work of the Economic Development Council, the cooperation across the region, the investments made by Governor Cuomo through the Regional Economic Development Council process are working across the region. Also it’s not a coincidence that all three of those communities are on the border. Canadians have money to invest. They’re confident in the future of the U.S. market. They’re investing and growing here and all three of our border communities are taking good advantage of that.”
The Development Corporation Executive Director Paul Grasso says when used as part of an overall marketing strategy, a top 10 ranking like Site Selection’s can catch the attention of industry representatives. “It gets people’s attention to look at your area, especially site selectors who actually read that magazine are going to take notice of it. It’s then when they get here you still have to deliver everything that they need. But it certainly is a good attention-getter for us. Of course it varies by industry. Companies look at workforce development. It’s about economic development. It’s about education. They look at tax incentives. It’s the entire package. For us we’re strategically located close to the Canadian border. That helps a lot. We have Interstate 87, that helps a lot. And we have a very dedicated and qualified workforce here.”
The New York-Newark-Jersey City area ranked sixth among the top metropolitan areas with populations over 1 million.
