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What's important to you?

IDA's have a wide range of influences in your local community. Which focus area is most important to you?

Creating/saving local jobs for local workers

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Investing in our local communities

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Growing the local tax base

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Helping local businesses grow

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Supporting the next generation of workers

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Monroe County IDA

Turning high-potential projects into high-quality results

The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA) is a public benefit corporation which promotes, encourages, attracts and develops job and recreational opportunities in Monroe County. COMIDA provides benefits in the form of sales and mortgage tax exemptions, property tax abatements and civic facility bond access.

For example, COMIDA has helped our local educational and healthcare institutions, sometimes in conjunction with local developers to complete significant expansion projects, including:

  • Nazareth College — $10 million
  • St. John Fisher College — $14 million
  • Unity Health — $35 million
  • Highland Hospital — $15 million
  • Via Health — $6 million
  • Strong Health/University of Rochester — $36 million

In addition to the successful healthcare and educational projects, COMIDA’s efforts have also helped:

  • Construct a blood collection processing facility for the American Red Cross
  • Build a state-of-the-art distribution center for CooperVision
  • Renovate an existing building for Rochester Precision Optics manufacturing facility
  • Renovate the former ArtCraft Optical building into work/live spaces
  • Complete a $72 million project, by partnering with WilJeff, that created housing and services for the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) community

COMIDA has also supported:

  • Local venture capital funds through the Trillium Group
  • The Monroe County Industrial Development Corporation to fund its GreatRate interest subsidy and GreatRebate programs
  • The Entrepreneur’s Network, which provides hands-on education and training programs

Currently, COMIDA is proud to be participating in the revitalization of the Rochester Region by supporting the following projects:

  • ESL Federal Credit Union Headquarters — $42 million
  • Former Genesee Hospital Redevelopment (Phase 1) — $30 million
  • Brooks Landing projects — more than $45 million

 

 Top three industries

  • Services—29%
  • Manufacturing—21%
  • Healthcare—12%

 

A success story

Mirror Show Management (MSM) designs and manufactures trade show exhibits. Founded in 1993, MSM is a certified woman-owned business with 50 employees in Monroe County. The company recently invested $4.7 million to acquire and renovate a 126,000-square-foot warehouse in the Town of Webster. The facility more than doubled MSM’s existing warehouse and included 25,000 square feet of new professional office space. As a result of this expansion, MSM expects to create 15 new jobs over the next three years. 

COMIDA made the project feasible for MSM through the SBA 504 loan program and other incentives.   

"We could not continue to grow in our previous location. And we could not expand without the help of COMIDA incentives. Because of COMIDA’s assistance, we created a level of expansion that increases our efficiencies, delivers better service to our customers and allows us to grow year after year."
--Donna Shultz, President, Mirror Show Management

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What's your IDA doing?

Since 2004, COMIDA projects have:

  • Made more than $1.6 billion in capital investments
  • Retained more than 37,000 jobs
  • Assisted in creating a projected 8,900 new jobs 

In 2008 alone, COMIDA helped:

  • Retain 3,005 jobs
  • Create a projected 882 new jobs with average salaries of $34,650
  • Invest $198 million
  • Launch 42 projects