The Reasons To Choose Worcester
Why is Worcester a good place to do business?
That's a question that I'm sure has been asked innumerable times, as if the answer might change. But the answer is quite simple - Worcester is a great city.
Accolades
Worcester is a five-time all-America city. It's been named one of the top 40 places in America to live and launch, a top 10 city for culture and leisure, a top 5 hot spot for biotech, and one of the best places in America for young singles to live, for families to raise their children, and for creative individuals to prosper.
Worcester is also home to a Nobel Laureate and a medical school that is rated one of the top 15 in the country; and a hospital that is cited as one of the best, if not the best, cardio care facilities in the nation.
And that's just recent history. Its past is equally inspiring.
Over the course of its first several months in operation, Choose Worcester has been working with the city to let as many people as possible know about the benefits of a Worcester location. Those benefits include a hard-working, highly educated workforce, fueled by the immense intellectual capital of the academic institutions in and around its boundaries, its aggressive economic development philosophy, and its affordability and competitiveness versus other urban centers.
Some businesses have listened and chosen Worcester. Angel Guard Products, a manufacturer of rescue equipment and other safety related products, purchased a property in the Airport Industrial Park and will be expanding its workforce there. A Spencer company, CRC Line Inc., a wholesale distributor of auto-body supplies, will be co-locating with Angel Guard and bringing new jobs to the city as well.
PharmaSphere, a nascent biotech company that hopes to use plant enzymes to produce life-saving drugs, plans to invest about $5.5 million to build and equip a 50,000-square-foot facility at 49 Canterbury St. in the South Worcester Industrial Park.
And there are other companies close to making the same kind of commitment over the next several months.
Bumps Along The Road
But we are not without disappointment. We lost out on a manufacturing opportunity, a software company and a food marketing business. In those losses, we were beaten by other states or that mystical âdistance from Route 495â to Worcester.
We have learned that the commonwealth has fewer programs than most other states to help recruit companies. To its credit, the Patrick-Murray administration recognizes these disparities and is making strides to improve the commonwealth's competitiveness. The designation of the Gateway Park area as the state's first Growth District is a step in the right direction. The final passage of the $1 billion Life Science Initiative will be a game changer. It will provide us with a competitive advantage in recruiting life science companies and will be extremely beneficial to Worcester's burgeoning biotech community.
As we continue, Choose Worcester will be focusing intensely on downtown and the types of businesses that would enjoy such a location. From Gateway Park to Federal Square we hope to help to continue building the cake for which CitySquare is the icing.
Oley Carpp is the president and CEO of Choose Worcester, an organization formed to recruit businesses to Worcester.
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