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MassDevelopment In The News
Chelmsford Firm Plans Move to Tyngsboro
November 7, 2007: The Lowell Sun, by Dan O'Brien
TYNGSBORO - Mass Crane & Hoist Services Inc., a 20-year-old Chelmsford maker of industrial materials ranging from ergonomic lifting systems to 20-ton cranes, is moving its headquarters to a new building at 72 Progress Ave. in Tyngsboro.
The move, which takes effect in January, comes as a result of a $1.65 million tax-exempt industrial development bond engineered by MassDevelopment.
Mass Crane is using the funds to help pay for a $2.4 million project that included the buying of land, construction of a 20,000-square-foot new headquarters and the purchase of new equipment.
Benny Wong, vice president at MassDevelopment, said the "bond" is in fact a low-interest loan issued by Middlesex Savings Bank to Mass Crane. MassDevelopment, a quasi-state agency that promotes economic development, acts as a conduit between the two. The borrower enjoys the below-market rate on the loan and the lender is exempt from paying taxes on the interest it earns.
Qualified borrowers include manufacturing companies that are seeking funding for real estate-related projects.
President George Frost said Mass Crane had been looking to put everything under one roof - it presently divides its local operations between its headquarters at 80 Turnpike Road in Chelmsford and a 7,500-square-foot warehouse in Billerica.
"We were trying to find open space near the ramp of a major highway," said Frost. "There isn't much of that kind of land around here."
The new building is off Cummings Road, near the junction of Routes 3 and 113.
Mass Crane, which presently employs almost 50 people, specializes in custom-engineered products and provides design, engineering, fabrication, installation and inspection services. Frost said it expects to add 10 positions that could include project managers, technicians, millwrights and fabricators over the next couple years.
He said the privately held company, which also has satellite operations in Connecticut and Maine, is growing approximately 10 percent a year.
"Business is very good," said Frost, adding that customers include the high-tech industry, ship-building enterprises and power generation firms. "We have a backlog well into next year."
MassDevelopment has acted in a similar capacity for several other area businesses, including the Devens Recycling Center; Nuvera Fuel Cells in Billerica; and Neoprint in Chelmsford; and Owl Stamp Company in Lowell.
© Copyright 2007 The Lowell Sun.
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