There are motivations behind the state's "Growth Districts"

By George O'Brien

07/23/2008- Business West

For several years now, Springfield leaders have been focused on what some call a 'corridors' strategy. Focused on Main and State streets, the initiative is built on the theory that, if progress comes to those main arteries, it will spread to surrounding neighborhoods. Those corridors are now the main boundary lines to a so-called 'growth district,' one of many created by the state with the goal of putting economic-development efforts on a faster track.

Nick Fyntrilakis calls it a "commitment of things to come."

That's his way of assessing the news that the state has identified a so-called "growth district" in Springfield, a T-shaped stretch of real estate, more than 1,000 acres, that includes long sections of State and Main streets and areas just off those main arteries.

Fyntrilakis, assistant vice president of Community Responsibility for MassMutual and one of many civic and business leaders committing time and energy to development efforts along State Street, told BusinessWest that it's way too early to know what those 'things' he references will be. But he does know that, with the growth-district designation, the city has gained - in the state and its Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development (EOHED) - an important partner for future economic-development efforts.

"There were many examples of partnership long before this district was created," he said, noting, as others did, a strong commitment on the part of the state and the Patrick administration to help revitalize the City of Homes. "But now, we've really cemented that partnership ... I'm confident that when there are opportunities for the state to help, through grants or technical support, or whatever means it might have at its disposal, it will be at the table with us."

This concept of partnership is the driving force behind what the state EOHED calls the Growth Districts Initiative, or GDI, launched earlier this year. That word, or variations of it, is used several times in official EOHED literature that spells out just what the program was created to accomplish.

"EOHED will partner with municipalities that have identified one or more areas within their communities as being appropriate locations for significant new growth, whether commercial, residential, or mixed use," it states. "Within those identified growth districts, EOHED will work with the community and property owners to make the district truly 'development-ready' with respect to local permitting, state permitting, and marketing.

"The primary obstacle to streamlined permitting in Massachusetts has been a failure to plan ahead for new growth and development at both the state and local levels," it continues. "By our failing to plan ahead, the important questions of 'what should be built?' 'where should it be built?' 'how should it be built?' and 'what infrastructure do we need to support it?' have been left to be discussed and debated in the permitting process for individual projects."

The growth district will help answer those questions, especially the one about 'where,' on a broader scale, said David Panagore, Springfield's chief development officer. In doing so, it will help the city and state focus their limited resources where they should be focused.

"What the growth district does is organize everyone around a common agenda," noted Panagore, who, like others we spoke with, said the model for these growth districts is the ongoing development of what is now known simply as Devens.

A 4,000-acre site that comprises most of the old military base that straddles the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, Devens is a bustling residential community and business park that now boasts dozens of companies, with more on the way.

Springfield's growth district winds through a number of neighborhoods - from the North End to the South End, from downtown to Pine Point - and includes major employers (Baystate Health and MassMutual), colleges (STCC and AIC), the riverfront, and the Quadrangle. It stretches from the Chicopee border to the Longmeadow border, and covers nearly three miles of State Street.

This is a large area, said Panagore, and one that includes most all of the top priorities outlined in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) study of the city conducted in 2006. These include the South End neighborhood, Court Square, the old federal building, and many others.

While officials anticipate that the growth-district designation spurs development of specific buildings or blocks, they also hope that such progress serves as a catalyst for further growth off those main arteries and across the city.

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno used the word "tributaries" to describe the side streets off the two main thoroughfares included in the growth district, and told BusinessWest that new developments along Main and State streets would be somewhat shallow victories if the progress didn't extend well into the surrounding neighborhoods.

"It has to extend to those tributaries," he explained, citing the South End, a trouble spot for more than two decades, as an example. "If we can turn around the South End, we've proven that there's no area we can't turn around."

Building Blocks

A quick look at some of the 10 growth districts created thus far - the total eventually will reach 16 - reveals how they vary in size, scope, and specific types of projected development.

In Chicopee, for example (actually a parcel that straddles Chicopee and Springfield), the growth district is comparatively small and quite specific - the Chicopee River Business Park. The 190-acre facility, which was nearly 30 years in the making, has just one tenant several years after it opened. Within the new district, permitting is guaranteed to be completed within 75 days, one of many strategies aimed at drawing attention, and potential tenants, to the park.

Other growth districts include those in:

Worcester, in an 81-acre area known as Innovation Square. Anticipated build-out includes 1 milllion square feet of commercial space and 350 new housing units on several sites, including Gateway Park, a former Boys & Girls Club, and the 100,000-square-foot War Memorial Audit-orium;

Pittsfield, specifically a 1,260-acre section called the Pittsfield Urban Center. Within it, there is potential for 350,000 square feet of commercial development and 330 new housing units.

A section of Weymouth called Southfield, which is home to the former Weymouth Naval Air Station. The 1,368-acre site can potentially yield 2 million square feet of commercial space and 3,855 residential units.

New Bedford, in a 95-acre section known as the Hicks Logan Sawyer District. There is room for 250 residential units and 2.25 million square feet of mixed-use development in several old mills located on or just off the waterfront.

In each community, the hope is that, by identifying sites that are appropriate for development, ready for development, and have fast permitting, these locations can gain the attention of private-sector investors and site selectors who are often frustrated in their efforts to conduct business in Massachusetts.

Darrell LeMar, a spokesperson for EOHED, said the growth districts were created to essentially facilitate and expedite growth by giving the development community several attractive options, and that all-important factor of speed.

"People in business don't want to wait two or three years to get something permitted and approved," he explained. "They want to be able to move when they are ready, and these growth districts provide places where they can."

This formula has certainly worked in Devens, which is one of those 10 identified growth districts. There, permitted land, infrastructure, and other ingredients have attracted such companies as Bristol Meyers Squibb, Gillette, Polycarbon Industries, Evergreen Solar, American Semiconductor, and even Western New England College, which has a small satellite facility in the community.

There are certainly additional challenges in urban centers like Springfield, Worcester, and New Bedford, said LeMar, but there are also opportunities, and the growth-district concept was created to help investors take full advantage of them.

In Springfield, officials hope the growth-district designation will spur commercial and residential growth in an area far less expensive than the eastern part of the state.

And even before the district was officially created, area civic and business leaders saw an example of how it might work.

Roads to Progress

This was the announcement that Liberty Mutual would be locating a call center in the Technology Park at Springfield Technical Community College, a move that will bring several hundred new jobs to the city.

The Patrick administration steered the corporation toward Springfield; economic development leaders provided them with several options, including the tech park; and officials and even tenants there (Western Mass. Electric Co. gave up some of its space) worked to get the deal done.

And now the state is backing up that development with a $2 million grant that will fund a series of road improvements in the Armory Street area that will hopefully generate additional business development.

And there have been other examples of partnership, said Fyntrilakis, citing a home-ownership program involving Mass-Mutual, several other employers along the State Street corridor, including several colleges, and now the state. Employers provide $10,000 to first-time buyers who commit to buying homes or condos within the corridor, said Fyntrilakis, adding that the state recently agreed to match that amount, giving potential participants much more buying power.

Moving forward, officials in Springfield anticipate many new and different ways for this partnership to manifest itself, perhaps with direct involvement and incentives to inspire development of such sites as the federal building, Court Square, the old York Street Jail, Union Station, and others.

But they also hope and expect that additional success stories will spur progress well outside the official growth district.

"The hope is that these are catalytic projects," said Fyntrilakis. "We want developments on these two corridors to serve as catalysts for the rest of the city so things can spin off. State Street connects through six or seven neighborhoods; you can see the potential for catalytic impact from a State Street that is a more vibrant and economically stable environment.

"It's the same with Main Street, which goes through the North End, the South End, and the metro district, and is essentially the gateway to Forest Park," he continued. "So this is not just about the places along these corridors, but about the neighborhoods they touch, and creating some momentum in them."

From an organizational standpoint, the growth district provides a focal point, albeit a broad one, said Panagore, adding that the district puts the city and state on that proverbial same page when it comes to resources and when and how to allocate them.

Which is important, he said, when many communities, especially older urban centers, are competing for the state's attention and assistance.

"Rather than having people look at doing projects somewhere in Springfield, we're instead able to say that this is the area of focus - for transportation, housing, economic development, workforce efforts, and so on," he said. "And this is incredibly valuable.

"And the reason why is that a lot of the efforts in communities like Springfield are focused on creating a plan and getting everyone organized and on the same page," he continued. "If you've got that - if you've got the plan - then you've got about 60% of what you need done; that's a big step forward."

Panagore told BusinessWest that, as the state and its various offices go about the broad task of facilitating economic development and allocating resources for such efforts, it is looking for communities like Springfield to be organized in their strategic efforts and not taking what amounts to a shotgun approach. And the growth district provides that level of organization.

"The state wants to know, if it has $100 million worth of requests and only $50 million to spend, that each one of those $50 million they have to spend is going to worthwhile projects," he said, "that people are united beyond the program, things are going to get done, and the money won't languish."

A Developing Story

Fyntrilakis acknowledged that it might be difficult for some in the business community to fully grasp what the 'growth-district' designation means in terms of driving progress in Springfield.

To him, it means that the city is now in an even-stronger partnership with the state in ongoing efforts to revitalize the city and its individual neighborhoods, and at a time when the public sector needs to prime the pump to spur private investment.

"We've seen the state's commitment to Springfield," said Fyntrilakis, again referencing the Liberty Mutual deal, the home-buyers program, and other recent examples. "This growth district is simply icing on the cake, a way to say that there's more of this to come."v