The Nassau County Industrial Dev. Agency: A dynamic force in growing the county's economy

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency is continuing to fulfill its mission of creating and retaining jobs and creating new housing opportunities in Nassau County. Among the IDA's top priorities is keeping companies in Nassau County. It's accomplishing this through aggressive outreach to real estate brokers, financial professionals, attorneys, networking and business groups. Our aim is to change the paradigm. We don't wait for our phones to ring. We also are working to attract new companies from outside Nassau County through aggressive marketing. Our staff is in the field outside of Nassau talking to companies every week. The IDA's efforts are paying off. Unemployment in the county was at 4.3% as of March 2015 and is among the lowest in the state. Since 2010, the county has created 7,691 new jobs and retained 4,441 jobs while boosting tax collections by over $227 million. The total economic benefit of all this activity is estimated at $10.7 billion. The IDA's mission has expanded in recent years to help create housing opportunities including workforce-housing units. With the support of county executive Ed Mangano, we are working with developers to create residential rental opportunities near our transportation hubs. These transit-oriented development projects include sites in Farmingdale Great Neck, Great Neck Plaza, Long Beach, North Hills, Mineola and Roslyn. About 1,200 units have either been approved, are under construction, or already built and leased since 2009. A growing part of Nassau County's economic base is in healthcare and education. Key to this was the recent announcement that Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital will build a Nassau County treatment and research facility as part of the Hub redevelopment in Uniondale. Moreover, the 2010 creation of the Nassau Local Economic Assistance Corp. provided the means to offer financial assistance to health care, education and social service institutions. This relatively new agency has issued more than $350 million in tax-exempt bonds to support local hospitals, educational institutions and non-profit community agencies. Among LEAC's beneficiaries: Winthrop University Hospital's new research center; Catholic Health Services' technology upgrades at its various hospitals and development of a new cancer center at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn. Homeland security needs also are a focus. The IDA expects to partner with the New York Institute of Technology, which intends to develop a new Entrepreneurship & Technology Innovation Center - the only cyber security incubator on the East Coast - to serve the National Security Agency. In addition, the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage is creating a nationally recognized Center of Innovation and Excellence for applied science, focused on the convergence of technology on the homeland security market. The Morrelly Center's focus is accelerating the transfer of technology and ideas into market driven products and systems to solve key problems in protecting our County against terrorist events and disasters, while creating local jobs. Another growing part of Nassau County's economic base is film production and digital post-production. Indeed, Nassau is becoming a national leader in the industry with a net economic impact in 2013 and 2014 of more than $500 million. The multiplier effect of this industry can be felt down to local neighborhood businesses. During the filming of "The Amazing Spiderman 2," for example, a local bagel shop rang up sales totaling $16,000. During 2013 and 2014, Hollywood production companies spent 2,000 days, mostly in our two film studios in Bethpage, filming and producing such films as "Spiderman 2," "Salt," "Noah" and live TV performances of "The Sound of Music" and "Peter Pan." We expect this trend to continue in 2015. That's not all. Nassau is also growing its corporate base. One large company, Dealertrack is investing $150 million in a new global headquarters in the Nassau County community of North Hills. This will keep 350 jobs and create 350 more with an average annual salary of $96,000. The total economic impact of Dealertrack's activities is estimated at $2 billion. Hain Celestial, the international leader in organic foods and beverages, also moved its headquarters to Nassau. Big or small, the Nassau IDA is helping. It recently partnered with the technology incubator Launch Pad to support locations in Mineola and Great Neck. The IDA also is working with Main Street business through its one-of-a-kind-in-New York LEADS (Local Enterprise Assistance and Development Services program, offering small and mid-size businesses access to financial assistance, tax exemptions and other opportunities. The Nassau IDA has become a dynamic force in growing the county's economy and it's likely to continue to be through 2015. Nicholas Terzulli is the director of business development of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, Mineola, N.Y.