Investigative Post

Douglas Jemal may be an unconventional developer in some ways, but he also engages in a practice common to many in the real estate business: giving money, sometimes lots of it, to politicians in position to support his projects. Jemal is unusual in another way: He’s the recipient of a presidential pardon. His political contributions […]

People in the commercial real estate business look at all the properties Doug Jemal is buying around Buffalo and ask: How is he going to pay for all the work he’s taking on? Jemal isn’t saying. He wouldn’t talk to Investigative Post for this story. But in an interview with WGRZ, he gave what some […]

South Korean media is reporting that Samsung will build a new $17 billion microchip plant in Austin, Texas. A formal announcement could come as soon as Friday following a meeting between President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.  Any such deal would dash local hopes about luring the plant – and its 1,900 […]

The bill is coming due for putting an industrial park in the hinterlands of Genesee County and the cost to taxpayers is considerable. The Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park, being built on 1,250 acres in the rural Town of Alabama, flunked the state’s smart growth test when first proposed.  The project’s location rated so […]

Economic development officials in Genesee County on Thursday approved a huge tax break for a company that plans on building a hydrogen power plant.  Plug Power would pay reduced property and sales taxes over 20 years that would save the company $118 million. The plant, located in what is now a vacant industrial park in […]

Investigative Post reported last week that the subsidy package offered Plug Power to build a plant in Genesee County amounts to $4 million a job. That story follows previous reporting by Mark Scheer, found here and here, on efforts to recruit companies to locate to the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park in the Town […]

At a cost of $4 million per job, the subsidy deal designed to bring the first tenant to a vacant industrial park in rural Genesee County would be the richest in Western New York history.  Plug Power is in line for an estimated $269.5 million in tax breaks and power discounts in exchange for building […]

Mark Scheer reported last week on the pandemic’s impact on downtown Buffalo. One-third of the workforce is working remotely, which has starved restaurants, bars and other retailers for business. Experts say downtowns, here and elsewhere, are likely to be less office-centric once the pandemic eases. Mark spoke Monday with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on NewsRadio […]