Albany

M+W U.S. is not taking state subsidies to move into the ZEN building under construction at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany, a top college official said Friday.

M+W, a German high-tech construction company that built the GlobalFoundries computer chip factory in Malta and many of the buildings at SUNY Poly, moved its United States headquarters from Plano, Texas, to Watervliet Arsenal in 2012 after the state Assembly promised the company $6.5 million.

On Thursday, Ron Oakley, CEO of M+W U.S., said that the company would again move its headquarters from the Arsenal to SUNY Poly's $191 million ZEN building when it is completed later this year.

But this time, the company is not getting state aid. Nor will it apply for tax benefits under the new Start-UP NY program, even though the ZEN building is a Start-UP NY site.

"M+W is not receiving any tax incentives for moving into ZEN, not even Start-Up NY (tax breaks)," Alain Kaloyeros, the president of SUNY Poly told the Times Union on Friday.

M+W, which is part of M+W Group of Stuttgart, Germany, is planning to take 30,000 square feet of space on the fourth floor of ZEN for 160 employees, although it will keep space at the Arsenal as well, which is the site of its pipe-fitter training lab and where many of its subcontractors work.

The company employs approximately 2,000 people across the state.

The space at ZEN will also become the new headquarters for Gehrlicher Solar America,

At a ceremony held Thursday at the SUNY Poly campus, Kaloyeros and Oakley signed two agreements covering training and research programs and a major solar installation effort at SUNY campuses across the state that will require hiring 400 workers and spending of $105 million over a five-year period.

Original post:
No state subsidy for ZEN tenant