Kodak has sold its last parcel of land in the south section of Eastman Business Park. Upstate food processing company, LiDestri Food and Beverage has bought 180 acres of land, closing a deal worth $1.4 million.
LiDestri is already a major land owner in the Eastman Business Park. The company has invested tens of millions of dollars over the past three years in two buildings on the site, Building 642 and Building 508. Both are used for manufacturing operations.
David Stoklosa, director of business development for LiDestri, says the most recent purchase has two purposes.
“We have a very significant footprint there in the food and beverage industry, and the land behind us we were somewhat concerned that the wrong type of business might come in there,” says Stoklosa.
“The greater part of the strategy was to secure that land so that we could control the development of it. The second part of that purchase was to secure the land so that we could grow into it potentially someday.”
Stoklosa says there are no immediate plans for the acquired land, but there are lots of options.
“Everyone’s asking ‘what’s the grand plan here’ for LiDestri, and really there isn’t one. The grand plan was to secure the land, now that we have done that it’s anybody’s guess where this is going to go. Certainly I would never rule out the possibility of LiDestri continuing to invest and to grow.”
LiDestri currently employs more than 300 people in the Rochester area according to Stoklosa, and he says an expansion could mean even more jobs.
But, Stoklosa also says the land could be leased to partners, or suppliers for logistic purposes.
Most of the Eastman Business Park property bought by LiDestri is ‘green-space’, or undeveloped land. Stolosa says it will stay that way until a decision about how to develop the land is made.
The company also purchased some small lots of land, including some with houses along the same stretch of Ridgeway Avenue.
The Finger Lakes regional economic development council considers the Business Park a top priority and pledged more than $2 million to projects housed there in the last round of funding.
