Worcester Business Journal

24 Worcester Business Journal | October 25, 2021 | wbjournal.com T he Marlborough Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) has reasons to celebrate, they continue to find ways to help local businesses. City and local leaders are looking to maintain growing momentum and raise Marlborough to new heights of business prominence as we look towards post pandemic recovery. As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered many aspects of every- day life and severely hampered the global economy, Marlborough businesses continued to grow and expand. Through relocations or expansions in 2020 Marlborough filled 120,000 square feet of unoccupied space bringing 400 new jobs to the community, according to MEDC's 2020 annual report. Despite staffing chal- lenges across the Commonwealth, Marlborough businesses are hiring and the MEDC is working creatively with employers to help find the talent they need through efforts such as partnering local businesses with the Marlborough Public School system to directly build the future pipeline based on their needs and giving companies a digital platform to promote openings through live video podcasting. Earlier this year, Marlborough was pleased to announce the news that BJs Wholesale Club would move its corporate head- quarters to the city, bringing 800 jobs to the community. More recently, Marlborough officials participated in a "topping off " ceremony with Resilience Bio, an innovative biotech company, that chose Marlborough as the site of their new state of the art R&D and manufacturing facility earlier this year. Resilience will bring 200 STEM jobs to Marlborough and plans to partner with the local community in being an innovator in life sciences. MEDC and the City of Marlborough began reviving in-person events, like the 2nd Annual Food Truck and Arts Festival that took place last month bringing in about 5,000 visitors to the downtown area, while staying the course on expanded multime- dia communications efforts such as a video newsletter and a live video podcast. Exploring Economic Development with MEDC is an informal and engaging platform for viewers to join the conver- sation and ask questions about current economic development in the City of Marlborough and throughout the state. With almost 20 episodes in, they have had a variety of guests on the podcast, from Mayor Arthur Vigeant, to Michael Andelman of Phantom Gourmet. In 2020, when many businesses were forced to close, MEDC launched the COVID-19 Small Business Relief Program, which awarded $130,000 in grants to 33 small businesses to help cover costs associated with safety and operational retrofits for re-open- ing, personal protective equipment, and other requirements. That program specifically aided many local restaurants, which bore major costs when they had to develop outdoor dining areas to accommodate pandemic restrictions and guidelines. Following up on last year's successful "Dine Local" campaign to encourage take- out and indoor dining at restaurants through the winter months, MEDC added "Be Local" to the campaign this past summer to encourage people to shop and do business with a variety of small and local merchants. The MEDC also assisted restaurants this past summer by purchasing wooden jersey barrier covers to pro - tect and visually enhance their outdoor seating areas. The MEDC recently relaunched the city's commuter shuttle service on October 4, 2021. The shuttle connects local commut- ers and employees to and from the Southborough MBTA Commuter Rail with two stops in Marlborough and makes three drop offs/pickups in the morning and evening hours. This option provides free public transportation and parking for Marlborough residents and employees who take the train to and/or from Boston and Worcester to work. Looking ahead, MEDC will continue to stay on course to fos- ter its small business relationships, through offering incentives and improvement grants and will turn attention back to the larger employers within the city to evaluate COVID recovery plans and ensure stabilization of the tax base in Marlborough for years to come. Contact Executive Director Meredith Harris at 508-229-2010 or mharris@marlboroughedc.com to find out how your business can become part of this thriving community. FB Address: 91 Main Street, Suite 204, Marlborough, MA 01752 Phone: 508-229-2010 Website: marlboroughedc.com Executive Director: Meredith Harris, mharris@ marlboroughedc.com Year Founded: 2006 Marlborough Economic Development Corporation Left to right: Meredith Harris, Executive Director; Linda Martins, Director of Operations; Lindsey Jaworek, Hospitality Outreach Manager and Jillian Morin, Creative Director

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