Shrewsbury pushes to develop CenTech Park North at former Allen farm

SHREWSBURY – A public hearing will be held next week on the master plan for the former Allen farm that is being transformed into CenTech Park North, a 450,000-square-foot eco-friendly business park.

The town purchased the 66-acre former farmland located on South Street and Route 20 (Hartford Turnpike) in 2002 through the right-of-first refusal regulation after voters approved a $6.1 million Proposition 2½ debt exclusion. That blocked AvalonBay Communities' attempt to build hundreds of apartments there under the state Chapter 40B law. The statute allows developments that include a percentage of affordable housing units to circumvent some zoning bylaws in communities where less than 10% of the housing units are considered affordable to low- to moderate-income tenants.

Maurice DePalo, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the former Allen property was one of the few parcels left that could be developed for commercial/industrial purposes. In a major zoning overhaul around 1970, about 85 percent of the town, considered a bedroom community for Worcester, was zoned for residential uses. During the 1990s, hundreds of building permits issued in the town annually made it one of the fastest growing in the state. As available buildable land has decreased over the years, so has new housing construction. Currently, residential property owners provide more than 87% of the tax revenue.

The new business park means no additional children in the space-challenged school district and an opportunity to increase the town's non-residential tax base and provide jobs.

"Almost the entire burden of running the government in town is on the residential sector," Mr. DePalo said, explaining that commercial property owners have a net gain in terms of what they pay for taxes and what they use for services, as opposed to residential property owners. "The more commercial we build, we can lessen the burden on residential properties."

The Shrewsbury Development Corp., authorized by town meeting, has worked over the years to get the land ready for development. In 2012 the parcel was designated as a Priority Development Area through the 495/MetroWest Development Compact Plan. The property is fully equipped with all utilities.

Several grants have been utilized along the way, including a $302,000 Site Readiness Program grant in 2018 for the design of the planned 900-foot North Road to provide access to the proposed buildings in the north pod of the parcel. The site is now considered "shovel ready," which allows the town to submit an application for a MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant next month for construction of North Road.

The north and south pods of CenTech Park North will each have a potential of five buildings ranging from 20,000 to 120,000 square feet, for an estimated maximum buildout of 450,000 square feet. The north pod will have access from the South Street corridor that leads to Route 9, a busy state thoroughfare. The south pod is accessible from the Route 20 corridor, which with major sewer, traffic and other upgrades, is considered to be the next wave for economic development.

The Flexible Development Overlay district and expedited permitting for the site allows for a wide variety of uses, including office and administration, research and development, laboratory, accessory manufacturing, health care, assisted living, office/research, distribution and light industrial.

The town's recently updated 2016 master plan identified the property as a priority for research and development and office uses. The town can potentially be considered a hub of the thriving life science industries. It is located near two large regional biomedical influencing markets and close to higher education institutions in the Worcester area.

The progress of the development of the business park is guided by the Shrewsbury Development Corp. The broker for the property, Colliers International Group, is working with the town and the SDC on marketing the site.

Selectmen will discuss the findings of the master plan and receive input at the hearing in the selectmen's meeting room in Town Hall at at 7:05 p.m. July 23. Written comments can be submitted to [email protected].

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