Blue Bridge Financial, LLC will establish its headquarters in the historic Electric Tower overlooking Roosevelt Plaza. Blue Bridge Financial will retain 12 jobs in Western New York while creating 71 new jobs over a five year period. After an extensive search including suburban and city locations, both in and out of the state, New York State’s incentive proposal made the company’s move into an initial space of 5,500 square feet in the iconic Electric Tower possible.

Blue Bridge Financial, LLC, a direct lender, is a leading provider of equipment financing solutions to equipment manufacturers and distributors as well as directly to small business borrowers on a national basis. The company is headquartered in Buffalo, with offices in Tampa and San Francisco.

“Blue Bridge Financial’s decision to expand their operations in Buffalo after considering out of state alternatives is a testament to the advantages that Western New York offers to growing businesses,” Governor Cuomo said. “From the region’s highly-qualified workforce to its competitively priced office space, Western New York is a tremendous place for companies that are looking to increase their output and pursue new opportunities. I am pleased that the State was able to play a role in convincing Blue Bridge Financial to take a second look at Buffalo, and look forward to the company’s continued growth in the region.”

“We are excited to announce the relocation of our corporate headquarters to the historic Electric Tower Building in the Buffalo business corridor,” said Blue Bridge Financial CEO Mark DeBacker. “This move has been made possible by the generous support of Empire State Development which shares our vision of significant high quality job growth as Blue Bridge Financial continues its rapid expansion within the specialty finance industry. I am excited about our company being a part of the exciting economic revival which is occurring in downtown Buffalo and the contribution of our company to further regional growth within the financial services industry.”

The company qualified for up to $586,173 in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits from Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency, in return for its proposed investment and job creation commitments. Significant contributors to the incentive package and the relocation included the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise and the CBRE|Buffalo Office brokerage team.

Blue Bridge Financial President Brian Gallo added, “The high quality Class A office space of the historic Electric Tower, combined with the job growth incentives provided by New York State, uniquely position us for continued significant growth and expansion of our product offerings into complementary financial service products. We intend to aggressively recruit business development, credit and other financial service professionals immediately to add to our team.”

Electric Tower is owned by Iskalo Development Corp.