Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon delivered his State of the County address Wednesday night at Onondaga Senior High School.
McMahon’s speech, which lasted just under an hour, touched on attracting semiconductor manufacturing supply chain companies, improvements coming to the North Side and Inner Harbor and more.
McMahon plans to attract semiconductor supply chain companies
McMahon pushed a plan Thursday night to remove constraints on Onondaga County’s fund balance to buy land and make room for companies that could fall in Micron’s supply chain.
The county has about $200 million in its fund balance.
He touted the proposed initiative as a way to make Micron even more of a boon beyond the campus the semiconductor manufacturing company plans to build in Clay.
The county is “poised to become the newest high-tech manufacturing hub in North America,” McMahon said.
Micron expects to break ground on the project in November, he said.
The draft environmental impact statement, which reviews the ecological impact of the project’s construction, will be sent Monday to state officials and the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency. Then it will be released to the public for feedback.
The county has also partnered with local institutions to help implement workforce development initiatives.
At Onondaga Community College, construction on a clean room simulation lab will be completed this fall, offering students real-world experience in the chip manufacturing industry, McMahon said.
$5 million more for O-CHIP
McMahon said plans to pitch the Onondaga County Legislature on spending another $5 million to fund his O-CHIP initiative.
The program was approved in 2023 by the Legislature and started as a $10 million fund that gave developers a $5,000 grant for each unit of housing they build.
McMahon described O-CHIP as an “important tool” in driving new housing development. Thirty-nine housing projects that account for 1,700 units have been approved for funding in the O-CHIP program, he said. About 70% of the projects are located in Syracuse.
To keep up with the expected increase in population and address the county’s high levels of poverty, McMahon said the county plans to need an additional 20,000 new units of housing.
The region is already dealing with housing instability. For the first time since the Housing and Homeless Coalition of CNY started tracking homelessness, family homelessness has outpaced individual homelessness.
The county has invested over $27 million in housing incentives in Syracuse, and has allocated $44.2 million in its budget toward temporary housing support, McMahon said.
Inner Harbor, North Side to see investment
Cor plans to build a second hotel in the city’s Inner Harbor. The Tempo Hotel by Hilton will be built near Aloft, a hotel Cor built about 10 years ago.
The 227-room hotel will cost $83 million to build.
After a number of hotels closed in the area, the county created last year the Onondaga County Hotel Initiative. McMahon said has attracted $210 million in investment.
McMahon said the county also hopes to improve its entertainment and tourism industry, which he described as a “huge driver of sales tax.”
The county executive touted his controversial plan to build a $100 million aquarium, which will be near the Tempo Hotel, describing the project as one that will create jobs and allow high school students to engage in science education programs.
The county also plans to have a hotel built in the town of Clay — a 160-room Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn & Suites that will cost $24 million to build.
As part of the county’s tourism initiatives, the county also hopes to invest around $4 million into the Central New York Regional Market, which McMahon described currently as “lackluster.”
The county’s investments will include:
- $800,000 to fund a ghost kitchen
- $950,000 to fund an improvement to the market’s entrance
- $2 million to fund improvements to the C-shed
McMahon said he will also create the North Side Advisory Council to help improve the neighborhood closest to the regional market. Members on the council will help advise the county on a smattering of investments in the neighborhood:
- $1.5 million from the county’s Main Street facade improvement program
- $1 million for new housing projects in the North Side
- $500,000 for New American workforce training
- $500,000 in low-interest loans for local businesses
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