Framingham's Well Won't Run Dry
Genzyme is optimistic about $260 million expansion plans
Genzyme's plans for an expanded 300,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Framingham unexpectedly ran dry last fall when it was revealed the town's water infrastructure had reached its capacity.
"The problem for us was spending money designing a facility, not knowing if the town was able to move forward and if the infrastructure wasn't there," said Mark Bamforth, Genzyme's senior vice president of corporate operations and pharmaceuticals.
Funding Flow
The flow of design and development money was increased to a trickle by short-term measures taken by the state in January in the form of a $250,000 Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and Expansion (MORE) grant. The grant will fund at least the very preliminary site and engineering work needed to begin the subsequent infrastructure upgrades, said Julian Suso, Framingham's town manager.
Suso, while grateful the funding has been included in the latest version of the life sciences bill, is still cautious. He said that there is still a long way to go, and while optimistic about estimates on the type and scope of work necessary, nothing is certain until preliminary site work is completed.
If all goes as planned, however, work on the $12.9 million infrastructure upgrade could potentially proceed faster than anticipated.
The reality of the legislative process means that the money earmarked for Framingham in the latest House version of Gov. Patrick's bill may not make it into the final product. Nevertheless, Bamforth said his company has been sufficiently assured that state funding for the necessary infrastructure improvements will come from somewhere.
"What we've been told is they [the legislature] are committed to funding this through the [life sciences] bill," Bamforth said. "So whether it remains an earmark as is, or the funding has to go through the Life Sciences Center for accreditation, we would expect that one way or another it will be funded."
The funding, when and if it does arrive, will pave the way for a 300,000-square-foot expansion to Genzyme's already sprawling, 14-building Framingham campus. The expansion could result in approximately 300 new jobs to the more than 1,800-plus employees already in town, Bamforth said. It is projected to cost $260 million and is expected to be completed by 2011.
The infrastructure upgrades will also make future expansion in the Framingham Technology Park on the western edge of town, home to other tech luminaries like Bose Corp., much more feasible, Suso said.
Bamforth said he was glad the state has stepped in and committed itself to making Genzyme's corporate expansion a reality in Framingham. If the state hadn't given such a commitment, Bamforth said, it was feasible the company could have relocated.
"At the end of the day, we had a point where we could have gone somewhere else," Bamforth said. "But it made more sense to do this in Framingham. Nobody has told us we shouldn't be doing this, not the governor, the House or the town manager. There's been no shortage of good will, and that gives me the confidence that we'll see this through."
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