“Twenty four towns own this park. One is 80 miles away!” John Butera, Executive Director of Central Maine Growth Council, a regional ED group, told me on my tour of Waterville, ME. “These towns set up a regional development authority, jointly investing $1 million into the project. They got this matched with $1 million in state funds and $1 million from the Feds. They then issued a $3.5 million bond, shared by all 24 towns, to buy and develop the park.”
I was amazed that this all started only six years ago and the first building wasn’t completed until three years ago. But, today the 300-acre park is booming with almost ten buildings already built or under construction. A new 20,000 spec office building is almost complete.
In May, T-Mobile opened a new 80,000 sf call center. “We were in the running with Montana, Missouri and Tennessee. We won them over with the quality of our workforce and the collaboration that they saw taking place. T-Mobile differentiates their commodity business with exceptional customer care, which they felt we could offer.” The $22 million investment will eventually have 900 employees and a $25 million payroll.
Why don’t more areas embrace this model? Why go it alone, when by working together you can accomplish so much more?
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