New industrial park is nearly finished

The city’s new industrial park beside the former Superior Electric Factory is “essentially complete,” said Mike Rivers, chairman of the Bristol Development Authority’s industrial committee.
One company has already bought a lot in the Southeast Bristol Industrial Park and another is likely to buy a second soon, officials said.
The combined industrial park has about a dozen lots, ranging from a little more than an acre in size to 11 acres.
Though there have been problems along the way, from a too-early start on construction that devastated protected wetlands to misaligned roads that had to be fixed, the most serious appear to be resolved.
The city has received complaints from neighboring condominium owners who would like to see a better buffer between the industrial park and their homes.
Ray Rogozinski, an assistant city engineer, said that some are concerned about young people using ATVs on the city-owned land and cutting through the condominiums. The condo owners have suggested a fence.
But Rivers said that a fence would be costly. He said that the city has complied with the promises it made about leaving a buffer between the park and the nearby residences.
Rogozinski said that the trees and bushes have been left in the buffer area, but are “a little thin” in appearance in spots. He said the city might be able to transplant some small trees to fill in the gaps a bit.
Officials said that the problems will likely cease once there are tenants to fill the industrial park.
“Once we get tenants in there, it will be different,” Rivers said.
The city will probably close off the new industrial park road until there is a need to open it, officials said, to help limit use of the property in the meantime.
Jonathan Rosenthal, the city’s economic development director, said he will ask the police to monitor the problem and issue warnings and tickets as required.
The first tenant in the new park will be CMI Specialty Products, which makes electro-magnetic iron products, and plans to begin constructing an 11,000-square-foot headquarters at the corner of Redstone Hill Road and Business Park Drive within days.
It paid $137,475 for the lot this summer.
Rosenthal said that it “looks pretty solid” that a second company will buy a lot soon.
There is a third firm eyeing the possibility of erecting a 55,000-square-foot building on the site, Rosenthal said, but it’s not a sure thing. It’s been talking with the city for two years, Rosenthal said.
The industrial park was built in two phases, each of them nearly finished.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

EMAIL of the Week

From Craig Minor, city councilor
To: Mike Rivers, chairman of the BDA's Industrial Committee
Date: Jan. 24, 2007
Subject: Re: Additional Assistance for Industrial Park Being considered by DECD
cc: Mayor William Stortz

Do you have a handle on how much the city is projected to make/lose on the industrial park when it's all done? I don't. We are getting hosed by Maguire, AN Consulting, and now DOT. Maybe your committee should ask JR [Jonathan Rosenthal, the BDA's director] to brief us on this at the meeting in February. I would hate to see an article in The Bristol Press with the headline Industrial Park Projected to Lose Millions."
- Craig