Stephen Donnelly is like many in Central New York who remember the area’s booming periods, when corporations like IBM provided tens of thousands of jobs in Endicott alone.

“When IBM left and Endicott - Johnson, some of the other groups, you know, a lot of that unfortunately went by the wayside,” said Donnelly, a developer. “And I feel like a lot of the grandeur that that I remember as a kid I want to have for my kids, and I want other kids here to kind of see that and look at these great employers and some of the things that are going on here in our area and say, ‘you know what, this is our area.’ I'm proud of this area.”

With the early stages of battery production already underway, and close to 100,000 people expected to be hired for a $100 million lithium ion battery project in Endicott, there’s never been a greater need for housing. It’s become a growing issue across the state, but now with major corporations including Micron on the way, there’s no time to wait.

Donnelly is the first in the Southern Tier to get a jump on the incoming need, with Serenity Tower, a 150-unit, $30 million project just 100 yards from what will soon be North America’s largest lithium ion battery manufacturing hub.

“We have so many great employers that are here, and I just look at this as another asset to really not only attract people that are from other areas to come, but also even for our current residents,” Donnelly said. “I mean, people want to stay here, they want to take jobs here, and they would like to have someplace nice that they can call home and really have kind of that that luxury living right here in their own backyard.”

Towns like Clay and villages like Endicott haven’t seen this type of investment in decades. But they aren’t alone. GlobalFoundries in the Albany area has just gotten local approval to build a second, $6 billion factory next to its existing complex.

Developers like Donnelly say you can feel a rebirth for many regions.

“You have to invest in the communities that you're in. And I think we have a great backbone of a lot of infrastructure used to be here,” he said. “I mean, obviously, nobody's a stranger to, you know, IBM being formally here … but I think you know, obviously those days are far gone. And I think we need to really continue to reinvent ourselves and invest for our future generation.”

The Endicott project is set to break ground in the summer of next year. It's being spearheaded by Atlas James Construction & Fabrication of Vestal.