Complex once stood.
When Mitchell Hallal learned the city of Fall River was planning to redevelop the former Kerr Mill Complex he had mixed emotions.
For 16 years Hallal’s company, M & S Designs had been located in a former mill adjacent to the property and he had hoped that the city would turn the space into a park.
"The thing that disappointed me was that they decided to build just another building," he said.
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That building was the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center – a partnership between the University of Mass-achusetts Dartmouth and the Mass. Development Corporation.
Now, just two months after the official ribbon cutting ceremony Hallal’s screen printing company is no longer in the neighborhood.
"As soon as the (ATMC) project was announced somebody bought the building and jacked up the rents," he said. "I went from $2 a square foot to $8 a square foot and I just couldn’t afford that."
Now located on Plymouth Avenue in Fall River, Hallal’s company isn’t even open for business yet, and he said it could be months before his moving costs are paid for.
"It’s definitely going to take me a long time to recoup, I am just a little guy," he said. "I am in a great space now, but the whole process is probably going to cost me about $10,000."
Hallal isn’t alone.
At least a half dozen businesses have moved out of the building located at 275 Martine St. after the new owner, Group One Management, took over the building, said Hallal. Calls to Group One Management were not returned.
"The building was sold in bankruptcy. We had hopes and dreams of buying the building and turning it into a cultural arts center, but it didn’t happen," said Bert Harlow, of the Narrow Center for the Arts, which was formerly located on the first floor of the building.
Despite the fact his group couldn’t buy the building, Harlow said, the organization still had hopes of maintaining its operations there.
"We were excited about UMass being a part of the Fall River community," he said. "I think that we would have been a good fit with the center as one of the keys for a successful technology area is quality of life, which is art."
But it wasn’t meant to be. The group moved to its new home in Battleship Cove in July.
"We made numerous attempts to convey that to our new landlord that we were a good fit, but were unsuccessful," Harlow said. "We spent between $80,000 and $100,000 to restore that space in the time we were there, but it didn’t matter. We found out pretty quickly that we would have to go."
Nathan Smith, owner of Compnet, a small computer sales and repair business, has decided to stay at 275 Martine St. and is excited about its renovations.
"There aren’t many of us left here," he said. "But I think that is because they are renovating the building and you can’t do that with tenants in it. I think the renovation is a good thing, and when it is finished it will attract good companies."
Smith said that, while he has been "threatened with a rent increase" the issue hasn’t formally come up yet, and when it does it could change his mind about staying.
"It might force me to leave, but that depends," he said. "I don’t know what is going to happen."
According to Ken Fiola Jr., vice president of the Fall River Office of Economic Development, what’s happening at 275 Martine St. isn’t uncommon.
"Unfortunately it’s a sign and cost of progress," he said. "The companies that occupied that space have all been relocated to other spaces with comparable lease rates. Now there are new companies moving in there. So we didn’t lose any companies. We now have the opportunity to bring companies in that complement activities at the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center."
