ConMed creates jobs for Oneida County

NEW HARTFORD--On a beautiful summer afternoon a few weeks ago, Eugene Corasanti stood as tall as a two-story building and displayed a smile as wide as the building's parking lot. That's the day he announced that his own homegrown company, ConMed Corporation of Utica, will create as many as 500 new jobs in Oneida County.

Corasanti, chairman, president, and CEO of ConMed, a leading manufacturer of electro-surgical and single-use medical products, delivered the good news on August 13 in the shadow of a 500,000-sq.-ft. factory, the former Lockheed Martin plant on French Road. ConMed is closing two plants it recently acquired in Rhode Island and Dayton, Ohio, and bringing those 100 jobs to the Mohawk Valley.

"This announcement isn't about a building, but about jobs and opportunities for young people," Corasanti boasted to a cheering crowd. "I predict we will create 300 jobs in five years, and there's no question we will exceed that."

Gov. George Pataki was on hand, along with U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, State Senator Ray Meier, Assemblywoman RoAnn Destito, Oneida County Executive Ralph Eannace, and Utica Mayor Ed Hanna. Steve Dimeo, executive vice president of Oneida County's EDGE (Economic Development Growth Enterprises Corp.); Kelly Jones, senior vice president of Empire State Development, and Robert Cardillo, director of the Mohawk Valley Region, Empire State Development, were also present.

ConMed's board of directors, which includes Corasanti's son, Joseph, also attended the press conference.

Pataki made his eighth visit to Oneida County in eight months to deliver good economic news. On his last trip, he offered a life-saving package to Camden Wire. "It's been three weeks since your last visit. Where have you been?" Sen. Meier jokingly asked the governor.

Pataki credited New York State's improved economic climate for allowing entrepreneurs like Corasanti to expand. "A home-grown, multinational company like ConMed...is a symbol of a new era in the Mohawk Valley and a new era in New York State.... With visionaries like Eugene Corasanti, if we put together the right package, I'll be back here more often," Pataki said.

The state is giving ConMed a financial boost through a $750,000 Job Training Grant, a $750,000 Job Creation Grant, a $750,000 Capital Grant, and a $300,000 Interest Rate Subsidy Grant from Empire State Development.

Joseph Karam, chairman of Oneida County's Industrial Development Association (OCIDA), described ConMed's expansion as "a remarkable achievement...a validation of the strategy of the county's leadership, EDGE, and OCIDA to preserve this asset."

OCIDA will buy the building from Utica real-estate developer Henry Heumann and lease it to ConMed. Heumann's Pinnacle Park Inc. bought the empty manufacturing plant in January 1996 after Lockheed Martin, and before that General Electric, ceased operations here. Some 1,000 local employees lost their jobs, although approximately 500 Lockheed Martin employees were transferred to Syracuse, New Jersey, and New Hampshire.

OCIDA will contribute a $600,000 loan and a $200,000 grant to ConMed for this project. We will start an extensive renovation immediately," said Corasanti. "We need to get a cleanroom ready to meet Food and Drug Administration guidelines. We will spend about $15 million to make it a class facility, and we intend to get both FDA and ISO 9000 certification."

Corasanti said the negotiations on acquiring the building took several months. The new plant could begin manufacturing its patented hydro-surgical gel as soon as September. ConMed also is the maker of Curad bandages and electro-surgery instruments.

Corasanti, 66, has proven to be a businessman with big dreams. "The history of ConMed started in the early 1970s, when we rented a room on Broad Street (in downtown Utica)," he recalls. "We purchased the building in 1980 and only occupied 20,000 of 80,000 square feet. I thought I'd never fill that space."

In just 24 years, the former Consolidated Medical Corp. has grown tremendously. The original Utica plant has spilled over into two neighboring buildings, and into a third building, now used for customer service, across Broad Street. ConMed expanded into Rome, too. In recent years and over the last few months as well, it has acquired facilities in Denver, Colo; Lawrence, Kan.; El Paso, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Rhode Island; and Juarez, Mexico.

The plants in Utica and Rome will not be affected by this expansion. They currently employ 550 workers. More than 1,600 are employed nationwide.

"We are now Number 1 in three of four markets in electrodes, Number 1 domestically and Number 2 worldwide in electro-surgical instruments, and Number 1 in suction products, with sales offices in China and Jordan," Corasanti told the crowd.

The Lockheed Martin plant and parking lot occupy 69 acres. Roughly 80 percent of the building is located in New Hartford. The remaining 20 percent is located in Utica, but the entire parcel shares Economic Development Zone status.

Last spring, the New Hartford Town Board approved a zone change on the site, from M-1 for manufacturing to B-2 for general business use. Widewaters Development Group of DeWitt has purchased 14 acres of the parking lot to build a Home Depot store and possibly other retail outlets.

Copyright Central New York Business Journal Sep 29, 1997
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