Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 28, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 63 WBJ ose "toppings" include not just benches, flowers, murals, and other beautification measures but also practical help for local businesses. For example, Redding said, when COVID-19 shut down in-person retail businesses, many Hudson merchants wanted to apply for help from the federal government but didn't have the expertise needed to deal with the paperwork. So the BID hired an accountant to help them out. Braga, who today is the executive director of the BID, said the financing mechanism makes a huge difference. Where other towns collect dues of $40 or $100 from local businesses, the assessment on property owners provides Hudson with $150,000 a year to invest in everything from concerts by well-known entertainers to seasonal festivals. In recent years, Hudson, which is one of just 10 communities in the state currently using a BID, has had officials from dozens of other communities visit to get ideas for their own downtowns. Perhaps more importantly for Hudson's economy, the vibrant business district has proved to be a draw for other kinds of companies. Braga recalls one high-tech manufacturer that picked Hudson over other potential places to set up a plant partly because of its attractive places to take clients out to lunch. "At the end of the day, they chose Hudson simply because we have a vibrant downtown," he said. Feeding the big fish in Marlborough Like Hudson, its larger neighbor Marlborough was a 19th-century industrial town and then a part of the late 20th-century tech surge around I-495. Since then, it's been expanding its economy in all directions. According to Meredith Harris, executive director of the Marlborough Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), two game- changers that got their start in the 1990s were the Solomon Pond Mall and the New England Sports Center, an eight-rink ice-skating facility that draws people from around the world for hockey tournaments and other events. ose visitors contribute to the economic health of downtown businesses and to the 11 hotels that now operate in the city. MEDC formed in 2006 to help advance more big projects by attracting and working The Hudson BID provided assistance for local businesses during COVID-19. COURTESY HUDSON BID "Folks came to the table and said we have to have a group that's dedicated to business attraction, retention." – Meredith Harris, executive director, on the role of the Marlborough Economic Development Corp. COURTESY MEDC Continued on next page A Town property assessment helps the Hudson BID invest in concerts and downtown festivals. COURTESY HUDSON BID

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