Proposed park could bring jobs and taxes to city

Date: 11/11/2008

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



CHICOPEE The Board of Aldermen are expected to discuss a proposed sale of city property that could become the newest industrial park in the area at its Nov. 18 meeting.

Allan Blair, the president of the Westover Metropolitan Development Corporation (WMDC), told Reminder Publications the 57 acres the city currently owns in the area between the Airpark West industrial area and the Massachusetts Turnpike would be combined with 20 privately owned acres and 30 acres owned by the WMDC to make the only 100 acre contiguous industrial park in the region.

Blair said despite the economic slowdown there is need for another industrial park, especially one this size.

The property is the location that gambling proponents once cited as a location for a Western Massachusetts casino, Blair noted.

The price being offered the city is $25,500 per acre for a total of $1.45 million. Blair explained the funding for the sale is coming through a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) noise mitigation allocation to the WMDC. The FAA's funding would assure that a non-compliant use for the property, such as housing, wouldn't take place.

The FAA has a "very specific process" in determining the value of the property, Blair said and the WMDC can't compete in any bidding process.

The Board of Aldermen must first declare the property as surplus and authorize Mayor Michael Bissonnette to negotiate with the WMDC. The sale must be concluded within a time period set by the FAA, Blair added.

Once the sale is concluded, Blair said the permitting process would begin to build roads through the property. The permitting process would take 12 to 26 months and then within three to five years the property would be ready for sale.

By that time, Blair believes the economy will have recovered from its present condition.

"The timing would be just right," he said.

There is a need for the 100 acre parcel now, though as the inventory for industrial space is "at it slowest ever," he explained.

"We could use it right now," he added.

Blair said the 100-acre size is attractive for larger projects and there is simply no other parcel that large in the area. Its frontage on the Turnpike would give tenants exposure, which he said would be attractive to "high end users."

Access to the new industrial park would be through the current ones to minimize impact on residential neighborhoods, he said.

Based on the occupancy of the Airpark West and North industrial parks, Blair estimated the new area could be the location for 1,100 new jobs and $1 million annually in tax revenue for the city.