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Date: 3/13/2015
HOLYOKE – The release of the 2014 annual report for the Holyoke Innovation District lists both accomplishments and ambitions.
The annual meeting was conducted on March 4 and included an appearance by Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash.
The Holyoke Innovation District is a project of MassTech Collaborative and is a partnership between Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, City of Holyoke, Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, Holyoke Community College, EDC of Western Mass, Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, UMass Amherst, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Holyoke Gas and Electric, MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center.
Mayor Alex Morse said, “We are very excited about the Holyoke Innovation District Annual Meeting as it reflects a transition from planning for an innovation district to actually seeing it come to fruition. Holyoke is truly making its mark nationally as a small city that can play a big role in the innovation economy.”
The accomplishments included:
• The start of a $19 million conversion of the former site of Holyoke Catholic High School into apartments.
• The second phase of the Canalwalk broke ground.
•Private funding secured for the environmental assessment and partial cleanup of parsons paper mill site.
•Thirteen new liquor licenses secured for use by restaurants in the innovation district.
•Gateway City Arts opened a new 72,000 square foot mill space that is ready for tenants.
• Cisco Academy was offered to students ay Holyoke Community College.
• Veritech IT expanded its operations in Holyoke.
• Two former mills sites at 191 and 216 Appleton St. were cleaned up.
• Holyoke Community College (HCC) and Springfield Technical Community College launched a 250-credit hour advanced manufacturing program at Dean Technical High School.
• One hundred-seven employees of advanced manufacturing companies in the region completed a series of sic 20 to 30 hour skill upgrading courses at Dean Technical High School.
• A partnership began with the University of Massachusetts Arts Extension to further arts entrepreneurship.
• Construction of the passenger rail platform begun.
•Holyoke Arts Bazaar series started at the Holyoke Creative Arts center.
Among the ambitions noted for this next year were:
• Recruit Holyoke residents into manufacturing training programs.
• Complete a feasibility study for a new hydroelectric generator on the first level canal.
• Complete both the passenger rail platform and the second phase of the Canalwalk.
• Open the Holyoke media Center in the Innovation District.
• Open a storefront for SPARK, an entrepreneurship and social venture development center, and offer classes and a formal accelerator program for the first group of participants.
• Determine the location for the HCC culinary program that will be located within the district with classes beginning in the fall 2016 semester.
• Re-establish Celebrate Holyoke.
Holyoke Director of Planning and Economic Development Marcos Marrero told Reminder Publications the district is clearly making progress.
“If we didn’t believe in it we would be working on it,” he said.
Marrero noted the Boston Federal Reserve Bank has completed much research into cities that are showing resurgence to define the characteristics behind new growth. Through its analysis bank officials have noted that partnerships between government, the private sector, higher education and non-profits have yielded successes.
He said the Innovation District brings various sectors together on projects. “Really, that’s what the Innovation District does. It gets us on the same page,” Marrero said.
He added that while some projects could be accomplished without the collaboration of the Innovation District, the process wouldn’t be as good.
Marrero explained the projects listed as “ambitions” are in “multiple stages” reflecting the amount of planning work that has already been accomplished. Some ambitions, such as the passenger rail platform and the second phase of the Canalwalk, are “well set in executing them, you can’t take them for granted.”
Problems can arise, such in the on-going construction for the passenger rail platform, and Marrero said one just has to deal with them.
Other ambitions are in the talking phase such as the use of Big Data in the city, he said.
At the meeting, it was announced that Katie Stebbins, the consultant who serves as a project manager for the Innovation District has been appointed by Ash as assistant secretary of technology and innovation and will be leaving her position.
Marrero said Stebbins was not a city employee but was hired by the MassTech Collaborative, and it’s not known at this time what that group will do.
He added he sees Stebbins’s new position as a positive as she will “spread the gospel” of the Innovation District in state government.