Littleton Road Project To Support Major Development
For most investors, a 10 percent return is hard to come by these days. In Littleton, a $1.8-million state investment in road and infrastructure improvements will attract $100 million in private development money and an estimated 800 new jobs. Eat your heart out, Wall Street.
State economic chief Greg Bialecki joined other state and local officials, as well as Boston-based developer Sam Park this week to hold an official groundbreaking for the project, which will widen a portion of Route 119 right off of I-495, add three traffic signals, dedicated turn lanes and a water main to serve Park's adjacent 90-acre development.
The Point
The state's MassWorks infrastructure program kicked in $1.8 million. Park has matched it with $609,000 of his own, part of which will be used to construct sidewalks.
"It's what we've been working towards," said Keith Bergman, Littleton's Town Administrator. "We're delighted to be able to proceed."
The Point, as Park has coined his project, is a $60-million, mixed-use development on a piece of land right off the highway and formerly known as the Cisco property. Several projects had been proposed in decades past, but nothing was ever built at the property.
That will change as early as this fall. Park, who bought the land a year ago for $6 million, expects to begin vertical construction on the first phase of The Point before the end of the year. He hopes to attract a hotel, restaurants and other tenants, though none have yet been announced. Park told GateHouse News in July that he will begin marketing the property in September.
Sewer A Challenge
Development officials said The Point would generate 400 full-time jobs and 400 part-time jobs, as well as 228 construction jobs.
Bergman said the road improvements will also improve traffic access to the nearby IBM Mass Lab, which opened in 2010 and is IBM's biggest software development lab in the country.
The road project includes construction of a water main, but there is no sewer at the site. Bergman admitted that a lack of infrastructure amenities is a challenge. He said town officials are looking at the possibility of grant money for sewer construction aimed specifically at spurring development.
But the town seems to be doing pretty well. It's future growth that's on Bergman's mind
"If IBM wanted to expand in the future, it would certainly be easier for them to do that with sewer," he said.
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