Salina, N.Y. A proposed nanotechnology facility in Salina that remains vacant 3 1/2 years after it was announced will eventually open despite a new project in the field announced yesterday for DeWitt.

New York said in 2010 it would invest $28 million to transform a former General Electric lab at the park into a facility that will employ up to 250 people.

Those plans haven't changed, said Alain Kaloyeros, CEO of the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany. The focus will be on defense-related work involving nanotechnology, the science of manipulating individual atoms and molecules.

The Nanoscale College is involved in the Electronics Park facility and the new project Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday at Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney's State of the County address.

Cuomo said the state will spend $15 million to create a nanotech hub at the Collamer Crossings Business Park that will eventually employ 350 people. Its first tenant will be the Film House, a film production company.

The Electronics Park facility should be up and running in 2014, Kaloyeros said.

The building was neglected over the years, which meant it needed major rehab, said Kevin Schwab, a spokesman for CenterState CEO, which manages Electronics Park.

"That process is complete now," he said. "We are ready for construction and development."

Schwab said the governor's announcement of the DeWitt hub shouldn't hurt the Electronics Park site.

"Nanotechnology is a platform that can be applied across a wide range of industries and I think that's what you're seeing here," he said.

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Nanotechnology site at Electronics Park will move forward