Chelsea Siefert | Chief operating officer, Quonset Development Corp.
1. What are your top priorities as the new chief operating officer of QDC? Quonset is a key driver of jobs, economic development and tax revenue in Rhode Island. … We’re moving ahead on critical work at the Port of Davisville to ensure it’s ready to serve as a key offshore wind hub for the North Atlantic. Meanwhile, construction at our Flex Industrial Campus continues, creating state-of-the-art spaces for Rhode Island companies to grow and thrive.
2. What work remains to be done for Quonset to be a crucial hub for offshore wind? QDC has completed about $100 million of work to prepare the port for the next chapter in offshore wind, which is only part of what is envisioned by our $234 million port master plan. We’ve begun reconstruction of Pier 1, which was built by the [U.S.] Navy in 1941, so that we can use Pier 1 to its full potential. We’re also constructing a new, multipurpose pier and changing the port’s access roads to open as much land as possible for project cargo.
3. In 2017, QDC established its Flex Industrial Campus and announced a goal of opening 10 planned buildings. How far have you come in accomplishing this? So far, seven of the buildings are built with all but one unit leased, serving as a home base for 16 companies. Building eight is currently under construction and two more are in the pipeline. We anticipate all 10 buildings to be open by 2025.
4. The Port of Davisville is one of the top 10 car importers in North America. With the global changes in this industry, what do imports at Davisville look like today? In 2022, the Port of Davisville saw 181 ship calls, received 772 metric tons of project cargo and 199,097 auto imports, while exporting 10,450 used autos. It’s no secret that the long-standing semiconductor chip and supply chain issues have continued to impact both global automobile production and, by extension, imports throughout the United States.
5. QDC says the business park contains more than 200 companies and 13,000 jobs. How much more room is there for expansion at Quonset? Of the approximately 1,400 acres zoned for business development at Quonset, only about 200 acres remain available. This means that’s there’s still capacity for over 2 million square feet of potential development. We project that at capacity, Quonset will host approximately 16,700 jobs.
