Recently, local city and state officials gathered at the "Road Completion Event" at the newly available Southgate Business Park. The roadway entering the park, located immediately off of Rte. 12, has been named Research Dr. The city of Leominster, through economic development coordinator Lisa Vallee, have secured a $1 million grant to bring water, sewer, and utility connections into the park, connecting through the nearby LKQ junkyard at the rapidly aging Jytek Park. The second grant of $1.4 million provided adequate funding for 2,500 feet of road, sideways, granite curbing, and over 100 flowering trees. The city has accepted Research Dr. as a public road and plans to install streetlights at the site.
The project, owned by Bary Cosimi and local developer Jim Whitney, is comprised of approximately 57 acres of pad-ready sites with utilities in place. The developers envision uses at the park which include, bio-tech, medical, office, manufacturing and even retail facing Rte. 12. Whitney has said, "It's not your average industrial park, it's a higher end project with a higher end roadway." The city has deemed Southgate Business Park the only one in the city to qualify for expedited permitting under the state's Chapter 43D Law.
William Kelleher, vice president, James Umphrey, principal, and James Cozza, of Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates, Inc. of Worcester, have been engaged to exclusively represent the owners of the Southgate Business Park.
Cosimi and Whitney, coupled with city and state organizations, see the project not only as a long-term investment, but as an economic boost for the City of Leominster. Ultimately, the developers and officials have said that this project could bring in as much as $94.5 million in private capital and create as many as 250 permanent jobs in the area once Southgate Business Park is at full capacity.
The developers have not stopped planning the growth of Southgate Business Park either. A second phase of development will take place, which will include building a road called Technology Dr. This road will connect Southgate Business Park to Willard St. behind Jytek Park.