Yahoo! confirms WNY site - Denver Business Journal:

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Yahoo!, Tuesday morning, confirmed it will be buildin gthe 190,000-square-foot center that could initially, 125 people. Yahoo! has pegged a 30-acrwe site in the park for the complex. Yahoo!’e decision is considered a major especially against a backdrop of a weakened economy where unemploymentf has increased in past year in Erie Countyto 8.1 percent from 5.5 percentg and in Niagara County to 9.3 percent from 6.6 “This is a big win for the said Tom Kucharski, president and chief executive “We won the day.” Yahoo! was beinhg courted by several states including Ohio, Pennsylvaniaz and Illinois for the center. All offered a handsome arrat of incentives.
“When a high tech company like Yahoo!! picks a community like WesternNew it’s like a lighthouse,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, New York’se senior senator, who played a key role in Lockport landinh thedata center. The region crafted its own aggressive incentivwe package including the offering 15 megawattsof low-cost hydropower that couldc save Yahoo! an estimated $100 million over a 15-yead period. also offered job training grants and other incentives. High level pitches also came from Gov. Davi Paterson and Schumer. Schumer made personal calls to Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartaz to push the region.
Kucharski said it also helped that the regionb offereda half-dozen sites and not just a singulatr location. It also helped that a friendship quickly developede betweenthe Yahoo! site selection team and the local economi development community. “We developed a nice relationship with them and that helpesd makethis happen,” Kucharski “They were impressed that every time they called, we couldf assemble our team on a very short notice and give them the answerw they wanted.” Construction on the data center will begin in August, said David Dibble, Yahoo! senior vice The center will be open by May. Kucharskiu said there is a myriad positives that will comefrom Yahoo!
’s decision. The BNE will use it in its outreachh to other companies it is he said. “It confirms our ability to attracty high tech and high profile Kucharski said. “To get a name compan like Yahoo! says a lot to the rest of the industriedout there.” Yahoo! joins the ranks of , that have eithef opened or expanded back office operations in the regiob in recent years. “You add it into the mix of the some of the othefrcompanies we’ve landed and it becomes a very impressive Kucharski said.