Land Remediation opens new facility in Waterford
WATERFORD, N.Y. >> Land Remediation Inc. opened a $1.8 million headquarters and operations facility at 74 Hudson River Road on Friday morning.
“This building, it really represents basically an investment back in our people. It’s an opportunity for our people,” said General Manager William Lindheimer. “We travel from Buffalo to Boston; it’s an opportunity for them to call home and bring equipment back and resources back and fix things here and have a home base of operations.”
Land Remediation provides environmental remediation and other specialized services to customers throughout the Northeast. The company can do complex remediation at old industrial sites, according to information from the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership. Land Remediation offers a variety of services as part of its work, including sediment dredging and soil stabilization.
“The investment they made in our community is truly welcome,” said Waterford town Supervisor Jack Lawler. “They’ve done an amazing job.”
Through partnership with Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership, the 15,000-square-foot building was built.
“Very often economic development is defined by the next big project that comes down the road, usually from outside the re-
gion ... although those are always very welcome, we can’t fail to recognize the importance of homegrown businesses like Land Remediation. Small, medium-size businesses make up the bulk of economic growth in Saratoga County and elsewhere and that’s why [the] prosperity partnership, Saratoga County’s official economic development organization, concentrates on these local businesses through their programs and outreach,” said Lawler. “We can and will have many more successes like this.”
Edward Kinowski, chairman of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, said Land Remediation did two things when they invested in Waterford.
“Provided jobs we desperately need,” said Kinowski. “But they also took over an under utilized piece of property here and made it productive again.”
Currently 29 engineers, equipment operators, laborers and office members make up the staff. Over the next three years, Land Remediation expects to hire at least 12 new employees with an average annual salary of $60,000.
The property vacant for a long time, used to be a service center and auto salvage yard.
The building includes space for office and administrative functions, warehousing, manufacturing and fabrication and outside storage and parking for specialized equipment and other supplies.
“Providing the remedy to the properties that face environmental issues means more communities can create productive and safe places for the people that live and work,” said Kinowski.
Marty Vanags, president of the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership, congratulated Land Remediation for opening their new headquarters and operations facility.
“Who better than a green company to undertake a green project that creates jobs, gives a former industrial site new life and puts a long-vacant property back on the tax rolls,” said Vanags. “It has been our pleasure to assist the company throughout the process, and to provide a creative incentive in the form of a refund that underscores out commitment to economic development in Saratoga County.”
Vanags presented a refund of nearly $7,000 to Land Remediation for a portion of fees incurred for procession of its application to the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency.
Lindheimer said the company is very blessed.
“As a person of faith, this very fitting that today is actually Good Friday . ... This building, where we are today, is truly an answer to prayer,” said Lindheimer. “We never prayed for a building or property or prosperity or anything like that, but we pray all the time for our men and women in the field for their safety. We pray for wisdom, integrity and this is truly evidence of the answer of those prayers from so many years ago.”
A number of companies in Saratoga County made the construction of Land Remediation’s new facility happen: Munter Enterprises, Kivort Steel and Pallette Stone, Zinter Handling, Alltek Energy Systems, Zanetti Millwork, Firetek Sprinkler Systems, Jersen Construction, Stephenson Equipment, BPI Piping, Rock Krawler and Winn Construction.
According to information from the prosperity partnership, 90 percent of the project is funded through private investment, with the rest coming from tax incentives — totaling $188,000 — from the Saratoga County IDA.