Developers to unveil plans for Bethlehem tech park
BYLINE: Richard A. D'Errico
The much-awaited Vista Technology Park is taking another step forward next week when plans for the park and a bypass to access the Bethlehem, N.Y., park are unveiled.
A press conference is scheduled for Monday at Route 85 Slingerlands that will detail BBL Development Corp.'s plan for 1.4 million square feet of development that will target high tech companies.
The $200 million Vista Tech Park was first announced in 2003 with a $1 million pledge from the Albany County Legislature to help develop the 400-acre site.
The site is expected to have as many as 5,000 employees on it. The project could be valued as much as $300 million.
Albany County Executive Michael Breslin proposed building the tech park after visiting Austin, Texas, home of Sematech, a consortium of microchip manufacturers. He said the city had undergone significant high-tech growth in the last decade.
The industrial tech-park is seen as a way to take advantage of the opportunities that exist since Sematech located a research center at the state University at Albany and help avoid some of the problems Austin experienced, such as congestion or overdevelopment.
"The decision by Sematech, IBM, Tokyo Electron Ltd. and other high-tech firms to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our area will help us to attract other firms here as well," Breslin said at the time. "To make the most of this opportunity, we have to be prepared. The tech park will provide the cost-effective shovel-ready building sites and infrastructure these firms will be looking for.