There was a sense of victory Wednesday afternoon in Batavia with the announcement that a $700 million solar wafer plant would add 1,000 jobs to Genesee County.
"This is a new day," said Steven Hyde is president and CEO of Genesee County Economic Development Center.
"We have technology companies coming in to the left in Buffalo, to the right in Rochester and now they are right here, right now. Where else would you rather be today?
State officials say the Genesee County site competed against hundreds of other locations in luring the manufacturer.
"We now have opportunities through investments in technology, in terrific companies like 1366 Technologies that are going to be here for years and create thousand of high-paying jobs for our kids," Hyde said.
The plant will be the first tenant for the Science and Technology Advance Manufacturing Park (STAMP) in the Town of Alabama, a 1250-acre greenfield for high-tech plants.
Hyde says 1366 Technologies deciding on Genesee County has made other companies think about also locating there and bring more jobs. 1366 is getting a $97 million package of location incentives, with manufacturing slated to start in early 2017.
