City breaks ground on waterfront project with Market Basket

NEW BEDFORD — Gov. Deval Patrick gathered Friday with state and local officials on the former Fairhaven Mills site to celebrate the ground breaking of the Market Basket supermarket, the anchor store for the new retail and mixed-use development there.

Construction is already under way on the supermarket, located on the northwest corner of the site — now known as Riverside Landing — and the 95,000-square foot store is expected to open in October, said Arthur T. Demoulas, president and chief executive office.... [read more]

  Tallest residential tower in downtown reconstruction financing approved

NEW BEDFORD — With the help of state and federal financing, the unlucky Regency Tower apartment building downtown will get a new lease on life in 2010, Gov. Deval Patrick announced Friday.

The announcement before a crowd of 125 inside a heated tent in the Regency parking lot was just one stop on an all-day tour of the city for the governor. He flitted with his cabinet members from one venue to the next to celebrate new projects: bank-sponsored, after-school activities at Normandin Middle School... [read more]

  Historic waterfront mill conversion going ahead.
100 market rate loft units to be ready in Fall 2010.

NEW BEDFORD — Plans to transform a historic mill building on the Acushnet River into 100 market-rate apartments are moving forward after months of legal wrangling.

Developer Steve Ricciardi closed last month on the property, the former Whitman Mill No. 2 at 10 Manomet St. He will likely break ground this winter, and the new apartments could open this fall, according to Ricciardi.

City officials said the project will help save a mill building and bring welcome development to an... [read more]

  Bank of America announces major 3 year gift to establish after-school program

NEW BEDFORD — City students will have new opportunities for after-school learning and activities with financial support from the nation's largest bank.

Bank of America has committed $190,000 a year over three years to pay for after-school tutoring, educational activities, intramural sports and recreation at the city's three middle schools and four largest elementary schools. The initiative, called Excel New Bedford, will start Tuesday, city officials said.

"It's something we are going to be.... [read more]

  Life science company wins tax credit award; looks to expand in New Bedford

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded a $570,000 tax incentive to a New Bedford manufacturer, boosting the company's plans to expand and hire more employees.

Morgan Advanced Ceramics, which makes ceramic materials that have medical applications, plans to add about 25,000 square feet to its plant in the New Bedford Business Park.

The company, a subsidiary of Morgan Technical Ceramics, has committed to hiring at least 19 new... [read more]

  NPR focuses on city solar company Konarka

Many old factories around the country now sit dark and empty. But at a once-defunct Polaroid film factory in New Bedford, Mass., the lights are on again and a new industry is rising up inside the ruins of an old one.

The company Konarka makes solar panels, but not the kind most people have seen. These are thin, lightweight, flexible plastic sheets, and that enables them to be used in all sorts of new ways.

"We make what's called plastic solar... [read more]

  City in top 10 for retail growth next year 

PROVIDENCE – The Providence metropolitan area is one of the 10 U.S. regions most likely to see its retail sector grow next year, according to a new study by Pitney Bowes Inc.

The Stamford, Conn.-based company’s Pitney Bowes Business Insight division ranked the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metro area at No. 9 on a list of 10 markets where it expects retailers to perform the best over the next six quarters.
The Providence market “is projected to have above average GDP growth for 2009 and favorable growth... [read more]