MassBay campus promises multiple benefits for downtown Framingham
Photo/Edd Cote
Traffic moves slowly in downtown Framingham.
Photos/Edd Cote
A downtown Framingham campus for MassBay Community College, planned for the fall of 2018, could be the boost local groups are hoping for.
A map from a state request-for-proposals document outlines the general area where MassBay's new downtown Framingham campus will be located, along the north side of Waverly Street (Route 135), from just west of Concord Street to just east of Bishop Street.
If you summed up goals that the MetroWest business community cares about, here are three that might rise to the top of the list: Training middle-skilled workers in medical and technology fields, revitalizing struggling downtown commercial districts and supporting innovative start-ups. And MassBay Community College's plan to open a campus in downtown Framingham—which it hopes will happen in the fall of 2018—promises to deliver on all fronts.
The MassBay plan would consolidate programs from the Wellesley-based school's existing satellite campuses in Ashland and on Flagg Drive in Framingham, about a mile north of downtown. MassBay President John O'Donnell said part of the impetus for the move, which has been in the works for several years, was simply to switch from leased space to a modern campus built to suit the college's needs. The state is funding the $59 million project, allocating the money a bit at a time as the process moves forward.
The campus will bring together existing programs in nursing and other health care fields, as well as business, education and automotive technology and allow the college to add courses in industrial biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, computational science, and information and cybersecurity, O'Donnell said.
“We're adding a full range of science labs to make it a comprehensive campus,” he said.
Students will be able to find opportunities for internships and clinical work at local businesses and medical facilities, O'Donnell said. The campus will also have seven spots for small startups in the life sciences, medical device, and information technology fields—a sort of incubator linking the college community to innovative new ventures.
Campus could be a haven for startups too
“We hope we will be defining downtown Framingham as a place for new startup businesses to locate,” O'Donnell said.
Angus McQuilken, spokesman for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, which awarded MassBay a $50,000 planning grant for its life sciences program last year, said the college's expansion of its course offerings is exactly the kind of thing the center wants to support.
“Life sciences is growing very rapidly in the MetroWest area, so one of our goals is to meet the workforce needs of employers,” he said.
At the same time, McQuilken added, because MassBay serves a diverse student population, the new programs should help fulfill another life sciences center goal of diversifying the state's life sciences workforce.
“We're excited at the potential for another space where the commonwealth's students and local entrepreneurs can grow their ideas,” Pat Larkin, director of the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a quasi-public state economic development agency, said in an email. “In places outside of Greater Boston, including Lowell, Holyoke, and Cape Cod, incubators are helping entrepreneurs receive business training, mentoring, and funding.”
Town Hall among potential sites for future campus
The current question occupying the minds of many in Framingham is where, exactly, the college will set up shop. Last July, the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) issued a request for proposals, seeking two to nine acres of land. DCAMM mapped out the general area where the new campus should be located, along the north side of Waverly Street (Route 135), from just west of Concord Street to just east of Bishop Street. Whatever property is chosen must be able to provide 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of academic program space, plus parking for at least 550 cars. DCAMM received multiple proposals by its Oct. 31 deadline. It hasn't released details, but two of the possible sites have been made public by the people submitting them: the former Fabric Place store at 136 Howard St. and town-owned buildings, one of which is the historic Memorial Building that houses town offices at the intersection of Union Avenue and Concord Street.
Marlene Aron, a real estate agent with Metrowest Commercial Real Estate, represents the owners of the vacant Fabric Place site, a two-acre parcel that she said is one of the largest downtown. Marketing materials list the value of the Fabric Place building and adjacent parking at $1.95 million, with another parking lot and smaller building that make up the remainder of the site available for an additional price.
“That would potentially be a fabulous site for” MassBay, Aron said. “The kids could walk to the train station. There's plenty of parking… It's got a lot of big, big, big pluses.”
Just a couple of blocks north of the Fabric Place, the parcels that town officials have offered for the MassBay project are the Memorial Building at 150 Concord St., which houses town offices, the Danforth Building at 123 Union Ave. and the town's Pearl Street parking garage. Town offices would relocate elsewhere downtown if the Concord Street building were to be sold to MassBay, Town Manager Robert J. Halpin previously told the MetroWest Daily News.
“We think there's a good business reason for the town to make that proposal, but we also think it's great visibility right in the heart of Framingham that works well for the college,” Halpin said, in an interview with MetroWest495 Biz.
Aron said she was surprised that the town put its own buildings on the potential list of sites, and she thinks some in Framingham who are resistant to the idea of selling them.
“People look at the town hall as our civic center,” she said.
Halpin said it's true that some local residents seem worried about the fate of the buildings, particularly since the competitive site bidding process makes it impossible for the town leadership to reveal financial details of its proposal. But he said the sale will ultimately go through only if two-thirds of Town Meeting voters support it.
Aron said she's surprised at how long it's taking DCAMM to respond to the proposals, something she expected to happen by the end of 2014.
“We haven't heard a whisper, nothing,” she said.
State agency mum on proposals
But O'Donnell, the MassBay president, said there's been no disruption in the site-selection process, which had no set deadline for completion.
“The only comment I would have for print would be that this process is currently within DCAMM and being worked on,” he said.
Halpin said town officials have met with their local legislative delegation, and he said Gov. Charlie Baker's new administration seems to be busy catching up with proposals that were on the table before he took office.
“We don't anticipate any change in priority,” he said. “We have full confidence.”
A DCAMM spokeswoman did not return calls for this story.
Halpin: Campus would bring 'great vitality'
Downtown boosters say they're excited to see the campus plans move forward.
“From a selfish standpoint, it puts 2,200 students in downtown Framingham,” Halpin said. “We think it will add great vitality to the quality of life in the downtown area.”
Beyond that, he said, the downtown area is accessible for students from around MetroWest, and the college's presence should be a boon to workforce development throughout the region.
Holli Andrews, executive director of Framingham Downtown Renaissance, said the campus should fit in well with many ongoing efforts to revitalize the downtown area.
“I do think that they will be a major part of the transformation of downtown Framingham, and that they'll bring a whole new set of people here that hopefully will be doing a lot of business here and going to the restaurants,” she said. “It'll just bring a whole new liveliness to the atmosphere.”
Already, town officials are working to improve traffic flow and public safety, Andrews said. At one time, she said, some people might have worried about safety issues for students, but she said new community policing initiatives have eased those worries. Perhaps more importantly, confidence about the neighborhood is becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy, as more shoppers and diners walking around mean more eyes on the streets. MassBay students will only strengthen the area's vibrancy, she said.
Andrews said the process of finding a site for MassBay may also have positive side-effects as it highlights development-worthy parcels. She said another big part of downtown redevelopment plans is the creation of residential or mixed-use projects close to public transportation.
“The town has been working really hard at transit-oriented development,” she said. “I think that's another piece that's really giving this a more deliberate feeling.”
When it comes to businesses, both in the technology sectors and more traditional downtown enterprises, Andrews said the presence of students in the area will bring companies and students together to the benefit of both.
“Everybody is really excited that they're going to come,” she said. “We're going to be there to help in any way we can.”
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