City Hires Marketer to Help Fill Vacant Industrial Park

A new marketing firm has been hired by the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority to market the city's industrial business park on Commerce Way, a park that has been the center of controversy for years. 

The city has hired and will retain MG Commercial Realty Corp. of Providence, a company which deals heavily in industrial and commercial property, as its exclusive marketing agent, Attleboro Director of Budget and Administration Barry LaCasse said during Thursday's ARA's meeting. MG is currently marketing a 93,773 square-foot multi-tenant industrial facility at 20 Townsend Rd., which is located in another industrial park. 

 "ARA and the city are interested in marketing and selling lots as they become available or to maybe sell land to private developers,” LaCasse said.

"We have compiled all the data, plans and statistics we have for them and they have done everything we asked," he added. "They will be very helpful in selling the property."

Residents, city councilors, the city's accessor Stan Nacewicz and State Rep. George Ross have all spoken out about the city's lack of effort in marketing the park, which currently has only one tenant, MAR Seafood. 

“I was one of two members on the City Council nine years ago who voted against the city getting involved in real estate,” Ross said. “I was critical no one had developed a marketing plan, but I am pleased they are taking steps to do some marketing. It is long overdue. I wish they have done that years ago.”

Before marketing the park, the ARA had to deal with the controversy surrounding the sale of land to MAR Seafood.  “We sold the property without asking permission,” ARA Chair Judith Robbins acknowledged. 

John Fitzgerald, urban development coordinator for state's Department of Housing and Community Development,  said the ARA did not follow the correct procedure. Fitzgerald was invited to the ARA meeting to provide information on the procedures that any municipality must follow to sell land or property through required urban renewal guidelines overseen by DHCD. 

Fitzgerald informed ARA members of several steps that need to be followed in marketing any property designated under an Urban Renewal Plan (URP). “We deal with the proper acquisition and disposition of property under URP’s,” he said. “There may be minor changes or major changes made and it is up to our office to decide what’s minor and what’s major. And that could make a big difference."

Fitzgerald emphasized a sale of any prospective URP property must be scrutinized carefully and said that more than one appraisal may be needed if a property does not sell quickly enough. “You must also (be sure to) have a developer who has the means to develop the property, (and) has definite plans and a timeline. “But, the approval process is usually pretty quick.”

“The Urban Renewal Plan for the city was approved in 2002 and it involved approximately 185 acres at the IBP,” LaCasse said. “Phase one was supposed to create a 1,600-foot roadway to the building site, but that wasn’t done. Instead we went to phase two and constructed Commerce Way first and we are proud of how it came out.

"The focus now is on how to market and develop the rest of the property," he added. “Any developer will still have to comply with any regulations and restrictions made by the city.”