The Plymouth Industrial Park
by Plymouth County Business staffNearly 50 years ago, a dedicated group of business and town leaders, deeply troubled by the loss of Plymouth’s primary industry and employer, percolated a vision that has brewed a half-century of economic development which still exudes the aroma of possibility.
What began in 1962 as the Plymouth Industrial Park – within 450 acres of mostly undeveloped land on the fringes of town – today is a hub for commerce, technology, health care and retail services. Once isolated and anonymous to many, it now sits at the burgeoning crossroads of routes 3 and 44, a neighbor to a brand-new shopping complex, Colony Place, along with a Hampton Inn, banks and restaurants.
“Now everything is coming to us. Colony Place has truly increased traffic flow and the potential for business and sales,” said Anthony LaGreca, president of Oreck Commercial Sales, a vacuum
cleaning company and one of the park’s oldest occupants.
Still, with these new possibilities come concerns – even anxiety among some like LaGreca – that the park is not living up to its promise or keeping up with its changing demographics as original manufacturing tenants give way to more high-tech, service and customer-based occupants.
Those tenants now include Comcast’s regional call center, a nuclear industry staffing company, hearing and eye care centers, doctor’s offices, health clubs and child-care services, alternative energy companies and financial services – many that could as easily locate on busy downtown streets or thoroughfares near exits 5 and 6 of Route 3. Even businesses like Granite City Electric and J.T. Cazeault roofers are expanding customer showrooms to accompany office headquarters and warehouses.
The single biggest concern among most of these businesses is the lack – some would say absence – of signage. At its borders, there are few signs leading to the park, except to the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Directories are located at only two of its entrances, and both are not easy to read – with some listings outdated. Once inside the 450 acres, there are no signs at intersections to help find individual businesses. Complicating matters further, there is no Web site with a comprehensive business listing.
LaGreca recently took matters into his own hands and put up some homemade signs at the corner of Industrial Park and Armstrong roads, guiding visitors to his showroom. But he was forced to take them down, he reported – adding that he lost thousands of dollars in customer traffic since then.
He recently commissioned a much more expensive, professionally designed sign for his and other businesses in the office condominium he co-owns with Atlantic Properties. LaGreca is ready to
pay for the sign himself. Now, he hopes other members of the Plymouth Industrial Park Association will go along.
One of the park’s founders, Ed Santos – who also is chairman of the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce – acknowledges the signage challenge and opportunity; as does Ben Stout, who owns Atlantic Properties and is president of PIPA.
They also agree that the time is right to formally change the park’s name from “Industrial” to “Commerce” as a key step toward better marketing one of the region’s primary economic drivers and
home to more than 120 businesses – half of whom are association members.
“The name change makes perfect sense,” said Santos. “It would be more reflective of what is here now than when we built the park. It would be a great thing.”
He’s also sympathetic to calls for greater signage, but said the issue will come down to cost and who pays.
Added Stout: “We have discussed this issue at length with Mass Highway and will continue to have discussions that will hopefully result in better signage for the Plymouth Industrial Park and the companies that occupy space here.”
COMING A LONG WAY IN 50 YEARS
The park was founded and still is managed by the Plymouth Industrial Park Corporation. But its 50-year charter is slated to expire in 2012, with no intention of being extended. Santos, who has been its president, doesn’t see the PIDC financing signage; so that issue – and most others – will be left to PIPA, he suspects.
In his 80s, Santos is among the very few Plymouth Industrial Park Association original founders still alive or actively involved in the Plymouth business community. A bank officer at Plymouth Home National back then, he clearly appreciates that the park in 1962 was to the town what Plymouth Rock Studios is today.
Back then, though, Plymouth was suffering from double-digit unemployment and was designated a distressed area by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Cordage Company had recently closed, killing hundreds of jobs within the rope factory and among the many businesses dependent upon it.
Ed Mayer, traffic manager at the Plymouth Cordage Company, and Henry Barnes Jr., president of Plymouth National Bank, became the leaders of the initial PIDC efforts. They shaped a vision that was to be inclusive of the diverse groups within Plymouth. The sons and daughters of Italian, German, Irish and Portuguese immigrants were invited to sit at the table with the other business owners and descendants of the Mayflower.
The corporation raised $125,000. Five-dollar shares of stock were sold with the understanding that there would be no interest or dividends paid. The shares will be eligible for redemption in 2012 for the original value of $5.
“This is perhaps the first time in history that so many diverse groups have worked together for a common cause,” said David Freedman, the first PIDC president.
Initially, they hoped to redevelop the largely vacant Cordage Company buildings, a dream that could not be realized until recently, according to a recent history by Michael A. Gallerani and published by Michael Anthony.
In the meantime, the corporation began buying up the first 100 acres for the industrial park. Ground was broken on May 26, 1968. Its first tenants included New England Telephone, Ad-Tech and Pixley Richards and Richards Micro Tool.
Gallerani wrote:
The park’s growth paralleled dramatic changes in Plymouth, as housing starts shot up along with the school population. New firms such as KAL Manufacturing, North River Plastics, Tech-Etch, Pastronics and National Welders bought land in the park and constructed new buildings.
In 1973, the PIDC bought an additional 88 acres for development. In 1975, MIJA Industries and Balsbaugh Industries opened their new facility. Each company became a major employer, attracting workers from as far as Boston, Quincy, Randolph and Cape Cod. The Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway and AMSCO Sales became part of the industrial park in 1976. MIJA and Richards Micro Tool expanded as each enjoyed remarkable growth.
Phases II and III were given the go-ahead in 1977, opening up another 93 acres and the arrival of Packaging Products and Bechtel Corporation.
In 1978, Foxboro Company bought Balsbaugh in the first major acquisition of an existing building and business in the park. Also that year, Gummer Associates, Tassinarri Computer Center, South Shore Bearing and Quackels Prefab became parts of the park. The Game Point Racquetball and Health Club was built in 1979 (recognizing the need to support companies with services).
In 1981, Foxboro Corporation agreed to purchase 34 acres adjacent to its building for the development of a new research, design and manufacturing facility. MIJA Industries and Pixley Richards expanded. Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Fava Control Systems and Superior Pet Products constructed new buildings that same year.
A study by the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College concluded: “Plymouth will continue to attract medium-size manufacturers, but will also become very attractive to high-tech and corporate development.”
During 1995, a $1.75 million public works grant made it possible for the town to build a roadway system that connected the park to Route 80 and the new Route 44. A new roadway system was completed in 1996, opening 70 acres for new development.
The decision of LaFrance Hospitality to purchase a parcel large enough for a 122-room Hampton Inn and several free-standing restaurants signaled the success of the decision to rezone the edge parcels in the park, which soon would have full-service restaurants, a hotel, retail shopping centers, exercise and healthcare facilities to complement longstanding industrial users.
In 1999, the nearly 60-year wait for the new Route 44 was almost over, as construction of the multilane highway that would link Plymouth to Route 495 and points west was started.
A rezoning of major parcels on the northwest edge of the park resulted in an agreement with Viking Development in 1998 that allowed the potential for major retail development that would complement the park. The property was joined with land to be developed by Saxon Partners, resulting in Colony Place.
AN EVER INCREASING DIVERSITY
Even as the PIDC prepares to step aside in three years, the corporation has established a new entity – the Plymouth Regional Economic Development Corporation – in conjunction with the chamber of commerce and the town.
It will be looking to some 1,000 acres around Cedarville that Santos envisions being a perfect location for future hightech industry. The parcel, much of which is environmentally protected, was the original site for Plymouth Rock Studios before it chose to move farther north.
Meanwhile, more than 120 current tenants populate the nearly full park. Their diversity would be surprising to most residents of Plymouth.
With such a cornucopia of companies, our editors chose a half dozen to profile – not only to tell their individual stories, but also to share their formulas for success in hopes they can teach other businesses far beyond the park’s borders.
We talked to an audiologist who recently purchased a hearing center; the owners of a longtime roofing company that moved from downtown to the park and dramatically expanded; a company that provides staffing services to nuclear power plants and facilities around the world; a company that sells Oreck vacuum cleaners to hotels and businesses globally; and a home health care company whose growth mirrors our aging population. ■
Published in Plymouth County Business April/May 2009
