By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

The Erie County Industrial Development Agency approved key incentive packages for six area projects, including expansion of a congressional candidate's manufacturing plant and restoration of a century-old downtown building.

They collectively represent more than $34.4 million in private-sector investment and are expected to create 100 new jobs. Four projects involve industrial expansion and reinvestment.

"Hopefully this is a sign of the rebounding of our local industrial economy and we'll see many more of this category of projects in 2011," said John Cappellino, executive vice president of the ECIDA.

Directors recently approved the following:

• A $676,000 abatement package for I Squared R Element Co., an Akron firm run by industrialist and congressional candidate Jack Davis.

Following the IDA meeting, he formally announced his plan to run for the vacant 26th congressional district seat. He said his company plans a 36,000-square-foot addition to its 86,000-square-foot building on Clarence Center Road.

The addition will enable Davis to shift warehouse operations into the new wing and use existing space for new equipment. I Squared R produces silicon carbide heating elements, some of which can used in temperatures up to 3.300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Davis said he hopes to add 20 jobs to his current 70-person workforce and that the expansion has a $5.2 million development price tag. In addition, 47 construction jobs will be created.

"Right now we're at capacity," he said. "This expansion gives us potential to land more business, especially in the solar energy fields."

• Derrick Corp. of Cheektowaga received an abatement package of nearly $2.86 million to help finance a $19.5 million expansion of its Walden Avenue plant. It wants to add 124,000 square feet to the 230,000-square-foot plant and create 36 jobs. The company makes high-frequency vibrating machines for mining and oil and gas exploration. It currently has 363 workers.

• The law firm Ricotta & Visco, through its Valledolmo Inc. affiliate, was approved for an abatement package valued at $232,000. It will help finance a $1.5 million project to renovate a vacant, century-old building with four floors at 496 Main St. for new offices. The firm will move from Main Place Tower and expects to add three people to the current staff of 13.

• University Pediatric Dentistry PC is expected to receive a $90,000 incentive package to help finance a new clinic at 1100 Main St. near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. The project is expected to cost $1.26 million and would create 20 jobs.

University Pediatric is proposing a 15-chair dentist practice that targets disabled children. The facility, which is currently run out of Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, operates in conjunction with the University at Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine. It's the second project that University Pediatric Dentistry has announced or opened in recent weeks. It also opened a center on Maple Road in Amherst.

McGuire Development Co. was retained to serve as the project's real estate and construction consultant. McGuire will also manage the building.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown praised the project.

"It is an important addition to this area of Main Street," he said. "The services they provide are ones that are critically needed for that area of the city."

• Sonwil Distribution Center Inc. received a pair of abatements totaling $175,000 and clearing the way for more than $2 million in new equipment to be installed at facilities it operates in the North America Center in West Seneca and a former Motorola Corp. plant in Elma. Both are being renovated for new tenants.

Sonwil also received the green light from IDA directors to move one of its tenants, E&R Industrial Sales Inc., from Buffalo to Cheektowaga. E&R will lease 11,000 square feet on Sonwil Drive from its landlord.

• McGard Inc. was approved for a $482,000 abatement package to help finance a $5 million expansion of its Orchard Park manufacturing operation.

The company plans to add 24,500 square feet to its 225,000-square-foot plant and add 20 jobs.