"What the EDZ does is make New York competitive," said Peter Walters, group vice president for Guardian Industries. "The incentives -- especially the tax and energy incentives -- made the Geneva site ultimately the most attractive."

Since 1987, businesses expanding in New York state have taken advantage of New York's Economic Development Zone program, an initiative that offers substantial financial incentives for businesses that invest and create jobs in economically distressed areas of the state.

Now that program has been extended, both in duration and in the number of zones available for development.

Incentives for setting up shop in Economic Development Zones in New York state include investment tax credits, wage tax credits, zone capital tax credits, utility rate reduction and real property tax exemptions for eligible businesses.

The program was set to expire 10 years after the establishment of each zone, with the first phase of zones due to expire this year. However, a bill to extend those end dates recently passed, and EDZs now have until the year 2004 to recruit new businesses.

Also, in May of this year, the state announced the competition for up to seven new EDZs in the state.

Targeted areas include communities that contain a military base that has been realigned or closed, or defense contractors that have been adversely affected by cutbacks in defense spending. Businesses looking to these areas can take advantage of communities that already have a highly trained work force in place.

Guardian Industries, one of the world's largest glass manufacturers, will build their "float glass" plant on a 76-acre parcel of land in an industrial park in Geneva. "Float glass" describes a manufacturing process that involves floating glass on a bath of molten tin to produce a ribbon of glass. The glass made at the plant will be shipped to other Guardian plants in Massachusetts, Quebec and Pennsylvania to be used in the manufacture of mirrors, tempered safety glass patio doors and windows and automotive applications. The company expects to be in production by spring 1998.

Walters explained that the company looked at sites outside of New York because of the state's otherwise comparatively high cost of doing business. But the EDZ program made New York make sense.

"Without locating our plant in an EDZ, there would not have been any sites in New York that could compete economically," said Walters. Guardian's new 750,000 square foot plant represents one of largest economic development projects in the state this year.

Another company to take advantage of the EDZ program in New York is Memphis-based Thomas & Betts.

The company purchased Augat/LRC Electronics last December for $550 million, and New York state offered the company several incentives, including tax incentives and reduced utility costs from New York State Electric and Gas, to expand its facilities in Horseheads.

The company's planned $35 million consolidation and expansion of its manufacturing operations to a single 170,000 square foot facility will create up to 300 new jobs, and new state-of-the art equipment will allow the plant to increase productivity and annual sales from $70 million to $200 million.

Visy Corp., a subsidiary of Pratt Industries of Australia, recycles old newspaper and low-grade paper into new cardboard. The company uses millions of pounds of discarded paper in its $250 million plant in New York City.

Visy considered sites in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before deciding to build its 475,000 square foot plant on a 36-acre site on Staten Island. Visy qualified for a 25 percent energy reduction cost from Con Edison (its Business Incentive Rate), as well as special tax incentives from New York City.

Also in New York City is Big City Forest, a three-year old company that creates value-added, reclaimed wood products and furniture.

Whereas many wood recyclers produce wood chips and particle board, Big City Forest takes scrap wood from crates and shipping pallets, dismantles them, pulls nails and then actually remills the wood to design hardwood flooring, fixtures, panels, custom millwork and furniture, not to mention new wooden pallets.

Besides diverting 135 tons of wood waste from landfills and incinerators, said President David Muchnick, Big City Forest saves New York companies $36,000 in waste disposal costs.

The company's facility in the Bronx is expanding from 20,000 to 60,000 square feet, and expects a 10-fold increase in sales over the next three to four years.

State incentives and assistance for the expansion were very specialized, according to Muchnick. Aid included research and development grants through the New York State Office of Recycling and Development.

Upstate in Rome, EnviroReel, a plastics recycling firm, relied on the economic development assistance of the Oneida County EDGE to locate at Griffiss Business & Technology Park, the former site of Griffiss Air Force Base.

EnviroReel President Val Picton, who looked at sites in Florida, Georgia and Texas before finding a home in Rome, said he was impressed by Oneida County's willingness to find the resources the company needed.

"You want big power, they'll give it to you," said Picton. "You want a bigger building, they'll give it to you."

The company recycles post-consumer plastics into several patented products including highway crash barriers, collapsible plastic reels for cable and wire and office chair components.

"We're putting a lot of money into this," said Picton. "You don't want to work with a Mickey Mouse operation."

Another recycling-industry company, BeneTech LLC, also is located at Griffiss Business & Technology Park. BeneTech will lease about 28,250 square feet of space to house its paper recycling production facility.

The firm charges paper companies a reduced tipping fee for paper sludge, which is treated and converted into marketable products, such as bedding material for farmers and commercial pet breeders and quick absorption materials for clean-up of industrial chemical and oil spills.

Groundbreaking for the 400,000 square foot photonic technologies plant took place June 5, and the company expects to be in production of its photonic devices -- which split, modify, amplify and manage the light signals that travel over high-speed optical telecommunications networks -- by the end of this year.

Initially, the project will create 600 new jobs, with 500 to 700 more to come. The company selected Erwin for its expansion because it is close to the company's research and development facility, Sullivan Park.

"It's important to be close to the scientists and people working on this project," said Paul Rogoski, manager of communications for Corning.

Also important, said Rogoski, is the proximity of the Ceramic Corridor Innovation Center, a technology incubator whose facilities are available to high-tech firms, as well as nearby Alfred University, which boasts a reputable ceramics and glass program.

"Corning has been in the Southern Tier of New York for 150 years," said Rogoski. "We're very committed to this region."

The Empire State Development Corp. provided a $3 million grant to set up a training program for Corning employees, a $1.3 million cash grant and a $900,000 stipend to pay for land preparation and real estate costs.

In Pearl River, another telecommunications giant, Fujitsu Network Communications, is taking on a $122 million renovation project for a 35,000 square foot research and development facility, called the Northeast Development Center. The project will create 250 highly skilled engineering jobs over the next four years.

The company will work with other Fujitsu facilities to develop its network management systems and synchronous optical network (SONET) transmission equipment, a standard for fiber-optic transport of voice, video and data.

Fujitsu was attracted by a high concentration of engineers in the New York, New Jersey and southern Connecticut belt.

"Some of the best engineers in the nation live in the tri-state area," said Carl De Wilde, vice president of engineering. "We look forward to continuing to draw from this pool."