Two companies are expanding in Syracuse, creating more 400 jobs and adding to the city’s economic development plan. One company is focused on health care and the other on technology.

Bankers Healthcare Group, a medical financing and loan company based in Syracuse, is constructing an office facility on Spencer Street, located in Franklin Square. JMA Wireless, a mobile-wireless system company, will move its 5G manufacturing company from Texas to Cortland Avenue.

Both expansions are part of a larger story of revitalization in Syracuse and central New York, Mayor Ben Walsh told The Daily Orange. The JMA Wireless expansion aligns particularly well with the Syracuse Surge initiative, he said. Syracuse Surge launched January with the purpose of revitalizing the city through technology.

“To have a company like JMA invest in a facility on the Southside of Syracuse, where our strategy is focused, we couldn’t have written a better script,” Walsh said.

Syracuse Surge has intentionally focused efforts on the Southside since the neighborhood previously lacked significant economic development. While economic growth is important, it is especially crucial that the city’s economic success benefits everyone, Walsh said.

Walsh’s vision is for Syracuse to be an inclusive city that creates opportunity for all its residents. The new company expansions are a positive reinforcement that the Syracuse Surge strategy is already working as intended, he said.

Walsh also said that Bankers Healthcare Group’s investment in the Inner Harbor area is significant because the location is a critical part of the city that has also seen recent growth. The Inner Harbor includes Franklin Square, Destiny USA and the Regional Farmers Market.

The group’s expansion to its financial headquarters on Spencer Street will provide the potential to create 300 more jobs for Syracuse residents, said Albert Crawford, founder, chairman and CEO of the group. The company is currently hiring for 60 positions, he said.

Bankers Healthcare Group worked with the city in 2013 to build its current headquarters on Solar Street, Crawford said. The company is now working with Walsh and his staff on the 100,000 square-foot, five-story financial headquarters on Spencer Street. Construction will begin by mid-January and is expected to be completed by 2021, he said.

The company is hiring in all departments, including sales and marketing, data and analytics, and accounting and financing, Crawford said. Bankers Healthcare Group has been in the city for nearly two decades.

“Investing in the city of Syracuse is not only the right thing for us to do but the ability to work together collaboratively with the city, county and state has only solidified our desire to continue investing in Syracuse,” he said.

The expansion of Bankers Healthcare Group will provide jobs for recent-college graduates or young professionals with a college degree, said Andrew Fish, senior vice president of business development at CenterState CEO. JMA Wireless, he said, will provide more entry-level work.

The JMA expansion will create accessible jobs for individuals in the southern downtown area who traditionally have been disconnected from the economy, Fish said.

Like most Rust Belt cities, Syracuse was previously a largely blue-collar community built around a few key industries, Fish said. With a significant decline in traditional industries, the JMA expansion is a good example of how tech companies are bringing new vibrancy to the downtown area, he said.

The city has seen continued growth in about the last two years of private sector jobs and investments from companies that are located in Syracuse or have significant divisions there, Fish said. Last year, Syracuse was one of the only cities in New York that increased its population.

These increases in jobs and population are both good examples of positive economic activity, he said.

While the city historically has been perceived to struggle economically, Fish said, Syracuse in the last few years has been searching for more growth opportunities while recognizing the economic disparities in the community.

“It is difficult to have real growth when you don’t have the availability of opportunity for everyone in the region,” he said. “We’re trying to be intentional about that growth and create pathways for people to access new opportunities and the new tech economy that’s starting to grow here.”

Published on October 27, 2019 at 9:50 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan