According to Business First, we're competing with Chicago, Toronto and Long Island for this facility that could be four-stories and 250,000 sq.ft. and 2000 jobs.
Citigroup may put facility in Amherst
By JONATHAN D. EPSTEIN
News Business Reporter
9/15/2006
Citigroup is considering placing a second major back-office facility in Amherst's CrossPoint Business Park, but Western New York is still competing tightly with other parts of the country, local real estate and economic development sources said Thursday.
The nation's largest banking company and parent of Citibank is discussing a proposal to expand its existing corporate and investment banking presence in the region, the sources said. The bank is working with Buffalo Niagara Enterprise and Empire State Development Corp., and talks so far have been positive, but no decisions have been made, they added.
Details of the proposal have also not been finalized, but could involve moving jobs from the New York City area, where real estate and salary costs are significantly higher.
"Whatever they're considering, they haven't chosen a site," said James Allen, executive director of the Amherst Industrial Development Agency, who isn't directly involved but said he was briefed on the project. "They are looking at Amherst and other sites around the country."
Citibank officials could not be reached for comment.
Citibank is opening a new facility in Uniland Development Co.'s
CrossPoint park early next month. The 107,000-square-foot project will house its Global Transaction Services group that is now based on Ridge Lea Road, behind Boulevard Consumer Square in Amherst.