Located on the Canadian-American border in what's known as the "Golden Horseshoe," Buffalo is less than 100 miles from Toronto, and within 500 miles of 42.2 percent of the continental bi-national population, or 131 million people. The region is poised on the shores of two Great Lakes (Lake Ontario and Lake Erie) and boasts Niagara Falls - all of which provide ready shipping and logistics options, as well as sustainable energy and plentiful water. Buffalo Niagara is home, in fact, to seven international ports of entry (four auto, three rail, one water). These ports facilitate $72 billion in annual trade between the United States and Canada, the world's two largest trading partners.
Buffalo Niagara was recently ranked the third least expensive place to do business Buffalo Niagara -"Where Business Works" among 12 U.S. metro areas with populations between one and two million people - and here's why. Buffalo Niagara offers competitive labor rates, which are 7 percent lower than the national average. There is ample, affordable real estate. And the region has a healthy, in-place infrastructure, which includes highway systems, transportation, telecommunications, utilities, schools, and technology.
The region's labor pool is not only affordable, it is also educated and ready to work. Each year Buffalo Niagara's colleges and universities produce more than 25,000 bright, skilled, and enthusiastic graduates.
Buoyed by the area's affordability, labor force, and logistics capabilities, key industries are experiencing great growth in Buffalo Niagara. These include advanced business services, advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, cleantech, hospitality/tourism, life sciences, and logistics. Here are just a few success stories from within those industries:
• A containerboard mill named Greenpac will invest $400 million and create 108 new manufacturing jobs in the city of Niagara Falls, N.Y.
• Galvstar, a new steel company, will occupy 120,000 square feet of space at a former manufacturing facility in the city of Buffalo. The first phase of the project will create 55 new jobs within the first year and invest $24.9 million into the facility.
• Alpina, an international dairy-processing company headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, that produces consumer dairy products targeted toward consumers of Latin descent, will build a new facility in Batavia, N.Y., and will hire 25 to 50 people within the first five years.
• Yahoo! built a data center on a 30-acre shovel-ready site in an industrial park in Lockport, New York, investing $300 million and creating 125 new jobs.
Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE) is a nonprofit, private business development and regional marketing organization that works with companies that are looking to expand, relocate, or start up businesses. BNE provides access to up-to-date market and demographic data about the Buffalo Niagara region, assistance in identifying sites, and information on how businesses can take advantage of the region's numerous financing opportunities and economic incentives. BNE is located in downtown Buffalo, New York, the largest city - and the heart - of the eight western New York counties that comprise the Buffalo Niagara region.
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Buffalo Niagara Enterprise
665 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
800-916-9073
