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Governor
Patrick announces $900,000 in grants for Canton
By Jay Turner
Citizen Staff
As part of a continued effort to
boost the economies of local cities and towns, Governor Deval
Patrick announced Thursday the awarding of two grants totaling
$900,000 to the town of Canton and a Canton-based business,
including an $850,000 Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and
Expansion (MORE) jobs grant and $50,000 in workforce training
funds.
The larger of the grants will be
used to improve roads and sidewalks in the Dan Road area to
support the expansion of biotech company Organogenesis, while
the workforce training funds will be used by Sika Sarnafil Inc.,
a manufacturer of roofing and water-proofing materials, to train
35 workers in communications.
“The MORE Jobs Program provides
resources to support partnerships between local municipalities
and the private sector to foster development and help create
hundreds of new jobs,” said the governor in a press release. “I
am proud our administration can partner with cities and towns in
this way to help both the state and local economies flourish.”
Once completed, the infrastructure
improvements will lead to the creation of 150 new jobs, and will
enable Organogenesis to expand from its current 80,000
square-foot facility at 150 Dan Road to include a new corporate
headquarters at 85 Dan Road and a 100,000 square-foot
manufacturing facility at 275 Dan Road.
A world leader in regenerative
medicine, in which living, functional cells and tissues are used
to repair dead or damaged ones, Organogenesis had considered
relocating out of state until it was wooed by the Patrick
administration and its $1 billion life sciences initiative to
stay and grow in Massachusetts. For its commitment to the state,
the company agreed to an incentives package worth nearly $18
million, including $12.9 million in grants and other financial
support, as well as $5 million in low interest loans.
“It’s really an example of what we
can do to retain our strengths and expand and grow,” said
Patrick of the once-bankrupt company, in a conference call with
Senator Brian Joyce, Representative William Galvin and local
media.
Patrick said Organogenesis is a
key component in the state’s “international supercluster” of
organizations dedicated to the biotech field, including what he
described as an “unusual concentration” of brain power, research
institutions, universities and corporations.
Senator Joyce praised both the
governor and Housing and Economic Development Secretary Dan
O’Connell, who has overseen the life sciences initiative, for
doing an “extraordinary job emphasizing economic development”
throughout the state and for providing support to Canton in
particular. Joyce noted that, along with other sizeable grants,
such as the one that made the Downtown Streetscape project
possible, Massachusetts has “made a significant investment in
Canton.”
Representative Galvin also thanked
the governor, adding that the money from the MORE grant will
“greatly help with the infrastructure up on [route] 138.”
Regarding Organogenesis, Galvin reiterated the point that the
company did not just decide to stay in Massachusetts, but
decided to stay in Canton, which he said will serve to further
stimulate the local economy.
As for the timetable for
implementation of the MORE grant, Patrick said “the money is
coming now,” with the idea that Canton can take advantage of the
current construction season, although he acknowledged that the
bidding process and other factors will ultimately determine when
the work gets underway.
This year alone, over 30 MORE
grants, ranging in amounts from $655,000 to $10 million, have
been awarded throughout the Commonwealth to support business
expansion through infrastructure improvements. In order to
qualify, municipalities must partner with a for-profit business
and the resulting improvements must lead to the creation of at
least 100 new permanent full-time jobs.
The governor said the MORE program
is but one element of his recently-unveiled economic stimulus
plan, which seeks to “create a culture of opportunity focused on
restrained spending with immediate and long-term investments,
while preparing for the impacts of a softening national
economy.”
July 10, 2008
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