Saranac Lake Biotech Cluster (2012 LGAA)

Village of Saranac Lake (Winner)
County: Franklin County
Population: 5,000 to 10,000
Village Hall: (518) 891-4150

In 2010, the Village of Saranac Lake seized upon an opportunity to implement a goal of its comprehensive economic development strategy of developing a biotech cluster where smaller bio-tech firms could share services and proximity, taking advantage of synergies, an available work force and the area's natural resource amenities.

In 2011, with little else to offer, the Village marketed its own underutilized office building and a nearby municipal water building, both located downtown, to two regional biotech firms wishing to expand. Both companies have corporate headquarters out-of-state and the Village saw an opportunity to keep them in the region by providing additional space in close proximity to the Trudeau Institute.Letters of intent with both companies were executed in 2011.

More recently, the Community Development office formed a consortium of the now-four biotech entities in the Village to explore synergies, growth opportunities and ways to attract even more bio-tech companies to the community, using the corporate contracts and data bases of the participants. Officials are confident this industrial networking will bring yet another bio-tech firm to the Village as early as next year. North Country Community College is also working with the group to assist in industry-specific education and training to assure a ready and qualified local workforce.

Concurrent benefits of locating the bio-tech cluster in the Saranac Lake downtown are the in-fill of unused space and the revitalization of its community center. An added bonus was the sharing of municipal services, as the Village offices moved into unused space at the Town Hall a block away as conversion of the municipal buildings commenced in the last months of 2011.

Through hard work and creative problem-solving the Village was able to accomplish multiple civic development goals all at once: 1. adaptive reuse of underutilized public facilities, 2. develop a biotech cluster in the region, 3. retain and create private sector employment opportunities including the immediate addition of 30 private sector jobs, 4. further strengthen downtown Saranac Lake, 5. contribute to local property tax base by leasing unused office space and paying taxes on the space, 6. promote shared services by moving Village offices to the Town of Harrietstown Town Hall, and 7. using goal #6 to secure an agreement to open a centrally located parking lot in downtown to the public.

The project was only successful because of the public/private partnerships between the Village of Saranac Lake and the biotech companies.