New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo presented the Upstate Revitalization Initiative award to a board of central New York leaders on Sunday in downtown Syracuse.

Cuomo appeared alongside the members of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council — including the council’s co-chairs, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud and CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson — to discuss the significance of the $500 million award, which will be spent over the course of five years. The award includes funding for the proposed creation of a National Veterans Resource Complex at SU.

Cuomo called the proposed veterans complex “exciting” and said it recognizes a responsibility to care for people “who have been disrespected by this nation especially given their service.”

The NVRC will be built on 111 Waverly Ave., where SU Health Services is currently located.

Syverud thanked Cuomo “for the vision and commitment to upstate New York” that made the award possible. The chancellor mentioned that when he returned to central New York two years ago after many years away, he returned to a region that had “great potential” was “lacking sufficient confidence in the future.”

“Two years ago, I thought it would really take a miracle to pull this region together, and I was wrong. It did not take a miracle. It took a governor,” Syverud said.

The award, which will be used to create jobs and promote investment in central New York through the funding of regional development projects, was announced on Thursday. CNY was one of three regions — along with the Finger Lakes region and the Southern Tier region — to receive the award.

“Today’s a new day, and there’s an opportunity that you have that you have not had in history,” Cuomo said to the ceremony attendees, many of whom were part of the process in creating the plan that won CNY the award. “This really is historic what you’ve done.”

Published on December 13, 2015 at 6:07 pm

Contact Alexa: atorrens@syr.edu