FROED One Government Center Fall River, MA 02722-7700 Tel 508-324-2620 Fax 508-677-2840 info@froed.org		GOV. PATRICK ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $17 MILLION IN GRANTS FOR FALL RIVER EXECUTIVE PARK The Fall River Spirit, Thursday, April 9, 2009 - Page A7 Keeping with the Patrick Administration's focus on economic recovery and growing jobs in Massachusetts, today, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki announced $17 million in grants for the creation of the Fall River Executive Park. The multi-million dollar development includes the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth's bio-processing facility as its first anchor tenant and major environmental benefits in the form of more than 4,000 acres of valuable conservation land. The project will mean both long and short term job creation for the Commonwealth. "This project exemplifies how several state agencies, working collaboratively with the local municipality, can attract private investments that create business opportunities and jobs in a region of the state that has so much to offer," said Secretary Bialecki. "This exciting project builds on our investment in the life sciences supercluster and creates long term regional prosperity in an environmentally responsible manner." "It is not often that a project allows for job growth both in the immediate future and the long term as well. This project will create thousands of decent, good paying jobs that will affect the Fall River economy for generations to come. Biotechnology and Life Sciences are two of the industries of the future and we in Southeastern Massachusetts are ecstatic to play a leading role here in Massachusetts," said Mayor Robert Correia. This new agreement, involving the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED) and Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), includes a land swap between the Commonwealth and the city of Fall River to expand the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. The details of the deal include Fall River receiving 300 acres of state land for the industrial park, for $2.45 million, while the Commonwealth receives conservation restrictions on 4,200 acres of city owned property within the Bioreserve which will permanently preserve the environmentally sensitive habitat in the area. Created in 2001, the 14,000-acre Bioreserve is managed cooperatively by The Trustees of Reservations, the City of Fall River, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game's Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. "This is a win for the environment as well as the economy," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles. "Expanding the Bioreserve is fully in line with the priority Governor Patrick has set for protecting large blocks of vital habitat under his land conservation program, which is the largest in state history." "This exciting project brings together the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the City of Fall River to create an innovative and groundbreaking facility that will provide both long and short term employment opportunities for the South Coast," said Senator Joan Menard. "The announcement today fulfills the dream we had over eight years ago when we created the Bioreserve," said Representative Mike Rodrigues. "We have now taken the critical next step in insuring that the Bioreserve meets the goals we set forth in drafting the original legislation - to insure that the south coast is the best place to live work and raise a family." "I am glad to see an initiative that I was involved with on the ground level come to fruition," said Representative David Sullivan. "The people of my district welcome this responsible approach to job creation for this region during these difficult economic times." The area is being designated as a Growth District through EOHED and a $2 million Growth Districts grant is being awarded to the City to expand Riggenbach Road and build an access road to the Executive Park. The project also includes a $15 million grant through the Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and Expansion (MORE) job program for design and construction of bio-processing pilot facility. In total, the Patrick-Murray Administration is leveraging $17 million to jumpstart this significant project. The University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth's bioprocessing facility, which will function as an "anchor" development in the new business park, provides key capabilities for aiding companies in testing their biomanufacturing processes at scale, training their current and future educating the workforce and providing a unique research facility for biomanufacturing research at production scale. This facility will help to advance Massachusetts technical expertise in life science technology. The core facility will include construction of two large scale suites, a purification suite, a quality control lab, an education classroom and teaching laboratory, a small research incubator laboratory, and basic office capabilities. The idea was initially developed with seed funding provided by President Jack Wilson from the UMass Science and Technology Fund. "Being embedded in the community and a full partner in the economic development of the SouthCoast region is central to the mission of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The region and the City of Fall River have targeted the life sciences cluster as a top priority," said Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack. "This facility, and a complementary facility that the state is supporting at UMass Lowell, will help Massachusetts achieve its goal of growing the life sciences sector in regions outside of route 128." With the Bioprocessing Facility, Massachusetts can build on its recent successes in attracting and expanding biomanufacturing in the Commonwealth and extend the growth of its Life Sciences super-cluster beyond research to commercial activities most suitable for locations outside the Boston/Cambridge hub. Back