Goodbye To Yesterday
PHOTOS/EDD COTE
Avery Dennison (top photo) and the Breyers plant, (above) which along with Sealtest was acquired by Unilever, have left Framingham.
The Sealtest brand was ultimately acquired from Kraft (along with Breyers) in 1993 by Unilever.
Photo/Edd Cote
Following an acquisition, global conglomerate Unilever closed the Breyers ice cream plant in 2011.
Once upon a time, Framingham was a big factory town, with plants pumping out packaging, cars and even ice cream.
Today, biotech, retail and corporate office buildings are some of the main drivers of the town's commercial sector.
Now some of the last remnants of the town's old-fashioned industrial past are exiting the stage.
Long-time packaging and labeling manufacturer Avery Dennison recently moved its last few employees out of its once-booming, early 1900s manufacturing complex in downtown Framingham.
The changes come amid renewed focus on the redevelopment of Framingham's downtown.
Local developers and officials are working together help forge a new identity for Framingham's sprawling and, at times, struggling town center, itself a product of another age when massive factories employing thousands kept stores, shops and restaurants hopping.
A multimillion-dollar revamp of the downtown's streetscape is in the works as part of the wide-ranging revitalization campaign.
Meanwhile, across town near the Massachusetts Turnpike, changes are afoot as well, with a major local developer having bought the now shuttered Breyers ice cream plant.
“The cool thing about downtown Framingham is that it has these really historic buildings that have stood the test of time, but we are now going to have this really modern (streetscape) redevelopment as well,” said Holli Andrews, executive direction of Framingham Downtown Renaissance.
Long Goodbye To Local Icon
While it closes a chapter in town history, the final departure of Avery Dennison came and went with barely a passing notice.
The relocation of the manufacturer's last office in town to Westborough took place without fanfare in August, marked only by an article or two in the local press.
It was an odd and somewhat sad goodbye, with the company having loomed large over Framingham for nearly a century, its massive array of sprawling red-brick factory buildings having been imprinted on turn-of-the-century post cards for travelers to take home.
The Bishop Street building where Avery Dennison had its last Framingham offices was sold a year ago to the South Middlesex Opportunity Council for $2 million.
Two other now-empty Avery Dennison buildings on Clinton and Bishop streets, totaling more than 200,000 square feet of space, are for sale.
Local officials involved with revitalizing downtown Framingham were hazy on the details of the move, and not without good reason.
After all, it involved 100 employees, a tiny fraction of the massive workforce Avery Dennison once employed at its sprawling brick factory complex just off downtown.
In fact, the real blow came more than two decades ago, when Avery Dennison closed its manufacturing plant. At its height, the packaging and labeling firm employed more than 3,000.
But the wounds from the traumatic shutdown have since healed, with some of the Avery Dennison buildings having found new life as hip rentals, while others are rented out to state agencies and social service organizations like SMOC.
In fact, the industrial age in Framingham has been dead for about a quarter century now, with General Motors having closed its giant car plant back in 1989.
At its height, the GM's Framingham Assembly plant employed 2,100, making it one of the largest factories in Massachusetts.
Located just south of downtown, today it's home to a giant car, boat and truck warehouse and auction complex.
Too Tied To The Past
“I don't think it's a big deal,” said Erika Jerram, senior planner in Framingham's Community and Economic Development Department, of Avery Dennison's decision to cut its last ties to the town.
“It's not really a manufacturing downtown anymore. With GM gone, we have been transitioning for many years.”
The challenge now is not to deal with plant closings, but to help remake a downtown that was built during another, much different age, when workers from local factories did their shopping downtown, said Andrews, executive director of the nonprofit Framingham Downtown Renaissance, which works with town officials.
At the center of efforts to revitalize downtown, Andrews has been there before, having helped lead redevelopment efforts in the old Maine mill town of Biddeford.
Still, she isn't spending much time today mourning the passing of Avery Dennison or the other giants of the town's industrial past.
Instead, Andrews is looking ahead with excitement to some promising projects with potential to change the look and feel of downtown.
Concord Street Leads The List
At the top of her list is a state-financed revamp of one of downtown's main thoroughfares, Route 126, also known as Concord Street.
The $8 million, state-funded project will create a whole new look for downtown Framingham, meshing a spiffier, more modern streetscape with the center's bevy of older, historic commercial buildings.
The streetscape project is set to go out to bid later this year, with work anticipated to start in 2014, Andrews said.
In the works are new trees, planters, new sidewalks, and street furniture, as well as ornamental traffic signals at the Concord/Union and Hollis/Irving intersections, with upgrades to other downtown signals.
However, the goal of the state Department of Transportation is more than just about aesthetics, but to also make it easier for commuters to reach downtown Framingham's commuter rail station. There are also plans to boost the number of commuter trains that come in and out.
But it doesn't stop there. FDR's Andrews and Framingham officials are hoping to leverage the improvements as part of their larger, downtown revitalization plan.
It's a plan that envisions a new residential development that will attract young professionals and workers who, in turn, will get to and from work by rail and bike.
Framingham developer and resident Vaios Theodorakos is a key part of that plan.
He bought the rundown Arcade Block two years ago out of foreclosure and is pushing ahead with plans for 24 apartments atop Limey's Pub. Theodorakos is also pushing ahead with plans for an even larger residential project nearby on Frederick Street.
The hope among downtown boosters like Andrews is that a new streetscape and some of the budding residential projects Theodorakos is pursuing will spark additional interest in downtown by investors and developers.
“There is a little more real estate investment money flowing than there was 10 years ago,” Jerram said. “It will be a huge signal to the market that we are serious about investing in downtown.”
From Ice Cream To Offices?
If finding new uses for some of the old Avery Dennison buildings is a bit of a challenge, no such problem exists near Exit 13 along the turnpike at the former Breyers plant.
International conglomerate Unilever shut down the ice cream plant in 2011, marking the end of yet another Framingham factory, even though it churned out gallons of Breyers, not cars.
The plant had employed 174.
Still, given its proximity to the highway, there was never any worry the old Breyers plant would languish like some of the old factory buildings downtown.
Instead, National Development, a local firm that built the 9/90 Corporate Center and Staples world headquarters, among other projects, recently scooped up the now-empty ice cream plant.
And given the site's prime real estate location, it should prove to be a sweet deal for the developer, noted Phil DeSimone, a managing director at Jones Lang's LaSalle.
National Development executives could not be reached for comment.
But potential uses include offices, residential and retail, he said.
“It's a great site — it's visible from the MassPike,” DeSimone said, adding that it would be a “nice little project.”
“We are not going to get another ice cream maker. I think in the next five years that will be a different building,” DeSimone said. “Whether it's residential, or some sort of retail or office, I don't know.”
Still, while it's sad to say goodbye to such landmarks, reinvention and staying at the forefront of change have always marked the Framingham way, from denouncing slavery years before the Civil War to embracing the innovations of the industrial revolution and, in recent years welcoming cutting-edge life science and technology firms to town, FDR's Andrews noted.
“Our people have always been ahead of the curve,” Andrews said. “Framingham has always been on the cutting edge.”
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