Marriott grants Fairfield Inn and Suites franchise for New Bedford waterfront hotel

NEW BEDFORD — The developer planning a 106-room hotel on the city's waterfront announced Tuesday that Marriott International Inc. has approved a franchise for a Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott at the site.

Officials said the Marriott endorsement of the project marked an important hurdle cleared as the developer and city move ahead with the first downtown hotel in decades along with the first major downtown building project in more than 10 years.

Marriott is a leading international lodging [read more]

BCC cites positive effects to come from expanded New Bedford campus

NEW BEDFORD — Bristol Community College officials said Tuesday a new, greatly expanded downtown campus would have a number of positive effects on the city and surrounding communities.

John J. Sbrega, BCC president, said the college can use 40,000 square feet of new space in addition to the 10,000 square feet it now has in the Star Store building on Union Street and scattered in nearby locations.

Dr. Sbrega said BCC easily could double its [read more]

Patrick lists city sites among state's new 'growth districts'

NEW BEDFORD — The state is designating the Fairhaven Mills and Hicks Logan areas straddling Interstate 195 along the Acushnet River as one of 16 "growth districts," Gov. Deval L. Patrick announced Thursday.

The Hicks Logan Sawyer District will be the focus of a state-city-private effort to provide ready-to-use sites for industry, commercial, retail and housing.

Speaking to about 100 people gathered on the north side of Fairhaven Mills, Gov. Patrick said a growth [read more]

WHALE going back to its roots in New Bedford neighborhoods

NEW BEDFORD — The Waterfront Historic Area League, known as WHALE, is going back to its roots as it marks its 46th year.

WHALE plans to return to focusing on New Bedford and tackling a neighborhood at a time, much like how the organization functioned decades ago when it became involved in saving the waterfront historic district.

That rundown district became transformed over time into one of the city's jewels to include the [read more]

Flower shop sprouts up in New Bedford downtown

NEW BEDFORD — Ana L. Grochmal says downtown New Bedford is the perfect place to do business and her only regret is she did not move her florist shop from South Dartmouth to downtown sooner.

Ms. Grochmal operates "The White Bouquet," now at 763 Purchase St., and will formally mark her move into the heart of the city's business district with a ribbon cutting and brief ceremony today at 5 p.m.

"It has been a whirlwind, fantastic" [read more]

Despite tough economy, zoo's business roars in April

NEW BEDFORD — A multitude of sounds fill the air at the Buttonwood Park Zoo but the sweetest, to those who oversee its operation, is the jingle of coins. A record 33,521 people visited the zoo in the month of April.

"April was the biggest month since the first two months after the zoo opened," said zoo director Bill Langbauer, who believes that increased attendance is largely due to word-of-mouth advertising but that the zoo's success is no accident.

"The zoo is being rediscovered," he said." [read more]

Helping BCC helps us all

We can't wait to see the expanded downtown New Bedford campus of Bristol Community College.

With the capacity that $10 million can buy, the school predicts it could double its enrollment, providing another 1,500 seats for SouthCoast students to pursue higher education. Though the funding is not yet certain — Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny estimated that up to $10 million could be approved by the Legislature — it has broad support among the SouthCoast delegation. [read more]

Montigny proposes new, expanded BCC campus for New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD — State Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny said today he is putting forward a plan for a new, separate campus for Bristol Community College in this city’s downtown that could triple the college’s existing space, consolidate all operations in one location and act as an economic stimulus.

He said the plan has the backing of the city's entire legislative delegation and could produce a new facility for BCC in as few as two years, depending on whether the state decides to buy [read more]