Developers Discover Leominster

PHOTO/Jacquelyn Gutc Rollstone Bank & Trust officials look over plans for their new three-story branch in downtown Leominster, slated to be completed in late spring. From left: Vice President of Facilities Harvey Buchanan, President and CEO Martin F. Connors Jr. and Executive Vice President Linda L. Racine.

Mayor Dean Mazzarella: “If we're going to separate ourselves from everyone else … then we have to be different.”

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Leominster has been experiencing a bit of a resurgence with new buyers for big properties and developments. It's something the city's mayor, Dean Mazzarella, said is the product of a strategic plan.

“We realized there were certain things we just weren't going to be,” he said. “We focused on our downtown and some of our old mill buildings downtown.”

He said 20 years ago, manufacturers would consider the city for potential locations, but be turned off by the lack of “shovel ready” sites. The city has since become home to three industrial parks and is working to set itself apart from other communities in the commonwealth.

“Our overall arching goal is to be different,” Mazzarella said. “We simply know that if we're going to separate ourselves from everyone else … then we have to be different.”

Mazzarella said Leominster stands out by keeping a relatively low single tax rate ($17.96 per $1,000 of assessed value) and upgrading utilities and bridges.

David McKeehan, president of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, said Leominster's easy access to Interstate 190 and Route 2 give it an advantage over other area communities and that its strong workforce and affordability are generally appealing to businesses.

He praised city officials for spreading word of the community's business friendliness.

“The activity is a direct result of the hard work (city officials) put into it,” McKeehan said. “They work to constantly maintain the image of the community as a friendly place to both live and work.”

He noted a “constant improvement” in the city for the past decade.

Lisa Marrone, the city's economic development coordinator, said Leominster's $12-million library expansion and renovation project, completed in 2007, was key in kick-starting activity, “helping to soften the blow of a stalled economy,” she said.

Within the past few years, the city has seen Walgreens and Leominster Credit Union move into downtown, and a near-full occupancy in the area, officials said. A former factory on the corner of Whitney and Water streets reopened as Water Mill Apartments, and the Leominster Housing Authority developed a vacant parking lot into affordable housing known as Rockwell Village.

Developer James Whitney renovated an old mill building on Spruce Street into office space and is redeveloping two decades-vacant buildings at 98 Adams St., which face Rockwell Village, and will yield 42,000 square feet of business space and 88,000 square feet of housing. More recently, Bolton developer Edmond Plante secured city approval to renovate the former factory adjacent to Whitney's development into housing as well.

Bank Branch Boost

But the latest commercial project downtown is the construction of a Rollstone Bank & Trust branch in Monument Square, which bank President and CEO Martin F. Connors said will be “a landmark that will be here forever.”

The three-story bank branch is being built where a shuttered Friendly's restaurant was demolished.

Mazzarella said the city had been concerned about how long the site would be vacant and what would fill it, because “that was sort of the focal point of downtown.”

“We did not expect this,” Connors said. When Friendly's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011 (It emerged from it in early 2012), “this location became available and we know it was something we wanted.”

Linda L. Racine, the bank's executive vice president, said Rollstone will relocate employees from its branch at The Mall at Whitney Field because the mall branch couldn't accommodate the bank's expanded wealth management department. She said the new location is ideal because it's close to Route 2 and a central location for employees to meet with customers.

But it's more space than the bank needs. Rollstone is planning to lease the third floor.

Nearly three miles southeast of downtown, Hudson-based commercial property management firm Calare Properties purchased a 588,000-square-foot industrial building on Tucker Drive in December. The site had been home to Holiday Housewares, the sister company of one of Leominster's original plastics companies, Plastican Inc. The building already houses HealthAlliance Home Health and Hospice.

Marrone said the city had approved a tax deal in 2011 with Hudson office furniture manufacturer AIS, which was to be Calare's tenant at the site. But the deal fell through, and nearly two years later, Calare bought the property without a guaranteed tenant.

But Bill Manley, Calare's founder and chief investment officer, isn't worried. He said the company is talking with four potential tenants.

“We feel like there's pretty great activity going on right now and we feel comfortable that there's enough leasing velocity in the market that we'll be able to lease that space,” he said.

Manley's optimism comes from factors that include a rail spur coming to the building, several loading docks and its close proximity to Interstate 190 and Route 2.

Looking For Manufacturers

Despite the presence of plenty of industrial buildings on the market, Manley believes the building's space is ideal for some manufacturers.

“If you want 100,000 square feet, I can point you to eight different places. If you want 500,000 square feet, this is just about it,” he said. “As much as it might seem like a daunting amount of space … If you don't lease this space, you'd have to build it somewhere else.”

Jack Healy, operating director of the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership, in Worcester, believes Leominster is generally one of the better manufacturing locations in Massachusetts.

But, he said, it's more inclined to attract makers of non-durable goods, such as plastics, and assembled products, than a biotech firm.

“If there's a high-tech business, biotech or something like that, they require a certain education level that's not quite a natural for Leominster,” he said.

But for manufacturers that require a lower skill level and not a lot of supporting infrastructure, Leominster can be ideal, Healy said, noting that many towns aren't as interested as Leominster in attracting manufacturers, and that helps, as do the city's lower rents.

“Most manufacturers are looking for a low tax rate, a ready workforce and utilities and services,” he said. “Leominster has all of those things.”

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