Orange County Industrial Development Agency’s (OCIDA) core mission is to attract and promote economic growth by offering financial incentives that bring commercial and industrial development here. OCIDA has partnered with leading companies in the life sciences sector to invest in Orange County, bringing long-term benefits including new high-paying jobs and dramatically expanding the local tax base.
The life sciences sector, which includes key industries like pharmaceuticals and biotech, drives innovation that changes lives not just in Orange County, but across the globe. In addition to the life-saving research, development and manufacturing companies in this sector provide, their decision to locate their facilities here brings immediate, real-world benefits to our residents by raising their property tax values as underutilized land becomes revenue-generating life sciences facilities.
Life sciences companies are not just building offices—they are constructing highly specialized laboratories and manufacturing facilities. These types of buildings and the high-tech equipment they utilize results in a much higher tax assessment value, which ultimately means higher revenues to improve Orange County’s education, public safety, public health and transportation services and infrastructure.
For example, Garonit Pharmaceutical’s $46.1 million investment to build a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in New Windsor will bring over 100 full-time jobs to the county. Garonit has also announced a partnership with SUNY Orange Community College that will train local residents for these high-skill positions, as well as their support for employees who want to pursue advanced degrees while working at the state-of-the-art facility.
In addition, since the complexity and investment required to build these kinds of facilities is often higher than other industries, these companies are more likely to stay and grow here over the long term.
In short, the life science sector is a uniquely valuable investment for Orange County that benefits these companies, local municipalities, and taxpayers. The Orange County Partnership is leading the effort to shape the vision and formulate specific strategies to attract this critical sector to our community.
How OCIDA Expands Orange County’s Life Sciences Sector
OCIDA helps secure significant incentives that encourage long-term investment in our corner of New York, including:
- Sales and Use Tax Exemptions
- Mortgage Recording Tax Exemptions
- Property Tax Abatements (aka PILOTs)
- Tax-Exempt Bonds
This helps incentivize companies in desirable industries like the life sciences choose to move to or expand in Orange County over other, nearby markets in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These projects are held to high standards: if they don’t meet their promised goals in terms of job creation and investment, OCIDA can take back some (or all) of those incentives.
Ultimately, these companies receive short-term help to establish, relocate, or expand their business here, and the community receives long-term benefits. For Orange County, this means new high-paying jobs and expanding the local tax base, creating revenue from unused or underutilized locations.
Case Study: Green Thumb Industries Brings a Scientific Green Rush to Orange County
With the support of OCIDA, Green Thumb Industries (GTI) has established a medical cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facility in Warwick, NY that brings the economic “green rush” home. OCIDA secured a $156 million investment from GTI through a 15-year PILOT agreement, providing stable and predictable tax rates for the company and an estimated $271 million in net regional economic benefits for Orange County over that same period. GTI grows and manufactures cannabis products at the Warwick facility, supplying several adult-use dispensaries they operate around the state. New York State has over 100,000 registered medical cannabis patients as part of a rapidly growing market.
This investment gives our region a strong foothold in the emerging cannabis market, which is already a billion-dollar industry in New York alone. We are seeing the benefits of our investment in this sector, even beyond GTI’s project: urbanXtracts, another cannabis growing and processing facility near GTI’s home in the Warwick Tech Park, is about to embark on an expansion. And CITIVA, owned by multi-state cannabis operator iAnthus, recently began construction of their own grow house and processing center directly across the street from GTI.
OCIDA’s success in this partnership signals to other life sciences companies that Orange County is the right place to invest.
