The Fall River Commerce Park – for several years an abandoned 160-acre parcel of real estate that once served as home to a municipal airport – is slowly taking on a new life. Main Street Textiles, already one of Fall River’s largest employers, is moving forward with a major expansion. The company plans to build a state-of-the-art 565,000 square foot manufacturing plant on the site, where as many as 1,150 workers – more than 500 representing new jobs to the area — will design, weave, and finish fabrics used for furniture, automobiles and wall coverings.
The new facility will cost $46 million.
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Another tenant, TJX Companies, which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, A.J. Wright and HomeGoods stores, is also moving into the park. The company is expected to create another 500 new jobs in the first phase of its development at the park, a 300,000 square foot distribution center.
The Main Street Textiles expansion and recruitment of TJX Companies opens a new chapter in a long-running saga.
The city closed the failing airport in February of 1995. In May of 1998, a majority of city voters – through a special referendum — voted in favor of a plan to build a bingo parlor there, but the majority was insufficient to pass the measure.
After that vote, Fall River Mayor Edward M. Lambert, Jr. appointed a task force that ultimately recommended that the city transfer the property to the Fall River Redevelopment Authority to market and sell the land.
Through a series of tax incentives and financial assistance, Main Street Textiles and TJX Companies have signed on to the park.
The Main Street Textile expansion – formally announced last Wednesday morning – is especially rewarding for the city in part because the company had considered moving its operations to North Carolina.
Lambert was effusive during a mid-morning press conference detailing Main Street Textiles’ expansion.
“The rush of activity behind us symbolizes what we have been working toward for over a year – hundreds of new, good-paying manufacturing jobs for the city’s working men and women,” he said. “This project alone represents 537 new jobs, the retention of 613 jobs, numerous construction and spin-off opportunities, and $46 million in private investment.”
The mayor called the company’s expansion “a development engine that will help drive the city’s economy even as it pushes the company’s fortunes farther ahead.”
Also present on Wednesday were Penny Richards, the company’s president and chief executive officer, and Elkin McCallum, its chairman. Both said that the company had examined other options.
In a prepared statement, the company executives said, “The dynamics of the marketplace for products to be manufactured in the United States demand highly proficient cost controls, a talented workforce and a major investment in expensive technical equipment. We evaluated other locations, but the availability of local and state tax incentives in concert with our excellent business relationship with Mayor Lambert and the city led to our decision to expand our business in Fall River.”
Kenneth Fiola, Jr., executive vice president of the Fall River Office of Economic Development, said it was teamwork that made the decision on the part of Main Street Textiles possible. Fiola pointed out that had the company not decided to expand in Fall River, it might well have moved.
“As Mayor Lambert noted when we first announced the expansion, if Main Street Textiles had not chosen Fall River, the existing operation likely would have been moved as well,” said Fiola. “That underscores the importance of this project beyond the new jobs. Keeping over 600 people employed here has perhaps an even greater impact on the Fall River economy.”
