$2.5M state grant will aid IPG's $70M expansion
Photo | Matt Pilon
The Oxford headquarters of IPG Photonics.
The MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant will help fund traffic and efficiency improvements along Route 12 in Oxford to enable the company’s $70 million, 630,000-square-foot expansion.
Improvements will include traffic signals and the reconstruction of intersections to three lanes.
The grant comes after Oxford’s largest employer landed a $1.5-million tax increment financing plan when it was approved by state officials last month.
IPG Photonics’ expansion includes a 170,000-square-foot, four-story office, manufacturing and research building and a 460,000-square-foot garage.
The company’s plans were scaled back significantly from the nearly 1 million-square-foot project it was proposing earlier in the year.
IPG in August purchased an abutting 75,000-square-foot manufacturing building formerly home to South Carolina company Technetics. That company is closing its Oxford facility, so IPG grabbed it in June for $26 million.
In a statement, State Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) said he toured IPG this summer and immediately reached out to the governor’s office to find some economic relief for the town and company. Within a few days, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash toured the company’s facility.
“I am appreciative of his responsiveness, and I am thrilled to see the Baker-Polito Administration in agreement with me that we must continue to invest in our communities and businesses, especially in the important job creating industries such as advanced manufacturing,” Fattman said.
The public subsidies come at a time when the company is losing its value quickly: the company’s stock price has fallen from a high of $264 in January to just $137 at Friday’s open, losing about half of its value in less than six months.
The decline in price comes after earnings reports indicate difficulties ahead due to tariffs and strained trade relationships with China.
An earlier version of this story indicated the grant was awarded directly to IPG Photonics. The grant was awarded to the Town of Oxford.
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