CCIDA, CCPEG Report Successful Year of Development in Chautauqua County in 2025

CCIDA and CCPEG-Related Projects Reach $85 million in Investments

JAMESTOWN, NY — At its February 24, 2026 meeting, the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA) Board of Directors reviewed the Choose CHQ 2025 Annual Report, highlighting accomplishments for the past year. The report provided year-in-review details for the CCIDA, as well as the accomplishments of the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth (CCPEG) an initiative under the CCIDA’s component agency, the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC).

• Read the Full Annual Report

During the meeting, Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development, CCIDA CEO, and CCPEG Co-Chair, shared the CCIDA’s Top 10 Accomplishments for the year, along with its top 10 goals for 2026. Geise noted that while the CCIDA was involved with a multitude of projects in 2025, only nine of them actually made it to the authorization stage. These nine project will provide, if fully realized, an investment of nearly $85 million in Chautauqua County. These projects would also result in the retention of 243 jobs and the creation of 639 permanent and temporary construction jobs. Projects that involve PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) will result in $4.85 million in new revenue for taxing jurisdictions over the terms of the PILOTs, which wouldn’t have been realized had these projects not moved forward.

“While 2025 wasn’t an epic year as it was in both 2023 and 2024, it was definitely a solid year with some major wins for the County,” Geise said. “Even though some projects didn’t quite reach the finish line in 2025, we moved several key projects forward. In fact, in just the first two months of 2026, we’ve already surpassed 2025’s project investment total. This shows that while the final numbers weren’t quite as impressive compared to previous calendar years, the CCIDA team was working tirelessly throughout 2025 and that work is already paying off in 2026. There are definitely ebbs and flows as it relates to business investment from year-to-year, not only in Chautauqua County, but state-wide, nationally, and internationally. This was a good year!”

Some of the key 2025 accomplishments included: Maplevale Farms relocation and expansion project in the Town of Mina ($41.4 million); updating and finalizing incentives for the renovation of the C.E. Welch Building in Westfield (increasing the total project investment by $7.75); five solar projects with a combined investment of $32.8 million and producing a total of 16.4 MW of clean energy; the Tri-County Country Club reconstruction and expansion effort ($2.5 million); and providing a loan to support the Ivory Acres Wedding venue acquisition ($243,000). The CCIDA also finalized planning for the $16+ million shovel-ready I-90 Veterans Memorial Commerce Park in Ripley. The agency also continued to promote Chautauqua County as a viable place to live, work, and do business through the Live CHQ and Choose CHQ marketing efforts.

The annual report also included the Top 10 economic development goals for the involved agencies. These aspirations included aggressive proactive business retention and expansion; completing and marketing two shovel-ready sites in both Ripley (I-90 Veterans Commerce Park) and Ellicott (Mason Industrial Park); acquiring and preparing new shovel-ready sites; reactivating properties of community importance, including the NRG Plant in Dunkirk, the Furniture Mart building in Jamestown, the former Lakeshore Hospital in Irving, the former Truck-Lite plant in Ellicott, and the Serta Simmons building in Ellicott, among others; assisting both ImmunityBio (Dunkirk) and Electrovaya (Ellicott) to ramp up operations; and continuing to focus on implementing recommendations from the County’s Economic Development Strategy through CREDC and CCPEG.

“We continue to look forward to our two shovel-ready sites being completed by the end of 2026,” said Nathan Aldrich, Chautauqua County Economic Development Coordinator. “In 2025, we were able to secure all the necessary funding to move these projects forward and will now put that money to use this year. Once complete, we are confident that both the Ripley and Mason sites will attract a lot of interest and eventually bring new business into our county.”

In addition to the CCIDA and CREDC accomplishments and goals, the 2025 Annual Report also provided an update on various projects and activities involving CCPEG. According to Geise, CCPEG assisted 51 individual projects providing both direct and indirect support toward economic development efforts across the county. CCPEG also allocated over $400,000 in funds that directly assisted 26 individual projects, which, in turn, leveraged nearly $6.2 million in additional outside funding.  CCPEG also lived up to its name in 2025, with 70 individual meetings taking place involving 75 unique partners from across the county.

Of the $400,000 in project support mentioned above via CCPEG, more than $269,000 went to 23 different partner-led economic development projects, delivered through CCPEG’s Economic Growth Fund. Some of those projects included: the Advanced Manufacturing Program at Dream It, Do It Western New York; the Village of Cassadaga’s Main Street Master Plan; the City of Jamestown’s Main Street Underpass Park; Chautauqua Rails to Trails southern trailhead improvements in the Village of Sherman; a Chautauqua Child Care Economic Development project for Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc.; and promoting the CHQ Chamber’s ShopLocalCHQ initiative, among several others.

“It’s rewarding to see the Partnership fulfilling its mission by supporting so many of our community and organizational partners with their projects,” said Josiah Lamp, CCPEG Program Manager. “We are especially pleased to see the Village of Westfield receive $4.5 million from Empire State Development in 2025 from the NY Forward program. This was due, in part, to technical assistance and support provided by CCPEG in prior years. We’ve provided this same assistance to Mina, Falconer, and Sherman in 2025, and are hopeful it will result in a win for at least one of those communities in 2026.”

In addition to the various partners and projects that received support from CCPEG in 2025, the initiative also worked on a major CCPEG Impact Report that will highlight CCPEG’s success since its launch in 2019 as a model for public-private partnerships in rural economic development. CCPEG also worked to finalize a new, multi-year Chautauqua County Economic Development Strategic Plan. Both the Impact Report and the new Strategic Plan will be completed and released in the first half of 2026.

“We are continuing to move forward in our quest to grow and strengthen our local economy here in Chautauqua County,” Geise said. “As I’ve stated many times before, economic development is a marathon, not a sprint, but our work in 2025 shows that we are keeping pace and moving our county in the right direction, thanks to our many collaborations and partnerships with various businesses, municipalities, and local organizations. Together, we are moving Chautauqua County forward.”

The complete Choose CHQ 2025 Annual Report, featuring information for both the CCIDA and CCPEG, is available at ChooseCHQ.com.

About CCIDA – The CCIDA is an economic development organization authorized and empowered by the State of New York to make Chautauqua County a better place to work, live, and visit. It facilitates development by attracting new businesses, while promoting the retention and expansion of existing businesses. Assistance in the form of incentives – tax abatements, low interest loans, and bond financing – enhances the opportunities for job creation and retention by our businesses. For more information visit ChooseCHQ.com.

About CCPEG – The Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth (CCPEG) serves as the main convener of economic development partners and resources to advance key projects that achieve economic prosperity in Chautauqua County. It also serves as the catalyst and broker of resources for advancing economic prosperity efforts and is the central coordinating entity for the formation, retention, development, and attraction of quality jobs and advancements to the quality of life. It is an initiative of the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC). For more information, please visit CHQPartnership.org.