Worcester Business Journal

76 Worcester Business Journal | October 28, 2024 | wbjournal.com T he City of Marlborough looks very different today than it did 35 years ago. In 1989, places like the Apex Center of New England, the Solomon Pond Mall and even the New England Sports Center did not exist and companies such as Moderna, TJX and Repligen did not have Marlborough on their radar quite yet. Today, some of the world's most premier Life Science companies occupy space that used to be home to Digital Corporation and 3Com where they research, design and manufacture life changing innovations. It's no secret that Marlborough has experienced tremendous growth since 1989, but the story of how Marlborough made that happen and continues to attract new growth is quite unique. In 2006, Fidelity was one of Marlborough's largest employers, bringing approximately 5,000 employees in and out of the city every day – until they weren't. City leaders were dismayed when, seemingly overnight, Fidelity closed its doors and took those 5,000 employees with them, meaning all the local small businesses took a major hit. It was at this time that the Marlborough Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) was born. MEDC's main mission is to stabilize the residential tax base by attracting a robust and healthy commercial sector. e MEDC is unique in its funding structure and ability to act as a private corporation. In the early 2000's and into the 2010's, MEDC helped the City of Marlborough attract companies such as Boston Scientific and large-scale projects like Marlborough Hills, transforming the old Hewlett Packard site into a robust mixed-use site now home to Quest Diagnostics, Cytiva, Avalon and the Hilton Garden Inn. In 2011, MEDC completed an award-winning Master Plan which would help guide the strategy to focus on building Marlborough as the life science hub we see today. rough offering incentives, expedited permitting and acting as an ombudsman for the business community, through MEDC, Marlborough has been successful in attracting high profile companies such as GE Healthcare and Hologic. Most recently the city partnered with Sartorius, investing $100M bringing 100 jobs to the community and Moderna, investing $350M bringing over 200 jobs to the community. Today, the MEDC is well known in the commonwealth for helping Marlborough attract and retain companies through creative outreach and a bullish attraction strategy. e City of Marlborough is open for business and the MEDC is readily available to help with site selection, access to stakeholders, development strategy and more. n Marlborough Economic Development Corporation Special Advertising Section Connect with Us

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