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Massena sells land for industrial park that could create 450 - 780 jobs

Posted 5/20/19

BY ANDY GARDNER North Country This Week MASSENA -- The Massena Town Council on Wednesday, May 15 voted to sell a parcel of town land to a company that plans to open an industrial park and create 450 …

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Massena sells land for industrial park that could create 450 - 780 jobs

Posted

BY ANDY GARDNER
North Country This Week

MASSENA -- The Massena Town Council on Wednesday, May 15 voted to sell a parcel of town land to a company that plans to open an industrial park and create 450 to 780 jobs.

The board agreed to sell a parcel of land that sits on two sides of Horton Road, north of county Route 42 near the Grasse River, to Petawatt Holdings Inc. for $250,000.

Town Supervisor Steve O'Shaughnessy said Petawatt wants to close on or before June 30.

Town attorney Eric Gustafson said the sale is subject to permissive referendum. That means citizens can collect petition signatures and go through an official process to put the sale up to a public vote.

Jason Rappaport from Petawatt told the Town Council in April that they want to build a cryptocurrency mining facility and data center, and use the heat generated from those computers for a greenhouse that would grow hydroponic fruits and vegetables year-round. He said they also could use the heat to warm tanks that would be used to raise fish for seafood.

Petawatt representative Jeffrey Lyons last month said if their deal goes through, they will own the land and buildings and negotiate deals with utility companies to get low-cost power.

Petawatt, according to Rappaport, is looking at deals with six companies in Massena. They include two hydroponics companies and a vertical farming company, as well as a technology company and two cryptocurrency mining services.

A presentation given in April only named three of the companies - Bluegreen Farms, Genesis Mining and Quantum Mining. Rappaport cited non-disclosure agreements in not naming the other three.

If things go according to their plans, they would all be open by the end of 2020, according to a presentation. Most of the jobs, 400 to 750, would be in the agriculture businesses. The rest would be in the data center and cryptocurrency businesses.

Petawatt features a face some in Massena may recognize. Thomas Gramuglia, who owns Hindsight Records, is involved with them.

Petawatt is currently operating a site in Carthage that's similar to what they want to do in Massena. They have what their presentation described as a "210,000 square-foot co-location facility at the former Metro Paper mill." Businesses located there include Quantum Mining and Genesis Mining, both of which are involved in their plan for Massena.

Petawatt is not the first company to want that land from the town. In February 2018, Blockchain Industries expressed interest in the parcel for a cryptocurrency mining center. They later abandoned the plans when the New York Power Authority put a moratorium on providing electricity to crypto miners.