Schumer Launches Effort to Finalize Critical Roswell Park Downtown Development Deal

Editor's note: A version of this press release was issued February 21, 2013, by the office of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (NY).

New Center at Roswell Will Expand Medical Research Hub in Downtown Buffalo, Address Growing Need for Cancer Treatment, Provide New Clinical and Research Space & Pave Way for Creation of 340 Jobs

Schumer Made Extension of New Market Tax Credit Program a Top Priority During Fiscal Cliff – Pushes for Roswell to Get $25 Million In Tax Credits Needed to Get Over Financing Finish Line

Schumer: New Market Tax Credits are Just What the Doctor Ordered for Roswell CSC

BUFFALO, NY — Today, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Senator Schumer pushed a plan to bring critical funding to the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Clinical Sciences Center, which would enhance vital health services and cancer treatment in Western New York, all while expanding the downtown Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and potentially generating hundreds of new jobs. Schumer fought successfully at year’s end to extend the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), and through personal phone calls urged several entities that distribute those credits, including the National Development Council and Wells Fargo Bank, to fund Roswell’s application for $25 million in tax credits. These credits will generate the final $4 million in capital needed to break ground on Roswell’s new Clinical Sciences Center – a $42 million project that will add additional chemotherapy treatment chairs, additional breast cancer screening and treatment space, and new cancer research and clinical space. Through construction and permanent jobs, the new CSC is expected to pave the way for the creation of over 340 jobs. Roswell, in partnership with their Alliance Foundation and community leaders, has dedicated nearly $38 million toward the project, and with the NMTC now extended, Schumer urged funding agencies to provide Roswell with the credits needed to raise the final $4 million in funds and to move the project forward.

Schumer was joined by Roswell Park CEO Dr. Donald Trump, as well as Roswell Park’s Co-Chair of the Making Room to Save Lives Campaign, Mr. Scott Bieler, as he explained the critical importance of the New Markets Tax Credit program in cities like Buffalo and announced that he has placed personal phone calls to the heads of several development agencies who allocate the tax credits in an effort to secure them for Roswell Park this year. Schumer’s announcement comes after a very successful fundraising drive led by co-chairs Scott Bieler and Donna Gioia in combination with Roswell’s Alliance Foundation and the Institutes own capital budget.

“The local community and generous donors have helped get Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s life-saving Clinical Sciences Center project this far – and I am here today to urge federal funding agencies to take it over the finish line,” said Senator Charles Schumer. “Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Clinical Sciences Center will help create nearly 344 construction and permanent jobs and enhance vital health and cancer services for Western New York, all while creating much-needed clinical and research space, and solidifying the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus’s presence downtown.

“At the end of last year I fought to extend the Department of Treasury’s New Markets Tax Credit program, aimed at revitalizing and reinvesting in urban areas like Buffalo, and this was exactly the kind of project I had in mind when we extended that program,” Schumer continued. “The construction of the Clinical Sciences Center is within reach, and now I am calling on the groups that disburse those new market tax credits to ensure that Western New York gets its fair share and prioritizes this project. With this federal credit, the hospital will enhance and continue their great work providing Western New Yorkers with excellent health services and cancer treatment, conducting cutting edge research, all while creating hundreds of jobs.”

“Building on the overwhelming community support and investment in the future of cancer care, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is prepared to move ahead with the construction of the Clinical Sciences Center,” said Dr. Donald Trump, President and CEO of Roswell Park. “But for the new market tax credit investment, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place to make this project a reality and allow the Institute to keep pace with its increasing clinical expansion needs.” 

Schumer led the fight to extend the New Markets Tax Credit program in the year-end fiscal cliff deal, to help leverage private investment and jump-start construction efforts in communities like Buffalo. The NMTC program was established in 2000 in order to spur new or increased business investments into operating businesses and real estate projects in eligible urban communities. In this case, the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has applied for a $25 million allocation of New Market Tax Credits, and if approved, will subsequently provide NMTC to the Clinical Sciences Center project. The federal credits that Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is seeking would result in approximately $4 million in capital for the project and would be the final funds needed to bridge the gap between what has been raised the total project cost.                                                                  

When completed, the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center's Clinical Sciences Center will be a new state-of-the-art 142,000-square-foot site facility that will connect to the Main Hospital. Specifically, the Breast Cancer Center will see its clinical space grow to a level that will allow Roswell to conduct over 10,000 mammograms annually. This expansion will allow for the hospital to conduct much needed, community based, preventative screening, which current capacity does not allow for. In addition, this project will greatly expand Roswell’s chemotherapy infusion clinic, which was originally constructed to serve 70 patients a day but now sees over 130 patients a day. Among other things, the completion of the Clinical Sciences Center will enable Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to improve the delivery of care and comfort to patients, provide on-campus preventive services for the community, and provide adequate space for patient education, survivorship programs, counseling and support functions in close proximity to the Main Hospital. Lastly, through construction jobs and long-term full time jobs the project will create over 340 jobs.

On January 3, 2013, President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 which included an extension of the New Markets Tax Credit Program for 2012 and 2013. The tax credit allocation authority is $3.5 billion for each year. The CDFI Fund through the Department of Treasury is currently reviewing applications received under the 2012 round and plans to announce the awards in April. Schumer today urged groups that typically receive those awards from treasury to prioritize Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Centers’ project in their selection process.

Founded in 1898, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is considered to be the first comprehensive cancer center in the country. Roswell Park continues to be at the vanguard of new generations of treatments. In this new era, cancer patients are more likely than ever to be treated in an outpatient setting as technology has allowed for more effective and precise radiation and chemotherapy treatments administered in ways that are less invasive for patients, allowing for increased and improved quality of life. With their new facility, Roswell Park will continue their great work providing New Yorkers with excellent and award winning cancer treatment and preventative care.