MANLIUS, N.Y. -- Leaders say that when the Panama Canal expands so could Central New York imports and exports.
Figuring out how to harness that opportunity has developers turning in different directions. Earlier this month, a proposal was made public to bring an inland port to the Jamesville area. It was a shock to local developer and 3Gi Chairman Eckardt Beck.
"People have been aware that I've been working on this for a long period of time and I was just kind of surprised that all of a sudden it was announced," Beck said.
Beck has been developing a proposal for an inland port for more than three years. Thursday he announced the project to build a cargo facility in the town of Manlius. His team said they can build a port that would ease traffic concerns in that area.
"It reduces all of the traffic on Fremont Road entirely," 3Gi President Dan Spethmann said. "It reduces the traffic on the high school intersection, it reduces the traffic through this neighborhood."
But the 3Gi team may be facing an uphill battle. The Port of Oswego and Centerstate CEO have announced support of the Jamesville area proposal. That site already has $40 million from the governor's budget and possibly $40 million more if Central New York wins the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Beck said he has funding too.
"The money primarily has come from private investors," he said. "I felt that there was a very serious effort for me to continue to go forward and for some reason it kind of went a different way."
That doesn't mean Beck is giving up. He hopes to build the same public support that the other proposal has received.
Beck said completing his project is a couple of years down the road. First he and his developers need plans for wetland mitigation and permits for the port.