www.HartfordBusiness.com • January 13, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 3
Business center records an assist on
Meriden's ongoing development wave
By Matt Pilon
mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com
I
t's not often that a relatively poor, small
city sees a massive influx of infrastructure
and housing investment that could change
its economic fortunes.
But that's what's been happening in Meriden,
which about 15 years ago began mitigating its
longtime downtown flooding challenges. Those
improvements have led to a rebuilt train station
and ramped up CTrail commuter service on
the Hartford Line, which has helped spur the
construction of more than 230 rental units and
counting, plus new retail and commercial space.
Now the city is looking to renew its brand,
leveraging its new strengths.
As new buildings have gone up in recent
years — mostly around a rebuilt 14-acre
Meriden Green, just across State Street from
the rail station — several part-time employ-
ees and a team of volunteers based out of a
modest nearby storefront have sought to help
bolster the development wave.
The Make Meriden Business Center
(MMBC), which opened nearly two years ago
on Colony Street, has been providing advice,
introductions and location-scouting services
for mostly small business owners looking to
open in the city or expand existing operations.
Co-led by Meriden native Dave Cooley and
marketing and business consultant Lisa Biesak,
the MMBC has helped a food truck entrepreneur
open a brick-and-mortar location downtown (Mr.
Taco); brought more people into town for events
like concerts, a pop-up art gallery and artist-in-
residence program; and advised a tech company
that makes GPS technology in its move to the city.
"Ultimately it's economic development in
that we want to see Meriden thrive downtown,
to be a place to work and play and be exciting,"
said Cooley, a longtime former executive at a
research, analytics and data company called
Evalueserve, who was semi-retired when he
was tapped for the MMBC role. "To do that, we
need to bring in new business, but to bring in
new business, we have to do some placemak-
ing to get people on the street."
The office opened in early 2018 with financial
and technical support from the nonprofit Meriden
Economic Development Corporation (MEDCO), as
well as the Midstate Chamber of Commerce and
several corporate donors, and it has since cobbled
together funding from the state quasi-public
CTNext, the nonprofit CT Main Street Center, and
a line item in the recent Meriden city budget.
"We're good for the next six months, in
terms of paying the bills," Cooley said.
Getting beyond that will require the shoe-
string-funded office to continue to perform
and market itself. So far, it's done pretty well.
MMBC activities between Oct. 2018 and June
2020 helped add 33 full-time jobs and 20 part-
time jobs in the city, which had a total economic
impact of $1.5 million. That was according to
impact reports the center sends to CTNext to
monitor its progress in exchange for its grant
funding, which is expected to total $70,000 this
fiscal year.
Cooley is modest about taking too much credit.
MMBC helps facilitate; it doesn't do everything.
"I can't say we've gone out and recruited all
these folks, but we've been able to help them
come visit and make them confident they're
Up Front
Continued on page 4 >>
TOWN PROFILE: MERIDEN
The Make Meriden Business Center, which provides advice and location-scouting services for small
businesses, is co-led by Meriden native Dave Cooley (right) and marketing and business consultant
Lisa Biesak.
PHOTO
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