Former Kodak Plant Reborn as Nanotech Facility

ROCHESTER, NY-Although Eastman Kodak may be in bankruptcy proceedings, a piece of its real estate is beginning a second life. The Cuomo administration said Wednesday that SUNY's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering would revitalize a vacant Kodak cleanroom building here, transforming it into the CNSE Photovoltaic Manufacturing and Technology Development Facility for crystalline silicon photovoltaics, said to be the first facility of its kind. It's part of a $100-million initiative to attract tech jobs to the greater Rochester area.

Renovation is underway to transform the 57,000-square-foot building at 115 Canal Landing Blvd. in the Canal Ponds Business Park in Rochester. The property formerly was occupied by Kodak's MEMS inkjet facility before it closed last October; the college paid $2.6 million to acquire the building from Kodak this past spring, according to published reports.

The initiative will enable more than 100 high-tech jobs and includes the fitting up of a state-of-the-art, 20,000-square-foot cleanroom. A late fall opening is anticipated, according to a release from the Cuomo administration.  

The governor's office says that as part of the project, over $19 million in cutting-edge tools and equipment formerly utilized by SVTC, a Silicon Valley-based solar energy company, are being relocated to the CNSE MDF. These will constitute the foundation of the manufacturing development line, a result of the acquisition of SVTC's assets by CNSE.

The US Department of Energy, for which SVTC's Silicon Valley operations were a critical component of the department's SunShot initiative, is providing nearly $11 million in cash funding. The DOE funding will support procurement and installation of high-tech tools and equipment, with investment from private industry partners expected to top $65 million to support the development and operation of the CNSE MDF.

According to published reports, the former Kodak plant will be used to expand work involving the Smart System Technology and Commercialization Center at 5450 Campus Dr. in nearby Canandaigua, which is owned by the CNSE. Dynamax Imaging, based upstate, announced in March that it would transfer more than $3 million worth of equipment and 100 new jobs to the STC center. That filled the Canandaigua building to capacity and made it necessary to acquire the Kodak building.