Fall River by the Numbers

3

TA Workshop 4

Fall River’s Finest 4

Inside this issue:

March 2015 Volume 4, Issue 3

F A L L R I V E R O F F I C E O F E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T

Trending Developments

FROED Board of Directors:

Officers Mayor C. Samuel Sutter,

Chairman/Ex-officio Frank Marchione, President

James M. Karam, Vice President Carlos A. DaCunha, Treasurer

Alan F. Macomber, Clerk

At-Large Members Joseph Baptista Paul C. Burke

Francisco Cabral Nicholas M. Christ

Robert Cooper Mark Cordeiro

Larry Couto

Bruce Fernandes Alfredo M. Franco

Craig A. Jesiolowski Stephen R. Karam

Michael Lund George Matouk, Jr.

Paul S. Medeiros Joan Menard

Kenneth R. Rezendes Anthony Riccitelli

Joseph Ruggeiro, Sr. Ron Rusin

James P. Sabra Len Sullivan

Ex-Officio Members Joseph D. Camara

Carl Garcia Craig A. Jesiolowski

Atty. William G. Kenney Meg Mayo-Brown

John J. Sbrega James Wallace

Corporate Counsel Atty. James W. Clarkin

Non-Voting Members Robert A. Mellion

FROED Staff: Kenneth Fiola, Jr., Esq. Executive Vice President

Janet A. Misturado, Director of Administration

Louise A. Methot, Financial Services Representative

Maria R. Doherty, Network Administrator

Lynn M. Oliveira, Economic Development Coordinator

Fall River Office of

Economic Development

One Government Center

Fall River, MA 02722

Phone: (508) 324-2620

Fax: (508) 677-2840

http://froed.org

The Amazon project slated

for the Southcoast Life Sci-

ence and Technology Park at

Fall River is moving forward

after a revised Tax Incre-

ment Financing (TIF) Agree-

ment was approved by the

Fall River City Council on

Tuesday, March 10, 2015.

Amazon had initially intend-

ed to locate a small item

sortable facility in Fall Riv-

er; however, after internal

corporate analysis it was de-

cided that the scope of the

project would be altered to

accommodate a large item

facility at the Fall River lo-

cation.

As a result of this change,

the project is now expected

to include a minimum capital

investment of $50 million

and create 500 new, perma-

nent full-time positions. The

site location and size of the

building have not changed.

Amazon is still expected to

construct a 1 million square

foot facility.

(Continued on page 2)

Amazon Project Moving Forward

Looking for a job?

Visit froed.org then select

the “Current Employment

Opportunities” tab. Next

click “Job Search” and

this will launch an

interactive database.

Within this database

alone there are currently

938 employment

opportunities within a 5

mile radius of Fall River.

938 Jobs

Available

Governor Baker Meets with Fall River

Representatives

On Friday, March 6, 2015

Mayor C. Samuel Sutter and

the Fall River Office of Eco-

nomic Development’s Exec-

utive Vice President Kenneth

Fiola, Jr. met with Governor

Charlie Baker and Massa-

chusetts Secretary of Hous-

ing and Economic Develop-

ment Jay Ash to discuss op-

portunities and issues facing

Fall River.

The meeting covered a myri-

ad of topics including the

Amazon project and other

development opportunities at

the Southcoast Life Science

and Technology Park at Fall

River.

The group then discussed the

City Pier project which has

DEP & EPA site assessment,

testing and reporting as well

as PCB remediation com-

pleted to date. The site is to

be developed for a private

sector restaurant and 110-

125 slip marina for perma-

nent and transient dockage.

(Continued on page 2)

Page 2

Trending Developments

(Continued from page 1)

The revised TIF Agree-

ment includes a tax ex-

emption schedule that

mirrors the exemption

schedule in the original

agreement and is sched-

uled to commence on July

1, 2017. The fifteen year

exemption schedule is as

follows: FY18-FY21

100% exemption, FY22-

FY24 75% exemption,

FY25-FY28 50% exemp-

tion and FY29-FY32 25%

exemption.

Beginning in FY33, Ama-

zon will have to pay full

tax value for their real and

personal property.

Because the values related

to the tax exemptions are

expressed in terms of per-

centages, the value Ama-

zon will receive from the

TIF will decrease propor-

tionately from the original

(Continued from page 1)

Moving forward the project

needs $7.5 million to strengthen

the City Pier seawalls, add three

feet of fill to site to further sup-

press PCB contamination and

facilitate infrastructure improve-

ments. The Chapter 91 License

Application for this project is

expected to be filed by March

30, 2015.

Additionally, the Route 79 North

project was presented noting the

477,000 s/f of office and retail

space, 649 market rate residential

units, and 1,300 new jobs to be

created by the project.

Mayor Sutter found congruity

with the Governor and a similari-

ty with certain issues affecting

both Fall River and the state as a

whole. Sutter also expressed his

desire to foster a strong relation-

ship with the Governor noting,

“The stronger the partnership

between the mayor’s office and

the governor’s office, it will

clearly be a benefit to Fall River

and I will continue to work on

the relationship.”

Kenneth Fiola, Jr., Executive

Vice President of the Fall River

Office of Economic Develop-

ment found the meeting to be

very beneficial noting, “The

Governor and Secretary Ash

were kind enough to give us

more than an hour of their time

to discuss economic develop-

ment issues that are important to

Fall River.”

Amazon Fulfillment Center

savings projections based

on the change in antici-

pated investment.

The TIF Agreement ap-

proved by the Council is

now slated to be brought

before the Massachusetts

Economic Assistance

Coordinating Council at

their March 24, 2015

meeting for approval.

In addition to the local

tax incentives that have

been negotiated between

Amazon and the City of

Fall River, Amazon is

also seeking tax relief on

the state level through

Investment Tax Credits.

These Investment Tax

Credits are being negoti-

ated directly between

Amazon and the Massa-

chusetts Economic Assis-

tance Coordinating Coun-

cil.

Above: Proposed Amazon Fulfillment Center

Governor Baker

Kenneth Fiola, Jr., Exec-

utive Vice President of

the Fall River Office of

Economic Development

is optimistic that the

Amazon project is mov-

ing forward noting, “We

are very pleased that

Amazon has decided to

continue with the estab-

lishment of a fulfillment

center in Fall River.”

Fiola went on to note,

“To the extent the state

and Amazon can reach

agreement with regard

to incentives, the crea-

tion of 500 new, perma-

nent full-time positions

and hundreds of part-

time and seasonal posi-

tions will act to improve

Fall River’s unemploy-

ment picture.”

The TIF Agreement

with the City holds Am-

azon to a June 30, 2019

date to have at least 80%

of the 500 new, perma-

nent full-time jobs in

place as well as the min-

imum $50 million in-

vestment made. Howev-

er, despite these contract

dates, it is expected that

the facility will be oper-

ational by late sum-

early fall of 2016.

Page 3

Trending Developments

Fall River by the Numbers…

First Ancestry Reported

*Source: American Community Survey

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

New Bedford, MA

First Ancestry Reported

Total Population:

94,927

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

Fall River, MA

First Ancestry Reported

Total Population:

88,811

One Government Center

Fall River, MA 02722-7700

Phone: 508-324-2620

Fax: 508-677-2840

E-mail: info@froed.org

Mission statement of the Fall River Office of Economic Development:

Incorporated in 1978 as a 501(c)(4) corporation to promote the prosperity

and general welfare of the citizens of Fall River through the stimulation of

economic strength and expansion of new and existing business.

Keeping Fall River working in Fall River.

F A L L R I V E R O F F I C E O F E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T

For more information please

visit our website:

www.froed.org Page 4

On Wednesday, March

18, 2015 the Fall River

Office of Economic De-

velopment will sponsor a

technical assistance work-

shop focused on social

networks.

There are so many social

networks and so little

time! This workshop will

cover the basics of both

personal and business

accounts, highlighting the

difference and how to

best optimize the ac-

counts.

We will look at LinkedIn,

Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube, Instagram, Pin-

terest and Google+.

Join Tricia White, a local

Social Media expert, for

this fast paced and com-

prehensive overview of

social networks.

This FREE event will be

held on Wednesday,

March 18, 2015 from

4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at

the Cherry & Webb

Building, 139 South Main

Street, 4th floor, Fall Riv-

er, MA and is sponsored

by the Fall River Office

of Economic Develop-

ment.

Space is limited, so please

register on line at

www.msbdc.org/semass

and click on event calen-

dar or call us at 508-673-

9783 x10.

Funded in part through a coop-erative agreement with the U. S. Small Business Administra-tion.

Frank Allen Wilcox was born

in 1869 to Benjamin Wilcox

and Lydia Howland Allen

Wilcox. Wilcox attended

local Fall River Schools in-

cluding BMC Durfee High

School before enrolling in

the US Military Academy at

West Point. Wilcox was the

first person from the Fall

River area to graduate from

the Academy.

Wilcox was a career military

man. After graduating West

Point, he was commissioned

as a first lieutenant and was

stationed in Cuba during the

Spanish-American War.

During his Philippine tour of

duty he was promoted to the

rank of major. Upon return

to the U.S. Wilcox was

named second in command at

West Point.

In 1914 the US entered

World War I and Wilcox was

promoted to lieutenant colo-

nel and sent to France to

Social Network Basics for Business

serve with General “Black

Jack” Pershing. Wilcox was

then quickly promoted to full

colonel in Pershing’s staff.

Wilcox had previously

served with Pershing and

George S. Patton as they

pursued Pancho Villa in

Mexico.

In 1918 Wilcox died in

France of virulent pneumo-

nia at the age of forty-nine.

Wilcox is buried in Oak

Grove Cemetery.

Until the turn of the century,

local veterans gathered peri-

odically at the American Le-

gion Frank Allen Wilcox

Post 126 on Bedford Street

in Fall River. In 1934, a

monument was dedicated in

his honor on Plymouth Ave-

nue.

(Source: “Cream of the Crop—Fall

River’s Best and Brightest” by

John B. Cummings Jr.) (Article contributed by MSBDC)

Fall River’s Finest: Frank Allen Wilcox