Gardner optics manufacturer to move HQ to Littleton, receives $1.3M tax credit
Rendering | Courtesy of Town of Littleton
A mixed-use project planned for King Street in Littleton
Medical and defense optics manufacturer Precision Optics is relocating its corporate headquarters from Gardner to a larger site at the King Street Common mixed-use development in Littleton, having received a $1.29-million tax credit from the state in support of the move.
Precision Optics received the tax credit from the Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council in support of its $2.6-million move from its headquarters at 22 East Broadway St. in Gardner to a site at 550 King St. currently being transformed into a 2.3-million-square-foot development. The move is expected to create 86 new jobs, according to a Wednesday press release from the Executive Office of Economic Development.
The move to a larger facility will help Precision Optics address a growing production backlog, which reached an all-time high this year, according to a Precision Optics press release from June announcing the intent to relocate. The company has also opened a new facility in South Portland, Maine to help meet demand.
“As our business has grown, it has become evident that we need to expand our production facilities in a cost-efficient manner to meet our growing backlog; and we need to access the best possible engineering talent that Massachusetts and Maine have to offer. Today’s announcement accomplishes both of these objectives,” Joe Forkey, CEO of Precision Optics, said in the June press release.
The company’s new headquarters will be located in Building A, Suite 100 of the King Street Common development. Precision Optics did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the timeline for the move.
The 50-acre site in Littleton, which once served as a campus for IBM, is slated to feature 1,089 residential units, 115,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 90,000 square feet of R&D lab space, and a 150-room hotel. The site will serve as the 72,500-square-foot U.S. headquarters of HIPER Global, a computer hardware manufacturer currently based in North Andover.
Lupoli Cos., a Lawrence-based firm owned by Sal’s Pizza founder Sal Lupoli, is behind King Street Common, which will be constructed in phases until its expected completion date in 2037.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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