MetroWest495 Biz

Other ventures, including RXi Pharmaceuticals and IPG Photonics, have also found new locations in the city. If you're in a nearby community, all these wins next door could start looking a little intimidating. But officials and business leaders in neighboring towns say the activity is good for the region as a whole, and, if anything, Marlborough's progress offers clues about what they can do to support business development in their own communities. "A lot of people do view this as a competition," said Francisco Torres, economic development coordinator for Westborough. But, he added, he's thrilled to see the addition of new employers close by. "It's only going to strengthen this region," he said. Torres, who was hired in April to a new position supporting the town's economic development committee, said he wants to bring a regional focus to the local efforts, emphasiz- ing the way neighboring communi- ties can benefit from each other's successes. He said Marlborough's creation of its own development com- mittee was a model for Westborough and other communities. Westbor- ough, meanwhile, has had its own recent — and highly publicized — success with biotech giant Genzyme's decision to open a 500-person office in town, moving employees from Framingham. Bouncing back In a way, Marlborough's devel- opment efforts were born out of necessity. The big corporate office spaces being filled now were available only because of the loss of Fidelity Investments and Hewlett-Packard in previous years. "Marlborough certainly had taken its lumps," said Michael Berry, exec- utive aide to Mayor Arthur Vigeant. Berry said the accessible, attractive locations helped bring in companies, helped by the economy's gradual recovery and a strong pro-growth mentality among city leaders. Tim Cummings, executive director of Marlborough's Economic Devel- opment Corp., said collaboration by elected leaders, department heads and local businesses several years ago helped produce a master plan and strategies to promote a good business climate. He said one of the keys has been not just recruiting new businesses but working with current employers to make sure their needs are being met and that, if they have the opportunity to expand, they will do so in the city. But, like Torres, Cummings said he doesn't feel a sense of competition with neighboring towns. "The world's a lot bigger than just MetroWest," he said. "What we would like to believe is it's a regional approach and we all have our parts to play. And we're doing our part." Each community in the area has its own set of needs when it comes to new development. As of the second quarter of the year, Marlborough had the highest office vacancy rate within MetroWest495, with 22 percent of its 6.9 million square feet unoc- cupied, according to real estate data firm CoStar Group. Westborough followed at 20.8 percent, though its total office space is only a quarter of Marlborough's. The only nearby community with more office real es- tate is Framingham, and its vacancy rate was well below Marlborough's, at 11.4 percent. "Unlike Marlborough, we don't have the same kind of space gaps to fill," said Arthur Robert, Framing- ham's director of community and economic development. MetroWest495 Biz | October 2014 15 Source: CoStar Group, as of Q2, 2014 MetroWest Region Office Space City/Town Occupied (sq.ft) Vacanct (sq.ft) Marlborough 5,360,243 1,511,121 Hudson 555,204 20,541 Berlin 68,645 0 Sudbury 953,032 16,905 Framingham 6,758,666 871,359 Westborough 1,364,077 359,053 Northborough 638,237 78,885 Southborough 1,108,874 110,209 Total 16,806,978 2,968,073 s page 23 Francisco Torres, economic development coordinator for Westborough

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