Looking back to 2011: Fidelity ships out of Marlborough

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This year, the Worcester Business Journal marks its 25th anniversary. In each print edition, we will highlight a major event that took place within the Central Massachusetts business community between 1990 and 2014 and how that event impacts today's business scene.

Later this year, on Oct. 13, we will publish a special 25th Anniversary commemorative edition in which we will look at the companies and business leaders who made a difference in the region, and we'll look ahead to what the coming years could bring.

EVENT: Boston-based Fidelity Investments decides to close its offices in Marlborough, impacting 1,100 employees who were either laid off or offered to transfer to other company offices in New England.

RECAP: At the time of the announcement, the financial services giant had about 35 percent fewer employees than it had five years earlier, having had several rounds of layoffs. The company's decision to leave Marlborough was considered a big loss for the city and left a gaping, 700,000-square-foot hole in the form of vacant office space at its Puritan Way campus.

FAST FORWARD: It didn't take long for Marlborough to recover from the loss. A year later, the TJX Cos., the Framingham-based parent of retail brands TJ Maxx, Marshall's and Home Goods, announced it was buying the two former Fidelity buildings for a reported $72 million, making it a “secondary” headquarters to Framingham and moving about 1,600 employees to the site by 2013.

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