Focus on Economic Development
Incubator Loan Fund
The Lowell Plan and the Lowell Development and Financial Corp (LDFC) have a vested interest in the commercial success of startup businesses looking to expand in Lowell. We are seeking to attract entrepreneurs and startups that will in turn lead to larger, more established companies to Lowell. The LDFC, along with eight local lenders, created a One Million Dollar Incubator Fund to offer startups low cost financing with favorable repayment terms. The Incubator Loan Fund will target technology and life science businesses based at UMass Lowell’s Innovation Hub in the Hamilton Canal District.
Lowell’s Growing Job Market
Between company expansions and relocations, there has been a significant increase in new jobs in the city. From 2014 through the next five years, approximately 4,300 new employees will be working in Lowell. In the two years since Farley White Interests acquired 836,000 square feet at 1001 Pawtucket Blvd. and rebranded the building Cross River Center, three tenants have moved in and one nearly doubled its workforce: Rapid Micro Biosystems, 100 employees; Metrigraphics LLC, 110 employees; Scheidt & Bachmann, 120 employees; and Autolive, 100 new employees, 225 total.
Speakers Series
Secretary Pollack speaks to Lowell Plan members on May 5. Photo by Tory Germann
On May 5, Co-Chair John Power welcomed Lowell Plan members to Cross River Center and hosted the first of a series of talks on the core issues impacting our business community by business leaders, elected officials, and educators. Our inaugural speakers were Stephanie Pollack, Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Transportation, and Eileen Donoghue, State Senator, First Middlesex District, and Vice Chair of the Lowell Plan.
Senator Donoghue and Secretary Pollack discussed the Mass DOT/MBTA draft Capital Investment Plan (CIP) that outlines the state’s transportation spending priorities. This integrated plan includes investments in all modes of travel in all regions. The CIP states that Massachusetts must have a bolder vision for mobility, and it must measure the state’s needs versus available resources.