Blog | South Shore Chamber, Rockland MA - South Shore Chamber of Commerce

RECAP: 2020 South of Boston Summit

3/9/2020

Photo collage of locations on the South Shore including Nantasket, The Landing Commuter Rail, Marshfield marina, Plymouth Cordage Park

On March 5, 2020 over 250 professionals gathered to hear updates on the commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate market on the South Shore. Opening the program, Rich Beal, President of A.W. Perry, provided an overview of the South Shore Market in comparison with other markets, the Chamber's South Shore 2030 plan, and the South Shore's regional opportunities and challenges.

Following Beal's remarks, attendees heard from three local officials -- Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund; Jen Constable, Rockland Assistant Town Administrator & Vice Chair of the Hull Board of Selectman; and Ellen Allen, Chair of the Norwell Board of Selectman. Topics included town and regional collaboration to address water and wastewater challenges, transportation opportunities and examination of zoning of critical parcels across the region to allow for greater development capacity.

Following the discussion with local officials, attendees heard from four developers on critical and important regional projects - neighborhood revitalization in the Weymouth/Braintree Landing to Nantasket Beach in Hull to the old Cordage Rope Factory in Plymouth to the robust planned development at the intersection of Rt. 44 and Rt. 3 in West Plymouth. It's clear there is great opportunity throughout the South Shore to make it a key competitive region outside of Boston.

View presentation links below.

Keynote -- Rich Beal, A.W. Perry & Chair of the South Shore Economic Development Corp.
Developer Showcase
Joe Gratta, Atlantic Mechanical & Developer of Weston Park Apartments in The Weymouth & Braintree Landing
Mike Hogan, A.D. Makepeace & Redbrook
Jim Goldenberg, Cathartes & co-developer of Harborwalk & Plymouth Station
Aldous Collins & Chas Boggini, Paragon Boardwalk

Thank you to our sponsors and vendors for your generous support of this program.

GOLD SPONSOR

CORPORATE SPONSORS

VENDORS
Cape Cod Lumber
ConservGroup Inc.
Fifield Inc.
HomeWorks Energy
MassSave
Paragon Boardwalk
South Shore Health

Event Photos

(courtesy of Elisif Photography)

The Chamber endorses House Bill 4070

3/6/2020

The state’s 2011 gaming law designated certain levels and types of gaming activity in specific regions of the state. Half of the South Shore falls in Region C which includes the Cape and Islands, Bristol and Plymouth Counties. Norfolk County is in Region A. There are two categories of facilities.

Category 1 are Resort Casinos which must make a minimum capital investment of $500 million. No more than 3 licenses can be issued and only 1 for each of the three regions. Regions A & B already have operating resort casino license. No licensed has been issued for Region C.
Category 2 Slot Parlor licenses with a minimum capital investment of $125 million. Only one license is allowed and that currently belongs to Plainridge Park Casino in Norfolk County. Plainridge include live harness racing. This is region A which also has the Encore resort Casino.
Region C may be practically blocked from any gaming options. The market may not support another resort casino for many years. Plainridge holds the single Category 2 license. The option of Native American gaming has been tied up with federal designation and other problems for many years.

The South Shore Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors recently endorsed House Bill 4070, An Act Relative to the Authority of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which will allow the gaming commission to consider a Category 2 license as well as a Category 1 license in the region. The Chamber covers approximately 25 communities along Route 3; about half of which are in Region C.

The goal of the Expanded Gaming Act in 2011 was to promote economic development and job creation throughout the state. Specifically, this law allowed up to three destination resort casinos located in three geographically diverse regions across the state and a single slots facility at one location statewide. Today, destination resort casinos are up and running in Regions A & B, with a slots facility also operating in Region A.

The Chamber is actively engaged in regional economic development work to make the area more economically competitive. This includes broadening our current economic base. We find it troubling that part of our region in Southeastern Massachusetts is almost effectively blocked under current legislation from even considering a gaming option in this area since the prospects, if any, of a full resort casino in Region C appear distant.

The Chamber’s support for H 4070 is to allow consideration of options. We have not taken any position on any specific gaming proposal. We simply believe that the region should at least have some options open for new development. Likewise, it is our hope that the Commission will reopen the licensing process so proposals can be considered.

Economic Forecast Presentation

1/31/2020

Dr. Mark Melnick of the Donahue Institute giving the Chamber an economic overview

Dr. Mark Melnick of The Donahue Institute spoke at our Economic Outlook breakfast co-sponsored with Envision Bank. We are pleased to share his presentation which included some nice comparisons on how the South Shore stacks up with the rest of the state on key economic factors. It validated some of our work on South Shore 2030 to make the region economically stronger. We were particularly impressed with three slides:

Slide 9 shows we are 1/3 below (less competitive) the state’s concentrations of jobs in the high talent/high salaried Professional and Technical service industry mix but more concentrated than the state’s overall share in the financial services (by almost 70%) and retail (by 30%) sectors. That illustrates one of the underlying challenge facing the South Shore. Some of our largest job sectors are in contracting industries that are shedding jobs while at the same time we have a smaller share of some key sectors that are growing and have higher paying jobs. Our challenge becomes how do we expand and attract the growth sectors. We believe we do it by growing the talent and workforce available on the South Shore.
Slide 22 compares the percentage of family income going to housing. That has declined for homeowners since the recession but has stayed high for apartment owners. The percentage of course depends on two factors: household incomes and the cost of the housing. Overall we believe this supports our housing agenda. It suggests we are not building enough of the housing product (multi-family such as apartments) that young professionals are looking for. That keeps apartment rents too high for many younger people. That in turn limits our ability to grow the workforce.
Finally, slide 27 nicely captures our transportation and economic challenge. (This compares the middle section of the South Shore). We have 1/3 more residents commuting out of the area for jobs than workers coming in from other regions. This reinforces information from our Original 2030 study that the entire South Shore has more people leaving the area for jobs than coming in for jobs. And most of our traffic heads North to or through Boston. While we continue to work on the Boston commute for our residents the better solution to the transportation problem is creating more jobs in the region so residents have better employment choices than driving to Boston.

Download the entire presentation here

Attending the Baker Administration’s Economic Development Listening Session @ UMass Dartmouth

7/2/2019

Regional listening sessions hosted by the Baker Administration

The Baker Administration has been hosting some regional listening sessions to get input for its economic development strategy -- I participated in one of these in May at UMass Dartmouth. It was the closest session scheduled to us geographically. The session was held by Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Michael Kennealy to help inform the Baker-Polito Administration’s economic development strategy for the next four years. The new economic development strategy will be signed by the Governor at the end of this year and guide the administration's legislative agenda.

The room was filled with over 150+ people -- town officials, business professionals, business leaders, non-profits, community leaders, residents, students – an abundance of key stakeholders in the conversation joined in for the conversation. Key themes that came out of the two roundtables that I participated in were spot on with what we are hearing from business leaders across the South Shore:

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito meets with local developers & business leaders

6/5/2019

Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito joined the Chamber and South Shore Economic Development Corp. (SSEDC) leaders, Braintree Mayor Joe Sullivan, Weymouth Mayor Bob Hedlund, and area developers in a discussion held June 4 that focused on economic development and housing initiatives both generally around the Commonwealth and more specifically throughout the South Shore and the Braintree/Weymouth Landing.

Throughout the discussion, which started at Landing 53 (25 Commercial Street, Braintree), Lt. Gov. Polito discussed how the initiative, South Shore 2030, launched by the South Shore Chamber is very similar to what she and Governor Baker are looking to achieve across the Commonwealth, and how the leadership of the mayors and the business community took this vision and made it a reality at the Landing. A plan is important, she said, but without resources and partnerships, it cannot be implemented.

2nd Annual South of Boston Summit

3/26/2019

March 20, 2019

Over 250 attendees gathered for the 2nd Annual South of Boston Summit hosted by the New England Real Estate Journal & the South Shore Chamber of Commerce to hear from key stakeholders about real estate development throughout the region.

The program included a keynote address from Rich Beal of A.W. Perry, panel discussions on changing commercial real estate and how the South Shore is attracting various business in the region as well as a roundtable update on the Hanover Crossing project at the Hanover Mall. Attendees heard from Peter Abair of MassEcon, Patrick Brady of Cornerstone Realty Capital, Tim Cahill of Quincy Chamber of Commerce, David Ellis of Ellis Realty Advisors, Peter Forman of South Shore Chamber of Commerce / South Shore Economic Development Corporation, Ian Frenette of the Boston Cannons, David Gilmore of Pyramid Management Group (Kingston Collection), Josh Katzen of Forest Properties and Steven Kelly of Timberline Construction.

Thank you to our sponsors!
Platinum: A.W. Perry
Corporate: Ellis Realty Advisors, Timberline Construction, Inspired Technology and Communications LLC, Zaxia
Vendor: Cornerstone Realty Capital, PREP – Hanover Crossing, U.S. Pavement Services Inc., Bedford Cost Segregation, iCorps Technologies

More photos can be found in our gallery.

In the Press: South Shore 2030 Housing Initiative

2/19/2019

Key stakeholders gathered at the beginning of the month to recognize some critical leadership in the next phase of South Shore 2030’s Housing Initiative. The business voice is a critical component to moving the number on our housing goal of 44,000 new units by 2030. It isn’t only about increased housing production, but the right kind of housing in the right locations – some key housing developments and town initiatives were highlighted during the event and can be found on South Shore 2030’s housing page.

Getting to that 44,000 number will take a lot of effort and leadership from community members, local officials from all 25 communities, small business, big business, all industry representatives. This is bigger than just increasing the number of homes on the South Shore – it is about building our communities and supporting the economic vitality of the region. We have some great leadership here on the South Shore and Rockland Trust’s, Christopher Oddleifson, is leading the charge with a $35,000 contribution to support the project work.

Check out some of the media coverage of this announcement from the sources below.

For more information about the Housing Initiative and/or to get involved in the conversation, contact Courtney Bjorgaard at cbjorgaard@southshorechamber.org or 781.421.3915.

Update on transportation

11/7/2018

I attended a briefing for business groups with Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack. We tend to focus a lot our transportation attention on the MBTA and major highways. My meeting was a good reminder of how much depends on local roads and bus services.

More people are served by buses than rail lines. As the Secretary noted we need to pay more attention to bus service but almost every improvement from changing a stop, creating bus lanes, or having necessary curb cuts for stops all require partnership with local communities.

Our own work for regional development is now moving more toward local transportation needs to travel within the region rather than just the commute into and out of Boston.

- Peter

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