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Print Edition StoriesFriday, December 5, 2008
How We See It
Hidden real estate gems creating jobs, growth
By Mass High Tech Staff
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Solar installation booms in New England
MHT reporter Efrain Viscarolasaga on NECN: Green tech brings jobs back to Mass.
Interactive map of Bedford's Crosby Drive tech hub
MHT's Cleantech Forum
One of the topics that technologists tend to think little about is real estate. You don’t see too many serial entrepreneurs spending time focused on lease rates and haggling over tenant improvements. But in times like these, all operational costs are coming under scrutiny and more and more tech companies, large and small, are rethinking the need to have letterhead that boasts a high-priced address.
That has led to a renaissance in several places across the state: In Lowell, where Motorola consolidated its several acquisitions, and Lawrence, where IBM consolidated its regional rollups. Or the former Polaroid site in New Bedford that Konarka is now leasing. Or Worcester, where WPI’s Gateway Park project is bursting at the seams (see our Page 1 story this week).
Such activity has been promulgated by state economic development officials for several years — and the Romney Administration, to its credit, put some teeth to the effort by initiating several streamlined permitting initiatives. Those were followed last year by state leaders and clean tech boosters, who put together an infrastructure plan that has been cited for such wins as Evergreen Solar’s Devens plant and Great Point Energy’s pilot facility in Somerset.
Such efforts are to be applauded, but more needs to be done — both by state leaders and local companies. Too often, good results have happened not through a set system and strategy that all growing companies might follow, but through the serendipitous work of a dedicated few.
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