“NEW BEDFORD – The City has begun a fresh round of outreach to the developer community to solicit feedback on its new plan to develop a portion of the municipally-owned Whaling City Golf Course as an Advanced Manufacturing Campus (AMC). A Request for Information (RFI) is now available online at www.bidnetdirect.com/massachusetts/newbedford.
In the two years following a 2022 bid to secure a sole master developer for the business park property, the City has refined its strategy to address various impediments to development. The new plan, described in detail in the RFI, introduces several new elements, including:
- A new phased approach allows for a flexible, long-term build-out and encourages initial activation of some or all of the 37 developable acres nearest the front of the business park property.
- A proactive, upfront approach to public sector construction of the access road and utilities for the business park property.
- Upgrades in the adjacent municipal golf course no longer require close sequencing with private sector activity on the business park property; allow the City to commit to the preservation of an 18-hole course; minimize impacts to golf play during course reconfiguration; and reduce construction costs from previous estimates.
- An independent, updated and comprehensive market analysis which confirms the site’s fundamental advantages and healthy, long-term market demand.
Mayor Jon Mitchell addressed the City’s new strategy and the importance of receiving additional feedback from the developer community through the RFI: “We know that the scale and location of the proposed site confer on it inherent competitive advantages and make it strongly suited to development. Located on greenfield land at the intersection of two major highways, with a regional airport less than a mile away and direct access to a freight rail line, the property is a rarity in New England. This is why the site has been the focus of various redevelopment concepts over many decades.
“But we have also understood that the site’s underlying potential only takes us so far. The bones of the site are solid, but in the past several years we have all had to contend with changes in the interest rate environment, and other impediments to success. A preliminary round of feedback from the development community prompted us to look afresh at all our original assumptions and to devise a new plan that significantly reduces financial risk both for the private sector and the City. The result is a much stronger plan that creates a foundation for the site’s long-term development. Today’s RFI is simply a formal mechanism to measure developer interest and kick the tires on our new plan.”…