New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
New Bedford’s Upper Harbor District has long been home to companies such as Joseph Abboud, Titleist, and Precix (formally Acushnet Company) but in the 80’s and 90’s became an almost forgotten corner of the city as mill buildings became vacant and the river ignored—cut off from the adjacent neighborhood. 
In total, more than 300 jobs across a wide range of sectors and $85M in investment are changing face of the district.
“I have said from day one that jobs are the top priority of my administration, so I am extremely pleased by our progress in the Upper Harbor District in fostering job growth,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell.
One example is the recent addition of 65 new jobs at UpSource. The high-tech back office company located in the recently and dramatically renovated mill space at 645 Belleville Avenue. This along with several other expansions signal economic activity in the Upper Harbor is gaining momentum.
Since cutting the ribbon on their new 10,000 square-foot space in June of 2012, UpSource has steadily increased the number of employees to more than 100 with their latest round of hires—bringing the new center to full capacity with an additional $1.3 million per year in additional payroll. To help make this expansion possible for UpSource, the City was instrumental in securing leased parking at the former Areovox site for the raft of new employees coming into an already busy area of the city.
“Since our recent ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Mitchell we have more than doubled our workforce. The City’s ability to help provide safe and convenient parking for our workforce was critical to our recruiting efforts for our current and future expansion plans,” stated Joan Chaput, CFO of UpSource.
In the same historic mill building, Joseph Abboud is also expanding after their merger with Men’s Wearhouse this past summer, bringing on 60 new employees over the past several months and looking to hire an additional 30 in 2014. With 600 employees, Abboud is one of the largest private sector employers in the city and is producing more than 1,000 men’s suits every day.
“Joseph Abboud is an iconic American designer with an international reputation for fashion and quality and we are committed to the made in America theme that resonates with today’s consumer,” said Anthony Sapienza, President.
Across the street from Joseph Abboud is Precix, a manufacturer of O-rings and specialized products for the automotive, aerospace, and energy industries that has been in business for more than a century, and is one of only 13 companies certified to manufacture synthetic elastic materials for the aerospace industry. Precix is also in expansion mode having invested $22 million on equipment and facility upgrades over the past several years with an additional $4 million planned for 2014. In addition to the new investment, an additional 25 new jobs have been created with another 20 new hires planned for 2014 to add to their current roster of 356 highly skilled employees.
In addition to the expansion of established manufacturers, new start-ups such as Mother Freedom located in the Darnit! Inc. mill are also starting to call the Upper Harbor home. Mother Freedom is a heritage inspired men’s sportswear brand that chose to start in New Bedford because of the skilled workforce. Their 12,000 square foot factory space is brilliant white and is home to 27 employees as the company enters their second year.
“We choose New Bedford over all other locations in New England due to the quality of the labor force. It was a choice well made, and the incredible view of the river from our design studio is the best view I have had in my career,” said Jeff Rose, Designer and Founder of Mother Freedom.
And at the gateway to the Upper Harbor new construction by Dickinson Development is in various phases at multiple buildings at Riverside Landing on Coggeshall Street. Just a few weeks ago, a ground breaking was held for the new $4 million St. Anne’s Hospital urgent care facility that will yield 35 new permanent jobs and 75 construction jobs. The new retail buildings adjacent to the St. Anne’s site that are just finishing construction will allow for the creation of an additional 70 jobs, all added to the more than 500 jobs created at Market Basket in 2010.
“We are proud of how Riverside Landing has helped to bring new life to a critical gateway to New Bedford’s Upper Harbor. The investment in new construction has allowed this Brownfield site to be cleaned while adding hundreds of new jobs and tax revenue for the City while providing much needed services to the neighborhood”, said Mark Dickinson, President of Dickinson Development.
Adding to the new construction at Riverside Landing is continued infrastructure improvements to the Acushnet Avenue International Market Place and the nearly $50 million in investment, and hundreds of construction jobs, associated with the transformation of the historic Cliftex mills into a total of 200 new high ceiling loft residences along the river. The ribbon cutting for Monamet Place (Cliftex south) by WinnCompanies and Keith Construction took place this past summer, and the ribbon cutting for Riverbank Lofts (Cliftex north) by Acorn Management will take place in the next several weeks.
All of this investment on the land side of the upper harbor will soon be matched by a $400 million EPA clean-up of the harbor. With the clean up, the river is poised transform itself from an environmental liability to an economic and recreational asset, which is expected to spur additional private sector investment, job growth and expand tax base for 2014 and beyond.
I need employment.. I job search everyday and didn’t see any of theses companies seeking employees… ? growth the only thing growing in this city is the homeless and jobless people…