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Officials, Bechtel deny report jobs to move from Schenectady
April 16, 2008

SCHENECTADY — Bechtel Plant Machinery and state and local officials are denying a published report that the company is again planning to move 250 jobs from its Franklin Street location to suburban Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today that developer Bill Hunt of The Elmhurst Group confirmed Bechtel's intention to move the jobs to a former railroad building he owns in Monroeville, Pa., east of Pittsburgh. Hunt said 800 Bechtel employees will be working in the building by the end of the year, including the 250 from Schenectady and another 500 that would be moved form an office park in Wilkins, Pa.
Ray Gillen, executive director of the Metroplex Development Authority, said this morning, however, that the report is completely untrue.
"There is no change. There is nothing going on. The jobs are staying here," he said.
Bechtel officials refuted the story this afternoon, and Alex Detrick, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Schumer has been assured the jobs will remain in Schenectady.
“We’ve spoken with the Navy and Bechtel, and they’ve both told us that the article is completely inaccurate and that the jobs at the Schenectady plant will remain there,” Detrick said in a statement this afternoon.
Bechtel initially planned to close its Franklin Street facility in Schenectady, but agreed to keep it open while cutting the number of local employees from 290 to about 130 after Schumer and fellow U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., interceded and brokered a deal that includes payment of $3 million to the company over five years by Emppire State Development to offset ongoing costs.
Of the 160 downsized employees, 30 were expected to transfer to open positions at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories in Niskayuna, with another 60 expected to retire over two years and the remaining 70 to be transferred to Pittsburgh.

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Bechtel transferring more jobs to Monroeville
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
By Dan Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Nuclear engineering firm Bechtel Plant Machinery quietly has decided to transfer 250 jobs from New York to Monroeville, reversing a politically charged compromise brokered last year by New York's U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer.

Developer Bill Hunt of The Elmhurst Group confirmed yesterday that Bechtel now plans to move 250 positions from Schenectady, N.Y., to a former railroad building he owns east of Pittsburgh, instead of the 70 jobs it announced last year. Eight hundred Bechtel employees will be in the 180,000-square-foot space by the end of the year, he said, with 250 coming from New York and another 550 from an office park in Wilkins.

When Bechtel first explored the possibility two years ago of consolidating its Wilkins and Schenectady operations in one city, Sens. Clinton and Schumer asked Bechtel to reconsider the decision and warned that such a decision should not be made without consulting Congress, the state of New York or the city of Schenectady.

Bechtel relies on federal contracts and Sen. Clinton is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

At first, Bechtel agreed to postpone the move, and then last February it agreed to a transfer of just 70 jobs to the Pittsburgh area, leaving at least 130 to work at the plant in New York. At the time, Bechtel said another 60 at the Schenectady plant would retire and 30 more would have the option of interviewing for positions in Niskayuna, N.Y.

The U.S. senators celebrated the turnabout.

"We snatched victory from the jaws of defeat," Mr. Schumer said on Feb. 21, 2007. Added Sen. Clinton that same day: "I am so glad that our hard work has resulted in a solution that benefits both our national defense and the local community."

Mr. Hunt did not know yesterday whether Bechtel would keep any employees in Schenectady now that it plans to ship 250 positions to Monroeville. He also emphasized that when Bechtel signed its Monroeville lease in 2006, it asked for 180,000 square feet -- enough to accommodate 800 people (Mr. Hunt is currently adding an additional 50,000 square feet to the original 129,000-square-foot building).

But that, of course, was before the "political situation arose," Mr. Hunt said.

A spokesman for Bechtel could not be reached via e-mail.

Bechtel Machinery is a unit of the $18 billion San Francisco-based engineering and construction giant Bechtel Corp. It maintains nuclear propulsion components for ships operated by the Navy.

Dan Fitzpatrick can be reached at dfitzpatrick@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1752.

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Susan E. Savage, Chair of the Schenectady County Legislature said, "We are extremely grateful to Senators Schumer and Clinton, Congressman McNulty and Governor Spitzer for rallying to and leading the effort to save Bechtel jobs in Schenectady. By savings these positions, we are keeping more than $20 million in direct economic impact here in the Capital Region each year.

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Empire State Development (ESD) will provide a $2 million grant to Metroplex to sub-divide the space creating an engineering center for Bechtel and office space that is in move-in condition for other employers interested in locating at the complex. ESD will also provide up a total of $1 million to help underwrite lease and operational costs.

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The amended PILOT increases payments to $2.50 per square foot until 2009; rising to $4.50 per square foot for Bechtel’s 30,000 square foot space until 2011 with normal taxes for tenants occupying the remaining space.

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The Empire State Development Corp. will provide a $2 million grant to Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority to sub-divide the Bechtel space creating an engineering center for the company and office space for other employers.

ESD will also provide up a total of $1 million to help underwrite lease and operational costs of what Schenectady officials said they hoped will become a center for small, high-tech businesses.

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The bulk of the local Bechtel jobs are white collar and pay more than $100,000 a year, including benefits.

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"We snatched victory from the jaws of defeat," Mr. Schumer said on Feb. 21, 2007.

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When Bechtel first explored the possibility two years ago of consolidating its Wilkins and Schenectady operations in one city, Sens. Clinton and Schumer asked Bechtel to reconsider the decision and warned that such a decision should not be made without consulting Congress, the state of New York or the city of Schenectady.
Bechtel relies on federal contracts and Sen. Clinton is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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SCHENECTADY
Bechtel denies report it is closing city plant
Company cites signing of 15-year lease
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. and local officials Wednesday denied an out-of-state media report it will close the Franklin Street nuclear engineering facility and move the jobs to Pittsburgh.
    Bechtel Manager Greg Sabolsky said the company remains committed to Schenectady. “We signed a 15-year lease last July,” he said by phone from Pittsburgh.
    The company issued a formal statement, saying the article was “erroneous and misleading. There have been no changes to the plans that were agreed upon with New York officials in February 2007.”
    Further, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who helped broker the deal to keep Bechtel in Schenectady, issued an e-mail stating: “We’ve spoken with the Navy and Bechtel and they’ve both told us that the article is completely inaccurate and that the jobs at the Schenectady plant will remain there.”
    Officials reacted quickly after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday that Bechtel “quietly has decided to transfer” the Schenectady jobs to its other nuclear engineering shop in Monroeville. The paper attributed the information to Bill Hunt, who owns the Monroeville facility to which Bechtel was to move the Schenectady jobs.
    By noon, local media outlets had picked up the news. The story remained on the Post-Gazette’s Web site late Wednesday afternoon. Hunt did not return a call for comment, but Sabolsky said Hunt claims he was misquoted.
    The news, had it been true, meant Bechtel had reneged on the deal it made last year with New York state to keep the Schenectady jobs in place in return for $3 million over the next five years to help offset costs. In return, Bechtel will remain in Schenectady through 2023, but will reduce its Franklin Street work force to 130.
    The company still plans to transfer 30 people to positions at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories in Niskayuna. Another 60 are expected to retire over the next two years, and the remaining 70 will be transferred to Pittsburgh. The company designs and oversees the production of nuclear submarines.
    The company also agreed pay $260,000 in city, county and school taxes, starting this year. The amount is $160,000 more than it had been paying annually just to the city since 1987.
    Under the new lease agreement, Bechtel will use the entire 104,000-square-foot facility, a former Two Guys Department Store downtown, until the end of 2008. It will then occupy 70,000 square feet. The move will result in lower rent and is expected to save the company about $1 million annually.

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Effort to keep jobs completed
Grant prevented Bechtel from leaving city
Thursday, August 20, 2009
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter


SCHENECTADY — A state agency on Wednesday awarded the Metroplex Development Authority $2 million toward efforts to retain Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in its downtown Schenectady facility.
The award by the Empire State Development Corp. is the final piece of the deal hammered out two years ago to keep Bechtel from relocating its Schenectady operations on Liberty Street to a facility in suburban Pittsburgh.
“We are passing it through,” said Ray Gillen, Metroplex board chairman. “All the money went into the building and that is what kept Bechtel here,” he said.
In 2006, the Navy asked Bechtel, one of its vendors, to reduce operating expenses, prompting the company to consider moving out of New York, state officials said. Bechtel dropped the plan after the state promised to give it $3 million over the next five years to help offset costs.
In order to retain Bechtel and 130 jobs, Metroplex developed a cost-saving plan in which property owner, JMR Development, subdivided the space at 600 Liberty St. into an engineering facility for Bechtel and a separate technology incubator to attract new companies to the area..........>>>>..................>>>>.................http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/aug/20/0820_bechtel/