News from City of Lowell's Office of Economic Development

Summer - 2010 OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR BUSINESS! IN THIS ISSUE UMass Lowell Emerging Tech Center Lowell Receives $5M Retrifit Drant Lowell Small Business Week 2010 Deadline for Workforce Training Grants LGH Set to launch Expansion Innovative Cities Conference Lowell Businesses in the News New Businesses in Lowell Thank You for a Successful iShop Lowell 2010 LOWELL CITY COUNCIL James L. Milinazzo MAYOR Kevin P. Broderick VICE MAYOR Edward "Bud" Caulfield Franky D. Descoteaux Rodney M. Elliott William F. Martin Joseph M. Mendonça Rita M. Mercier Patrick O. Murphy   OFFICE OF THE CITYMANAGER Bernard F. Lynch CITY MANAGER   Adam Baacke  ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER/ DPD DIRECTOR   Theresa Park DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MARK YOUR CALENDAR JULY 7 and JULY 21, 2010 5:00PM - 7:00PM MassChallenge Entrepreneur Mix and Match Village Smokehouse 98 Middle Street Lowell, MA JULY 8, 2010 6:00-9:00PM NETSEA/OneSource Business Mixer Waltham Westin 70 3RD Ave., Waltham MA SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 Young Professionals of Greater Lowell Business Leadership Forum Lowell Memorial Auditorium 50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 8:00 - 1:00 PM Product Launch Strategies for MedTech Companies MassMedical Society 860 Winter Street Waltham, MA AND JUST FOR FUN...! JULY 23 - 25 , 2010 2010 Lowell Folk Festival Downtown Lowell, MA JUNE 25 - SEPTEMBER 11, 2010 2010 Summer Music Series Boarding House Park Lowell, MA JUNE 27 - AUGUST 23 2010 Trolley and Boat Tours  with Lowell National Park Service 304 Dutton Street, Lowell, MA JUNE - SEPTEMBER 2010 Lowell Spinners Minor League Baseball Games LeLacheur Park Lowell, MA AUGUST 21, 2010 14th Southeast Asian Water Festival Lowell Heritage State Park Esplanade & Sampas Pavilion 500 Pawtucket Blvd. Lowell, MA Do you have an event coming up that would be of interest to our readers? Let Us Know! Send an email with your event and contact information to Newsletter@LowellMA.Gov to be included in our next issue. Join our list UMASS-LOWELL EMERGING TECH CENTER (L to R) Chancellor Marty Meehan, State Representatives Thomas Golden and David Nangle, State Senator Steven Panagiotakas, Governor Deval Patrick, UMass President Jack Wilson, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, and mayor James Milinazzo (Photo: UMass-Lowell) On June 8th, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell broke ground for the $70 million, 84,000-square-foot Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center (ETIC). Governor Deval Patrick, Chancellor Marty Meehan, state Senator Steven Panagiotakos, U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas and other government officials and experts and colleagues from UMass Lowell and the region joined together on North Campus for the ceremony that marked the start of construction. Once completed, the ETIC will serve as an academic and research facility that will be the heart of industry partnerships and innovative manufacturing technologies. The ETIC will bring world-renowned and next-generation research leaders to Lowell that will in turn spur economic growth through the launch of new companies and jobs throughout the state and Merrimack Valley. Estimated to open in fall 2012, the ETIC will act as a gateway to UMass Lowell's North Campus. This state of the art and energy efficient building will house research facilities, cleanroom spaces, wet lab and engineering lab space, a plastics processing high bay, and National Plastics Museum. These new facilities will allow for experts in plastics engineering, nanotechnology, electro-optics, and biomedicine to collaborate under one roof. The green building will also include a two-story atrium, an open terrace that overlooks the Merrimack River and a quad for students and faculty to gather. The construction of the ETIC will also boost the local economy by creating an estimated 400 jobs during the construction phase and create hundreds of new private sector jobs in its first five years. LOWELL RECEIVES $5M RETROFIT GRANT In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Vice President Joseph Biden announced the selection of 25 communities in the country to receive up to $452 million in Recovery Act funding to "ramp up" energy efficiency building retrofits. The City of Lowell won one of these highly competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and received $5 million to implement the Carbon Neutral Downtown Park and Preservation District, a neighborhood-scale energy efficiency retrofit program. The City of Lowell was the only community in Massachusetts to receive this award and on April 23, 2010, Senator John Kerry and Congresswoman Niki Tsongas came to Lawrence Mills Park in Lowell to acknowledge this landmark achievement for the city.  The grant funds will be used to provide a mix of direct grants and favorable loans to property owners and businesses in Downtown Lowell Historic District to help finance energy efficiency and conservation enhancements to their properties. One of the many goals of the Carbon Neutral Downtown Park and Preservation District is to demonstrate how buildings can be maintained to historic preservation standards while dramatically reducing their energy consumption. This project will directly address and be a model for other communities that historic preservation and energy efficient building construction can go hand in hand. The City will be partnering with National Grid, Lowell Development Financial Corporation, Lowell National Historical Park, UMass Lowell's Engineering Department as well as various downtown stakeholders to administer this project. This innovative project will position the city as a leader in sustainable and historic preservation development while spurring economic development throughout the community. More information will be provided once available. Any questions please feel free to call 978-446-7200. LOWELL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK 2010 Since 1963, the President has proclaimed National Small Business Week every year to recognize the importance of small businesses to the well-being of the American economy. The City of Lowell celebrated National Small Business Week on May 24th 2010 by offering a day of programs and events to support the local small business community. Small business owners, business leaders, and government officials joined together at UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center for the day's event which included our third annual One-Stop Small Business Resource Fair and a variety of workshops and panel discussions aimed to help entrepreneurs successfully start and grow their businesses. During the opening remarks from Vice Mayor Kevin Broderick, City Manager Bernie Lynch, and U.S. SBA Deputy Director Jean Sawyer , recognition was made to businesses that have called Lowell home for fifty or more years. This brought everything from McKittrick Supply to Rogers Toys under one roof to recognize their half-century of sustained viability. To see all of the businesses visit: Lowell.org. The kick-off was followed by the Small Business Resource Fair which offered entrepreneurs and small business owners one-stop shopping for technical and financial support. Additionally throughout the day there were two tracks of workshops and panel discussions, one focused on retail and service businesses and the other targeting high-growth companies. Subjects were covered included social media, energy management, financing options, marketing, healthcare, and accessing SBIR and STTR. The day also included a luncheon with opening remarks from City Councilor and downtown small business owner Franky Descoteaux and speaker Rob Gavin, a business reporter for The Boston Globe, who offered insight on Massachusetts' economic outlook. The day concluded with networking along the Pawtucket Canal. The City extends its thanks and appreciation to many partners in successfully showcasing Lowell during this event including the Lowell Development and Financial Corporation, the U.S. Small Business Administration, Merrimack Valley Venture Forum, Lowell Small Business Assistance Center, Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts Medical Device Development (M2D2) Center at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and the Middlesex Community College. If you attended this year's Lowell Small Business Week please take a few minutes to complete the evaluation survey about the event. With your help, we hope to make this event even more useful and successful in the future.  DEADLINE FOR WORKFORCE TRAINING GRANTS Due to its overwhelming success, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development has announced the continuation of the Workforce Training Fund General Grant Program. The fund is for any size company training employees in job-related skills through a program designed by the company. This training grant is a direct grant awarded competitively to employers, employer organizations, labor organizations, and training providers to train current and newly hired workers and ranges from $2,000 to $250,000. The grants major goal is to provide assistance to small to medium- sized businesses that would not be able to provide workforce training without the help of this grant. Through this workforce training program it hopes to result in job retention, job growth, or increased wages for the company which will help maintain economic strength throughout the Commonwealth. $24,001,617 has been allocated for the grant, but this money is contingent on the US Senate approving the FMAP (Federal Medical Assistance Program), which if not passed may lead to the allocation being reduced. For the latest details visit:  www.mass.gov The deadline for the next round is Friday July 9, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. LGH SET TO LAUNCH EXPANSION (L to R) Tarina Mansur, Dan McConaghy; Executive VP - Gilbane Building Company, Al Chouinard, Tom Forde, Rick Hanson, George Duncan, Norm Deschene Peggy Palm, Dr. Nonnie Estella, Dr. Michael Gilchrist, and Bruce Robinson (Photo: Lowell General Hospital) On May 18, 2010 Lowell General Hospital broke ground on the Legacy Project, a $95 million dollar expansion project that will add approximately 90 new private rooms, expand the emergency and trauma centers, and add three new operating rooms to meet the expanding medical service needs of the greater Lowell community. The Legacy Project was developed to meet the increased demand for hospital services, improve patient flow to clinical areas, and provide more private patient rooms. The Legacy Project will also have a significant economic impact on the local and regional economy with a projected overall economic impact of $200 million. With the expansion it will continue to make Lowell General Hospital one of the city's largest employers with the hospital workforce projected to grow from 1,813 employees pre-construction to 2,041 employees at project completion. The project is estimated to be complete September 2012. The new 6-story building will include a new Emergency Department and Trauma Center- 38 stations for 75,000 visits; new ambulance entrance and possible helipad, three new operating rooms (total 13 after project) and Day Surgery Center; new main entrance, hospital lobby, patient service center; expanded imaging and laboratory service configured more accessible to lobby; approximately 90 new private rooms for medical surgical patients; and new retail space of gift shop, coffee shop, and medical retail in the main lobby. INNOVATIVE CITIES CONFERENCE The city of Lowell was again recognized for their continued collaboration efforts between federal and municipal stakeholders in promoting economic, physical, and social development in the city at the Innovative Cities: Best Practices in Urban Development conference. Lowell hosted five other mid-sized cities including Ann Arbor, Michigan; Asheville, North Carolina.; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Portland, Oregon; and Belfast, Northern Ireland at the conference on June 17-19, 2010 at UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center. Officials from these six cities shared their effective economic and social development strategies for mid-sized cities to a crowd of urban policy professionals, public administrators, planners, scholars, and public. The three day conference included a walking tour of downtown Lowell, a keynote speech by Adolfo Carrion Jr., former director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, presentations on each participating city on their strategies regarding economic development, creative economy, sustainability, transportation, housing, and education, and a public forum convened by the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition and the Northeast-Midwest Institute in cooperation with Niki Tsongas called "The Role of Federal Policy in Advancing Innovative Land Re-Use and Sustainability in Mid-Sized Older Industrial Cities."  The conference allowed for these mid-sized cities to share their knowledge and discuss the challenges that they face in this difficult economic environment. It also showed how valuable private/public partnerships are to cities these sizes. The conference was presented by Lowell National Historical Park, The Lowell Plan, Middlesex Community College, the University of Massachusetts, and Honorary Chair U.S. Representative Niki Tsongas. LOWELL BUSINESSES IN THE NEWS Kadient Kadient Inc., a Lowell-based company has announced its merger with Sant Corp., a Cincinnati software company. Kadient and Sant focus on software to increase sales effectiveness, such as automating sales presentations, helping to create proposals and requests for proposals, and managing sales materials. The merger will make these companies the dominant provider of on-demand sales enablement solutions. Kadient Inc. will stay located at Wannalancit Mills. Watermark On May 5, 2010 Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Bloomberg BusinessWeek released the 2010 Inner City 100, a list of growing inner city companies in the U.S. Recognized at number 12 was Lowell-based Watermark Environmental Inc., an environmental and civil engineering firm. The Inner City 100 list recognizes successful businesses as role models for entrepreneurship, innovative business practices and job creation in America's urban communities. Congratulations to Watermark for this distinct honor. Litle & Company On February 22nd Litle & Co., a privately held payment-processing company won the e-Commerce Customer Service category at the 4th annual American Business Awards in Miami, Florida. The "Stevie" Awards recognize excellence in business operations and received more than 500 entries from companies around the world. Litle & Co is a leading payment management and processing platform for businesses that sell goods and services to merchants. The company is headquartered at the CrossPoint Towers in Lowell. PrideSTAR EMS Four years ago, PrideStar EMS started as a small private ambulance company in a 2,500 square foot office located on West Adams St. in Lowell with only one emergency vehicle. This past April, the company, business leaders, and government officials gathered to celebrate their expansion into a new 15,000-square-foot building on 299 Stedman St. This new building is equipped with 24 company vehicles, including 10 ambulances, several wheelchair vans, a field operations vehicle, a field marketing vehicle, and a "fun bus." NEW BUSINESSES IN LOWELL Stop in to Cravings, located at 5 Merrimack Street, where you will find an assortment of candies and yummy treats! Stepping Stones - Life Resource Center located at 138 Highland Ave. offers programs, activities, and services that can both inspire and educate our community with choices like creative arts, energy balancing, hypnosis, reiki, and many more! THANK YOU FOR A SUCCESSFUL ISHOP LOWELL 2010  During the months of February,March, and April 2010 when you shopped or dined in downtown Lowell and spent over $25 you qualified for a chance to win either an iPod Touch, a season pass to the Lowell Summer Music Series or the grand prize of an iPad. Over the three months we had eight winners and one grand prize winner. Over 1,500 entered and spent approximately $80,000 in downtown retail establishments and restaurants. Thank you for your participation in this successful sweepstakes and congratulations to all the winners! Visit lowell.org to see pictures of the winners. WORKING TO BETTER SERVE YOUR BUSINESS Make sure to check out our new website to learn more about Lowell's Economic Development Office and the resources and opportunities available for any business! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us at Newsletter@LowellMA.gov.   Sincerely,   The Economic Development Office Division of Planning & Development JFK Civic Center; 50 Arcand Drive Lowell, MA, 01952

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