The Quonset Development Corp. (QDC) is working to optimize the Quonset Business Park with a coordinated approach to cultivate a wide variety of businesses and industries that take advantage of the park's regional location, onsite multimodal transit centers and large, flat land use parcels. There are many tangible successes of this coordinated approach with 168 companies coexisting and prospering in the business park.
The extraordinary mix of business park tenants includes a commercial lighting manufacturer, a gourmet local grocery store, a frozen fish distributor, and submarine defense contractor. Among our more recent success stories is UNETIXS a cutting edge company that manufactures and designs advanced instrumentation for diagnostic vascular testing.
When UNETIXS was asked to move from its former leased location to make way for growth of the Army National Guard airport, QDC worked with the company to keep it at the business park. The result- not only did UNETIXS stay - it expanded with a corporate headquarters, research and development, and professional training facility. It has been in its new location, on a 3.6-acre lot, for 15 months.
In December, UNETIXS hosted the QDC board of director's monthly meeting followed by a tour of the new facility. UNETIXS president and CEO Peter Moscovita shared his thoughts about where the company is going and how it benefits from its location at the business park. Below are some of his insights.
What goes on at UNETIXS? You do all manufacturing, packaging, development there?
Moscovita: Yes, we develop and design our own production, and we have our own marketing activities, with 26 sales offices around the country and one in England. Quonset is the main headquarters, though. Everything is done right from here.
What are the areas of growth in your company right now?
Moscovita: Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is the number one medical problem in the world, even bigger than cancer. It affects some 18 million people plus in the U.S., so it's a major problem. We make the diagnostic devices to actually test and diagnose patients with PAD. You'll find these used in all major hospitals and clinics, in cardiology, radiology and vascular surgery.
You've been in the new building for 15 months now. How is it going?
Moscovita: My main objective was to be in the same town, with the same telephone number. Quonset seemed to be the place for long-term stability and growth, so I looked at 11 properties mainly in the park, and chose this one.
What do you like about being located at Quonset?
Moscovita: It's nice to be close to the airport, because we're going to be conducting education here. People come in from all over the world for training on this equipment, which is complicated. I've always felt that Quonset is the gem of Rhode Island. It has rail, it has a new road system, which is excellent, and it has the airport, which I can get to in eight or nine minutes and of course the water base. We're in a free trade zone, too, which makes a big difference to us.
What's coming down the pipeline for UNETIXS?
Moscovita: We're waiting to get CE certification (which regulates products entering the European Union). Once we get our certification, our international business will start increasing quite rapidly. Our business in the U.S. will grow, too. As healthcare becomes more preventative in nature, and with an aging population, the need for our products will be increasing.
From the perspective of QDC and the business park, UNETIXS is an ideal model of the type of company that can take advantage of the Park's unique assets to grow while also bringing new good jobs to Rhode Island. We look forward to working with UNETIXS and welcome inquiries from other like companies interested in located at the Quonset Business Park.
Steven King, P.E., is the managing director of the Quonset Development Corp., North Kingstown.