Plastics Center Plans Show Promise For Main Street | Money question remains for Fitchburg project
Rendering/Courtesy
VISION FOR DOWNTOWN: An artist's rendering of the old Harper Furniture building reborn as a center for advanced polymers.
An advanced polymers center in downtown Fitchburg could be many things: a training center for North Central plastics companies that want to adopt bio- and nano-manufacturing technologies, a space where plastics researchers could experiment and share findings and a state-of-the-art facility with geothermal climate control and super-efficient energy systems in a 100-year-old brick industrial building.
The architectural feasibility of these kinds of plans for the old Harper Furniture building at 10 Main St. was confirmed in a study done by students and faculty at Fitchburg State University, working under the auspices of FSC’s Regional Economic Development Institute. Now, the question is, will anyone pay to get the center off the ground and then keep it running?
From Classroom To Main Street
David McKeehan, president of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, said a survey done about a year- and-a-half ago showed that local plastics companies were very interested in the idea of a polymers center.
He said there are about 110 plastics companies in the area.
The most successful ones are those that have embraced new technology, he said, and a resource like the center could help others to do the same.
“But clearly what we really need is to have a firm understanding that such a center is viable, that it has a sustainable source of revenue that would perpetuate its work,” McKeehan said.
“Because clearly there’s no sense in moving forward unless we have a high level of confidence that that’s possible.”
The idea for the architectural study came out of discussions among the chamber, Fitchburg State and REDI and Micron Products Inc., an advanced plastics company that makes medical device components and also owned the old Harper building.
REDI, which was founded two years ago to research economic development issues in North Central Massachusetts, saw an opportunity to take on a concrete project, according to Director Joshua Spero.
“We wanted to do some very practical research that could really lead to investment in the community,” Spero said.
Book Smarts
So D. Keith Chenot, a FSU architecture professor and REDI researcher, devoted an entire class in the fall 2010 semester to creating the feasibility study.
Chenot and his student researchers consulted with plastics executives on what they should include and produced plans that feature labs, clean rooms, incubator space, classrooms and administrative offices.
They also offer ways to conserve energy and water, as well as a geothermal exchange system to minimize heating and cooling costs.
The report puts the total cost for retooling the building and buying equipment at $5.9 million, which it says is comparable to the cost of building from scratch elsewhere.
McKeehan said he was impressed with the report and is now looking into creating a business plan that would investigate what it would take to make the center a reality.
He said the center would certainly need financial support from local plastics companies and perhaps also federal or state funding.
Another possible source of various types of support could be Fitchburg State University itself, and perhaps the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, which is home to a well-respected plastics manufacturing program.
“Their involvement in this would be an extraordinary economic development resource,” he said.
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