Henry B. Wainer is in the business of moving goods – fast. As president of a New Bedford distributor of specialty foods, he relies heavily on Boston’s Logan Airport to deliver and pick up products. But moving those products would be easier, and less expensive, if he could use the New Bedford Regional Airport.
“If we could use New Bedford as a place to clear freight coming in from out of the country, it would be fantastic,” said Wainer, who heads a company his grandfather started in 1914, Sid Wainer & Son. “New Bedford’s been in a downtrend for a long time. I’d love to see things progress.”
New Bedford, like the neighboring city of Fall River, is eyeing its aging airport as a resource to spur growth. But their approaches are markedly different. While Fall River has turned its airport into a new office park, New Bedford seeks to extend the runway of its airport to attract air freight lines – making it easier for local companies to move products in and out of the city.
But while Fall River, after years of turmoil, is now racing ahead with development, New Bedford must resolve several problems before its airport becomes a good alternative for companies such as Sid Wainer & Son.
New Bedford Airport, built in 1942, now serves several local businesses which use it for business travel. Passenger airlines such as Cape Air offer charter flights to Cape Cod and the islands, while the U.S. Army National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard use it for training.
But while the airport’s 5,000 foot runway suffices for small aircraft, it won’t do for cargo planes such as the Boeing 727 and 747, which need from 6,000 to 7,000 feet. That’s why officials now propose to extend the runway to 8,000 feet. It would give local businesses the opportunity to better compete with other parts of the state and region.
But standing in the way are about 30 acres of wetlands which would have to be filled in – and then replaced. While project supporters say the current replication proposal – which calls for adding to the swamp along the perimeter of the airport – detractors note that replication projects often don’t work because the area develops as uplands rather than wetlands.
“It’s a classic case of weighing the environment against economic development,” said Stephen C. Smith, executive director of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development district in Taunton. “There are going to be some very tough decisions made by Massachusetts officials on the wetlands issue.”
Meanwhile, the city seeks to lure cargo airlines with smaller planes to the airport, which can now handle crafts as large as the DC-9. New Bedford’s fishing industry ships out 100,000 pounds of fish a day, said Dennis J. Hanks, development officer for the New Bedford Economic Development Council Inc.
Cargo airlines could cut their costs in half by avoiding the high landing fees and congestion of Boston by coming to New Bedford, he said.
“We’re giving them the sales pitch that it’s an alternative to Boston,” Hanks said. “We could give them enough business so it would be profitable to them.
“The outcry from all the industry here is that we need to have cargo coming in and out of New Bedford,” he said.
It’s coming particularly from importers of perishable products, such as fish and produce. The problem with Logan, they say, is that there is no storage cooler for frozen goods, meaning that foods sit on pallets until company trucks arrive.
“It all depends on whether the airlines are willing to come here,” said Anita Lamothe, vice president of Norfisk Co., a New Bedford sea food importer, when asked if the airport expansion would benefit her business.
Part of the proposal for New Bedford Airport calls for building a cold storage container, Hanks said. Such storage space would benefit companies like Sid Wainer & Son, which delivers products with short shelf lives.
ABOUT TO BE DEVELOPED as a commerce park is the airport in Fall River.
“Product needs to hold temperature, and has to get there quickly,” Wainer said. “The important thing is that the product is healthy and fresh.”
Officials also believe the airport, which has direct access to Routes 140 and I-195, would also allow textile importers to bring inexpensive foreign goods into the city quickly enough to respond to changing fashions. Members of the ‘just in time’ delivery industry are quite interested in the project, noted James H. Mathes, president of the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce.
But he added that others approve of it as well.
“The chamber is solidly behind the expansion effort,” Mathes said. “Among the business community there’s very broad and deep support.”
Not all importers and exporters would use the airport. But even some of those that would not use it say the expansion would be good for the local economy.
“It would be useful to some other businesses,” said Tony Karalekas, co-owner of State Fruit Co. Inc. in South Dartmouth, adding that he occasionally uses New Bedford Airport when he needs to ship to Martha’s Vineyard.
The development in Fall River is far different. In fact, 26 of the general aviation planes that once flew out of Fall River Municipal Airport have now been transferred to the New Bedford Airport.
The city’s new commerce park, its last large piece of undeveloped land, will soon be inhabited by an expanding Fall River company, Main Street Textiles LP, and a Fortune 500 firm moving into Fall River, The TJX Companies Inc. TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, is based in Framingham.
City officials expect the two companies to create at least 1,100 new jobs in coming years.
The expansion comes after years of debate. The airport closed in February of 1995. Since then, the Pawtucket Red Sox and New England Patriots both allegedly considered the 160-acre site. A proposal to build a bingo parlor there also went nowhere.
Then, in October of last year, a task force appointed by Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. recommended that the city transfer the property to the Fall River Redevelopment Authority to market and sell the land.
Last November, officials announced that Main Street had committed to the site and was planning to build a factory that will create about 600 jobs. In April of this year, TJX announced its plans to build a distribution center for A.J. Wright, an off-price chain the company has launched recently.
TJX will create 500 new jobs in the first phase of its development at the commerce park, a 300,000 square foot building.
Joseph C. Raposo, director of business development for the Fall River Office of Economic Development, said the city lured TJX and retained Main Street Textiles – which had considered building in North Carolina instead – by offering tax incentives and assistance in finding and training workers.
While the two companies must pay taxes on their land at the commerce park, they will be exempt from a percentage of the taxes generated by new construction. The incentive package for TJX will be for 15 years. Main Street received a 20 year deal.
For example, Main Street Textiles will receive a 100 percent exemption on taxes generated by its increased assessment for its first three years at the park. In years four through seven, the exemption drops to 70 percent; by the 19th and 20th years the exemption will be 3 percent.
“It’s simply a matter of not getting as much money as quickly,” he said of the tax plan. “We provide the incentive for companies to move forward, which in the long run is a very minimal concession to bring in two high powered companies.”
The city is asking for $60,000 per acre for the remaining 60 acres of land that can be developed at the park – which sits adjacent to the Fall River Industrial Park. The city is also building a fire station on site.
TJX and Main Street Textiles expect to begin work at the park in September.
