From manufacturing to health to housing: OOC director discusses main projects taking place in Oswego County
By Stefan Yablonski
Austin Wheelock, executive director of Operation Oswego County, shares the projects that he’s excited about for 2025.
“They may not be the biggest projects, but they are the ones I am excited about with a lot of synergy,” he said.
N.E.T. & Die Expansion
The N.E.T. & Die expansion in the city of Fulton. “They are a third-generation family-owned machine shop that has had the need for several years to expand. They have begun expansion and relocation into the former K-mart Plaza in the city of Fulton,” he said. “They acquired and are renovating a 92,000s-sq.-ft. building. Once it’s done they will move most of their operation over to that facility.”
The project is going to create 10 new jobs and retain 25 other jobs. The new net payroll is going to be more than $750,000.
“It’s a great project. It keeps a three-generation family owned business in the city of Fulton and allows them to grow,” he said. “It’s a pretty large investment; it’s between $6 million to $7 million.
“It’s a reuse of a vacant building; that building has been vacant since K-mart left.”
They have received assistance through the IDA and Empire State Development.
ConnextCare to Add 23 New Jobs
ConnextCare’s expansion in the city of Oswego. “The acquisition and renovation of 120 E. First St., the former education center, a building has been mostly vacant for the last several years. Aqua Spa is on the ground floor, but the majority of the building has been vacant,” Wheelock said. “It’s going to be a good reuse of that facility. Renovation of about 36,000-sq.-ft. site — going to renovate the second and third floors for primary health care, dental and behavioral health services. It’s a great project. They are going to retain 32 jobs that they currently have in the city and going to create 23 new jobs. Their total annual payroll is about $4.9 million for those 55 jobs.
“The IDA is participating and Oswego County Civic Facilities Corporation issued some bond financing because it’s a nonprofit user. Also Pathfinder Bank is financing as well. Altogether between acquisition and renovation, it’s almost a $12 million project.”
The ConnextCare project is expected to be complete by the summer.
Phoenix: 11 Projects Under Development
“This is not an individual project, but the program that funded it does it this way on purpose,” he said. “In the village of Phoenix (which won the New York Forward back in 2023) — they announced 11 projects totaling $4.5 million of state funding that will support an additional funding of over $9 million in private sector for the downtown and waterfront areas.”
The 11 projects will all be going on at the same time to create a ‘critical mass,’ he added.
Some of these projects include things like transforming North Island into a canal side entertainment venue and recreation area, the expansion of Lock One Distillery with outdoor events, transforming another building that is adjacent to Lock One into a restaurant with other commercial space above it.
“There is going to be a lot of projects happening in this area. Taking vacant and unused buildings and in some case building new buildings to revitalize the downtown area. Which is important as the village of Phoenix is just over the river and down a couple miles from where a lot of economic development will be happening,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential for housing and commercial spinoffs — the timing couldn’t be better.”
A new behavioral health building is also being developed as well as constructing a new daycare facility. Phoenix will also upgrade its wastewater plant to help support all these projects.
“That is a major project,” according to Wheelock. “You can build these buildings, but if you don’t have the infrastructure to support it, it doesn’t work.”
Industrial Park: Shovels in the Ground to Start Later This Year
The L. Michael Treadwell Industrial Park expansion in Schroeppel is a project that he is very excited about.
“In 2024 we received a major portion of the funding to get that project going. Our next step now is where we are just starting our final design and construction designs with the anticipation of starting site work and construction in late 2025. We’ll see shovels in the ground and work happening by the end of the year,” he said. “That will be about a two-year, maybe a little shorter if we have better construction seasons than we do this winter. About summer 2027 everything should be complete. That doesn’t mean that businesses wouldn’t be able to start working on site sooner than that, but for the project as a whole we’re looking at ’27.”
Senator Charles Schumer awarded $2.5 million EDA funds to support the construction of new roads water and sewer.
“Everything is coming together. We do have several other projects who have already expressed interest in locating there. So it’s important for us to get this moving now so we can potentially land those projects,” Wheelock explained.
Affordable Housing to Be Built on the Nestle Site
He is also excited about the progress and development in 2025 at the Nestle site related to a residential project as well as a manufacturing project.
In 2024 the city of Fulton changed the zoning for the Nestle site from strictly industrial to being able to support mixed use development and that was the trigger needed to push certain projects forward. One of them being an affordable housing 48-unit (mixed income residential) project.
“It’s in application phase right now at the state, but we fully anticipate that getting done early in 2025. It’s being done by Housing Visions and Construction Design Management. It will be at the main Nestlé property site,” he said. “It will also have some commercial space in the first floor being proposed for a chocolate museum. That will be a nice project that will add residential capacity at a time that it is greatly needed and also sort of celebrate the rich history of that site.”
They are looking to move the 30,000 square foot manufacturing incubator onto the Building 30 site.
“Building 30 is slated to be demolished and we are just waiting for the last pieces of funding for that to move forward,” he said. “I think they will be on parallel paths; but the housing project will be a little bit ahead of the manufacturing project just because there is also demolition involved.
“We anticipate that the manufacturing incubator, with Micron supply chain companies that are going to be coming to Central New York — will be a great location to try to attract businesses. The Fulton Chocolate Works Housing Project — the name might change down the road — is a $20-plus project. The incubator, including demo and construction of new building, will be about a $7 million project.”
Oswego Market House
“The Oswego DRI created great momentum in sort of transforming downtown Oswego and utilizing some vacant buildings. This is kind of a continuation of that momentum — keeping that momentum from the DRI going,” he said. “The Oswego Market House — the brewery and the apartments there — that’s another significant project. It wasn’t a DRI project, but the momentum of the DRI kind of carried into that. It should be open very soon.”
