After wrangling over where the new headquarters for a new photonics institute will go, the announcement was made by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday that it will be at Legacy Tower, which is the former Bausch and Lomb building.
There was a public squabble last month over whether that headquarters should be located at the Sibley Building, or Legacy Tower, and eventually, University of Rochester President Joel Seligman and SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros issuing a joint statement indicating they would be working together on coordinating the photonics efforts.
Governor Cuomo issued a statement today saying that the business headquarters and “technology accelerator” for the institute will be located in the Legacy Tower. The Sibley Building will house a workforce development center to help locate companies, and in phase two of the project, provide incubator space for start-up companies.
Eastman Business Park will be the site for the center’s manufacturing operations.
There will also be a new seven-person board to oversee the project, three members from state government, two from SUNY Polytechnic, and one each from the University of Rochester and RIT.
The announcement about the photonics project was first made in July, with word that Rochester won a national competition for $110 million in investment from the U.S Department of Defense.
The state is investing $250 million in the project, and with private industry, the total investment is expected to be about $600 million.
Local officials also have said they expect the project to eventually create 6,000 jobs
