Entrepreneur creating new technology corridor for NYS.

Last month, Alan Ginsberg completed what could be one of the most important real estate deals in New York State. The Westchester-based real estate executive acquired 2.5 million square feet of office and manufacturing space - to be occupied by technology-related companies - on a 250acre site

The property, which Ginsberg has named TechCity, is the former home of IBM, which moved out as part of its downsizing in recent years. Located almost midway between New York City and Albany in the heart of the Hudson Valley, surrounded by universities, and within close proximity to Stewart Airport, Amtrak and Conrail passenger and freight rail lines, the New York State Thruway and other major roads, Ginsberg says TechCity is poised to become a major new technology center, housing national and international companies that need access to the northeast and mid-Atlantic United States - from Boston to New York City to Washington, DC.

In fact, with New York State's economy rebounding and Governor George Pataki developing plans to attract technology companies here, Ginsberg believes that TechCity will be the centerpiece of a regional technology corridor stretching from north of Westchester County to the state capitol in Albany.

This initiative, which will make the Hudson Valley - and New York State - competitive with Silicon Valley and other technology centers around the country, will be called the Hudson 140-River Valley, and it is already beginning to take shape. There are activities being planned to combine the technology-related academic research taking place at some of the dozen colleges

and universities in the area with the region's business marketing efforts. And leaders of the business community are beginning to work together to erase the old geographic boundaries and work in a unified way to create a region-wide economic development strategy.

At TechCity itself, Ginsberg is working with Bell Atlantic to utilize Bell Atlantic's Enterprise Platform, for the highest and fastest speeds of telecommunications technology for data, voice and video.

At the center of all these initiatives is Ginsberg, who has overcome numerous obstacles to become one of the largest property owners in the State, and the owner of the property that could be one of the keys to the State's future economic turnaround.

Born in Brooklyn and now a resident of Westchester, Ginsberg has been active in the real estate industry as a business owner and commercial broker for 23 years. Over that time, he has leased and sold millions of square feet of real estate to local, national and international companies for use as retail, manufacturing space, back office facilities, offices and corporate headquarters.

He founded and became president of The Ginsberg Organization, a Manhattan-based commercial brokerage firm, in 1980, building on an already successful track record in this field. He and his firm orchestrated hundreds of transactions on behalf of property owners, small businesses and large corporations.

A few of the most notable were: The sale of 400 properties throughout the United States to the U.S. Post Office; Mitsui & Co. (USA) corporate headquarters; the creation of the Bergdorf Goodman Men's Store.

Building on the success of The Ginsberg organization, he has shifted his focus toward the acquisition and development of properties where his marketing skills and ability to attract businesses to high quality space could enhance the property's value and create significant potential for growth. His acquisition of TechCity is part of that strategy.