Vista Technology Campus, which straddles New Scotland and Bethlehem, is currently dominated by a Shoprite, with several banks, doctors’ offices, and other businesses in two wings off of the grocery store. There is very little to do with technology in the site’s current state; but Monolith Solar, a local manufacturer and installer of solar panels that is planning to set up a new location at the technology park, may change that.

Steven Erby, president and chief operations officer of the company, says it has been planning to construct a site at the campus since 2014.

“The major benefit is bringing the two major portions of the company back together,” he said, explaining that Monolith currently operates from two locations: its headquarters are in Rensselaer and its warehouse is in Albany. The site at the technology park — two lots behind the Shoprite building, at 85 Vista Blvd. — will combine business headquarters and a manufacturing facility. The Albany site will be maintained as an equipment repair shop, and the Rensselaer site will be kept as well, though Erby is not sure what it will be used for.

Erby says that 10,000 square feet of the technology park building will be manufacturing space, and 16,000 square feet will be office space. Erby says he unsure of the exact measurements, but believes 10,000 square feet will also be left empty for potential expansion.

Erby, who worked as an engineer for Amtrak for 15 years before he “got bit by the energy bug,” started the company in 2009 out of his garage. When he had to expand to an 8,000-square-foot facility, he believed he had all the space he would need, but was eventually proved wrong and had to open the facility in Albany. He says this is why the company will be leaving so much room for expansion over the years.

The main building will incorporate vertical solar panels, and Monolith will have 2,000 solar panels in a field off the northeastern side of the Shoprite building that will remotely power the Albany city schools, Erby says.

The facility will employ as few as 70 people, but he is hoping to employ around 100, Erby says; BBL Construction will be building the facility.

Continuing a master plan

Robert Leslie, director of Bethlehem’s Department of Economic Development and Planning, says that the application to build a technology park was submitted in 2005, and that the final Vista Master Plan was approved by Bethlehem in 2007. Construction was approved in 2011, and most of the buildings currently at the site were built in 2012.

The master plan allows for office space, research and technology space, and light manufacturing, Leslie said. He stressed that there specifically would not be heavy industrial manufacturing.

Some retail space was also approved, but the current retail buildings are the only spaces permitted. Leslie says the plan envisioned a “mixed-use” space that allowed for office and manufacturing workers to use the restaurants and retail stores in their free time.

“We’ve received the commercial side of things and the retail side of things,” he said. He added that the predicted office, research and technology, and light manufacturing spaces would exist beyond the Shoprite building.

After Monolith’s construction, there will still be about 1.25 million square feet for office, research and technology, and light manufacturing uses, Leslie said.

Erby says that having a location in a technology park is important because, as the first technology industry to be located at Vista Technology Campus, the company is likely to attract other technology businesses.

“I 100 percent guarantee it,” he said, “We congregate; we want to be in the same area.”

He added that access to the highway was also a critical factor in choosing the location at the campus.

A tentative deal

Tom Connolly, executive director of the Town of Bethlehem Industrial Development Agency, says that there is a resolution between the IDA and Monolith Solar for the company to receive tax exemptions provided that it completes certain requirements; the company’s mortgage will be exempt from the mortgage recording tax, goods and materials bought for construction of the site will be exempt from sales taxes, and a real property tax abatement will be implemented upon completion of the site.

Erby says that Monolith met with the group on Wednesday to get an extension on its project. Erby says the company is still waiting for approval through the New York Business Development Corporation for a federal Small Business Administration 504 loan, a low-interest loan offered to small businesses.

Monolith applied for the loan about two weeks ago. Erby says representatives from KeyBank, which is loaning half the funds while the 504 covers the rest, introduced Monolith to the loan. The company was originally with Kinderhook bank and one other bank, but switched from Kinderhook to KeyBank about a month ago.

Connolly stated that the tax exemptions would go through only if all paperwork is satisfactory with both the company and the bank.

Connolly says Monolith applied for exemptions from the IDA in the fall of 2014. He says there is no date set as to when the company will complete its paperwork and begin site development.

The IDA has granted several businesses on the campus tax exemptions, but Connolly says that Monolith is its only ongoing project, as the agreements for exemptions for other businesses have closed already.