MassDevelopment

MassDevelopment Provides $630,000 Low-Interest Loan to Help Buzzard Bays KC Enterprises Buy Building


January 4, 2010


Contact:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086

MassDevelopment announced today that the Agency is providing a $630,000 low-interest real estate loan to DKST LLC, a real estate holding entity for KC Enterprises. KC Enterprises, a Buzzards Bay vendor of irrigation automation and wireless systems solutions for the agricultural, municipal water, oil, and gas industries, plans to use loan proceeds to purchase a 6,250-square-foot building the company currently leases. The building houses offices, computer monitoring of irrigation systems, and system component assembly, service, and repair. The technology allows proprietors to automate and remotely access water systems for cranberry bogs, municipal water districts, and other industries where water is used.

“KC Enterprises provides systems that make crop irrigation more efficient for farmers, reducing costs and conserving water, all the more welcome given the extremes of the New England growing season,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Robert L. Culver. “We are pleased that this low-interest loan can help the company purchase this building.”

KC Enterprises began selling and servicing custom-designed automated irrigation systems in 2005. The technology is useful to all farmers, but local cranberry growers were the first clients. Watering protects cranberries, which are otherwise vulnerable to frost and force growers to spend hours tending to pumps on cold nights. To ease this burden, many growers install irrigation automation, which controls watering through wireless technology and the Internet. KC Enterprises sells, installs, maintains, and monitors irrigation systems, which can control irrigation pumps by date, time, and temperature via remote sensor. Users can also enhance their systems to adjust watering schedules according to rainfall, soil moisture, and wind conditions.

“Thanks to MassDevelopment, KC Enterprises can now emerge into new markets including municipal water districts and the oil and gas industry,” said KC Enterprises President Kevin Connolly. “Current projects include Gallo winery and the Oil Sands surrounding Fort McMurray. The technology is used to conserve water and fuel up to 50 percent as opposed to conventional methods. KC Enterprises Ltd strives to provide the best custom built control and monitoring systems available, and MassDevelopment has made it possible to purchase the property necessary to make that happen.”

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2009, MassDevelopment financed or managed 229 projects statewide representing the investment of nearly $1.2 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 1,488 new housing units and 8,232 jobs: 3,362 permanent and 4,870 construction-related.