Leicester lands funds to plan potential 1.5M sq. ft. of development
Photo | Google
Route 56 in Leicester cuts through a largely wooded site capable of 1.5 million square feet of space that town leaders are looking for help in determining potential development uses.
A mostly undeveloped stretch of 117 acres off Route 56 in Leicester has the capacity for 1.5 million square feet of commercial and industrial development. But first the town needs help in figuring out what the largely wooded site would best be used for.
A small state grant announced Tuesday of $50,000 will help town officials with a marketing study to determine Millbrook Industrial Park's market potential. The stretch of land along Route 56 in the southern part of town between Clark and Stafford streets is almost entirely undeveloped, with a vacant warehouse spanning 175,000 square feet the only building there.
Leicester was included as one of 10 cities and towns across the state sharing a total of more than $3 million in site readiness funds from the state agency MassDevelopment, which help municipalities plan for potential new use for what are often challenging sites. Leicester's grant was the smallest amount given, but Millbrook Industrial Park's potential could dramatically change what's now a quiet stretch of roadway in a rural town.
Today, only seven acres of the site's 117 acres is developed, including the warehouse, which previously hosted UNFI Specialty Distribution Services. The building has been proposed as a cannabis cultivation center called CannAssist, whose application to the state's Cannabis Control Commission has been given provisional approval.
The much of the development site, which is zoned for industrial use, is owned by ASR Realty Company LLC, which is registered to Robert Sigel of Mashpee. Sigel said his firm isn't involved in the town's planning process but is marketing some of the parcels for availability and is looking to develop as a partner a second cannabis cultivation operation in one part of the site.
Leicester is one of many Massachusetts cities and towns that have set up certain areas of town where cannabis firms can and can't operate.
The town is eager to see potential development there, particularly for new jobs and tax revenue, after previous attempts fizzled out, including a 130,000-square-foot building permitted in 2009 but never built. Town master planning discussions in 2009 identified the Millbrook Industrial Park area as a site where the town preferred to see new industrial or office uses.
"While the site has been marketed for the last several years, the market has not responded, and there has been no development interest in the parcels," the town said in its funding application to MassDevelopment. "The town is unsure why new development opportunity has not materialized, and the town seeks MassDevelopment's pre-development support to help us to evaluate the development opportunity and identify and implement pre-development strategies that will make this site more attractive to end users."
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
1 Comments