The building that formerly housed Sheehan Memorial Hospital will soon again be a source of jobs in the community as a major computer service hub. McGuire Development is converting the complex from a hospital to an office center called Compass East, slated to be open at the end of the year. McGuire will move some corporate offices and training programs into the building.
The big new employer is Time Warner Cable, which will occupy 50,000 square feet of first-floor space for the company's East Coast Business Class Services hub. Initially, there will be 152 workers hired and 171 moved from other Time Warner space.
Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy says the state is putting up $3 million in tax credits, not cash, for the project.
"Tax credits are very different than direct capital investments [and] direct grants. Tax credits, if you want to satisfy those, you have to create those jobs. It's after the fact. It's down the road. So, it's an investment the state makes to have Time Warner create those jobs," Duffy says. "We hope this is just the beginning, that more and more jobs will be created."
Duffy says the goal is to do what Geico has done in Amherst: add even more jobs, faster than projected. He says the deal with Time Warner preserves 458 jobs locally.
According to Duffy, the jobs pay $15 to $20 an hour and offer a chance to move up inside Time Warner's vast structure.
Mayor Brown and Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes say there are enough qualified people within walking distance to fill all of the new jobs immediately.
