(WBFO) Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced new economic development that will bring a combined 1,400 jobs to Buffalo and Dunkirk over the next decade.
The company Athenex, which makes oncology medication, is expanding to open its headquarters in downtown Buffalo while constructing a manufacturing facility in Dunkirk.
Cuomo said 500 jobs will be created in Buffalo while the Dunkirk facility will ultimately employ 900 people.
"This is an idea that was birthed in western New York, is staying in Western New York, is also expanding to China, but is birthed here, being developed here -- is a drug with a fantastic future," Cuomo said.
Local state lawmakers are seeking $200 million in the state budget to make this happen. Cuomo told the audience he would not sign the budget without that financial commitment to the Athenex project.
Construction on the new center in Dunkirk is expected to begin this spring.
Speaking inside Dunkirk High School, the governor told a packed auditorium that New York state is working to reverse a long-running trend that saw ideas and businesses born in western New York move away from the region, discouraged by high taxes.
"And we said we're going to focus on upstate New York. Why? Because that's where the need is. Right? Government is supposed to go where the need is and the need in economic development is upstate New York," Cuomo said.
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