Tech Park Expansion Begins | Officials hope to make CenTech East alternative to higher-priced towns
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DIGGING IN: Various state and local officials gathered to mark the start of expansion at CenTech Park in Shrewsbury/Grafton.
With the recent groundbreaking of CenTech Park East in Shrewsbury, officials hope to create 600 jobs and give Shrewsbury and Grafton a reputation as an accessible, low-tax, business-friendly alternative to surrounding locales, even the Boston suburbs.
The park itself is in Shrewsbury, on the former site of the Grafton State Hospital. Development rights to the 84-acre property are owned by the Worcester Business Development Corp.
The site is served by utilities provided through an agreement between Shrewsbury and Grafton. It is next to the existing CenTech Park, the Grafton MBTA commuter rail station and the Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
According to the WBDC, development of CenTech Park East will be complementary to CenTech Park, which is home to a plastics firm, an office building, a fiber optics company, a software firm and a veterinary diagnostics firm.
Helping to get CenTech Park East off the ground was a $2 million federal grant awarded to the town of Shrewsbury and the WBDC in 2008. That grant will fund infrastructure, including an access road. The total budget for infrastructure work is $3 million. A state grant of $1 million is also being leveraged to cover the costs.
With road access through what is known as Lot 9, a 21-acre parcel owned by the WBDC, the remaining acreage of CenTech Park East is available for prime development.
It is estimated that CenTech East will be able to support about 650,000 square feet of building with the potential to create 600 jobs.
If You Build It
Jack Perreault, Shrewsbury town engineer, said the CenTech Park East site has attracted interest in recent years, but there are no concrete plans for commercial development of the site on the drawing board.
He said it makes sense to get started with the infrastructure project on the site to sell the park’s easy access to Route 20, Route 30 and commuter rail to prospective property owners. He said CenTech Park East will likely be developed the way the original CenTech was: Companies buy parcels and develop them to suit.
State Rep. Karyn Polito, R-Shrewsbury, said the challenge now is to make CenTech Park East attractive to commercial users.
She and Perreault both said infrastructure improvements are very important in that regard. “Having infrastructure in place is a key element in attracting commercial/industrial tenants,” Polito said.
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