Quonset Business Park closes out 2025 strong - by Steven J. King

Momentum at the Quonset Business Park — located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island — continued throughout 2025. As we have for many years, Quonset ranked among the Top 10 best industrial parks in the United States and remains one of the Top 10 auto importers in North America.

This year, we surpassed a major milestone with the announcement that the Quonset Business Park is now home to more than 15,000 jobs at over 260 companies. We marked this achievement at Hayward Industries, a company that has been growing at Quonset since 2004.

The success of Hayward and of our honorary 15,000^th employee, a recent University of Rhode Island graduate, tells a story about what’s happening at Quonset: young people are finding meaningful, good-paying careers right here in Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, construction began this year on major projects to support or expand manufacturing at three notable Quonset tenants. REGENT Craft’s new 255,000 s/f facility will produce electric seagliders, creating 300 new jobs over the next 10 years. Anduril Industries’ new 150,000 s/f facility will support the production of their unmanned underwater vehicles and create more than 100 new jobs. At Edesia Nutrition, a 200,000 s/f expansion will double the company’s capacity to manufacture a nutrition supplement to fight global malnutrition while also creating more than 50 new jobs. These projects offer another powerful reminder: American manufacturing is alive and well at the business park.

At the Port of Davisville, we completed construction on the first new pier built at Quonset in nearly 70 years. The Terminal 5 Pier increases the capacity of the port and accommodates a variety of cargo ships. The Blue Economy Support Docks, adjacent to the pier, provide small businesses with in-demand access to Narragansett Bay, supporting maritime product testing and R&D. 

Statewide, Rhode Island Ready continues to support development in many communities. Based on Quonset’s successful site readiness model, the program is creating an inventory of pre-permitted properties ready for industrial development. The Quonset Board of Directors has authorized $16.35 million in strategic investments to upgrade and prepare 21 approved sites for future development and thousands of new jobs across our state.

This year’s success would not be possible without the dedicated support of our public and private sector partners. My team and I look forward to continuing to work together to drive Quonset’s momentum into 2026, and beyond. 

Steven J. King, P.E. is the managing director of the Quonset Development Corp., North Kingstown, R.I.