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NH Enterprize Corridor
NH Enterprize Corridor offers companies best-value and business access in New England!Laptops to kayaks – “green” is a dream!
 The big economic development news out of New Hampshire is that “The NH Enterprize Corridor” has been released for marketing. The area was once a key component of what was known as “The Golden Triangle” – a hot spot for economic development in New Hampshire for two decades extending into the 1990’s. Now, the area will be designated by Londonderry as “The NH Enterprize Corridor” – an area again destined to be the economic development hot spot for the next decade.
Centered by Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MBRA), the second highest FAA designation a jet-serviced airport can receive, MBRA is jointly located in Londonderry and Manchester, New Hampshire – and is sandwiched between Interstate 93 (now being dramatically widened to accommodate future growth), and Route 3, which connects to Interstates 495 and 95 in Massachusetts, just minutes to the south of Londonderry.
This time though, the Corridor will be specifically promoted as a technology area and it will be backed up by a robust new definition of The “new” NH Advantage, a list of over 90 major reasons why businesses should consider moving to Southern New Hampshire as a means of fiscal responsibility to their shareholders and owners. The benefits of being in “The Corridor” easily justify a move to, or expansion in New Hampshire.
Londonderry’s Andre Garron, Community Development Director, says, “We’re just 40 minutes from Boston. Southern New Hampshire is loaded with broadband access and fiber optic, enjoys modern interstate highway access, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport with 170-flights a day of passengers and air cargo, an existing passenger rail line and another planned to run right through the Corridor, and we have a integrated talent development program as our college seniors and career institute graduates enter the workforce in numbers and quality heretofore unheard of in the Granite State.”
“With the rejuvenation of adjoining Manchester in recent years in terms of arts, entertainment, hospitals/healthcare, shopping, and higher education…the communities and parks in ‘The Corridor’ allow us to take a little license when we highlight the attractiveness of the area with a “Z” in the spelling of The NH Enterprize Corridor,” said Garron. “The Corridor is a prize, for sure…”
Londonderry plans to promote the revised identity of the state as embodying elements of The new NH Advantage in New England development media. They plan to target young start-ups businesses and emerging growth companies headed by a generation of technology-savvy management. “We’re looking to attract evolutionary companies who value their lifestyle as much as their working environment,” said Garron.
“We call the pitch a personification of “laptops to kayaks.” Garron noted that the distinct taxation, regulation, and education assets NH has to offer make it competitive in the economic development world. “No longer are we speaking in terms of spec buildings, and massive company moves”, he explained. “These days, the 50 – 100 worker companies are exporting their unique talents of brainpower onto the business world. They’re perfect candidates to locate in New Hampshire…and in The Corridor.” Companies that accept sustainability and “green” development will be welcomed here with broad smiles,” said Garron.
The brainpower element needed to staff new companies was not lost on the state’s University System when they initiated the 55% Initiative last year an effort to retain more college seniors and career institute graduates by extolling the virtues of “Stay, Work, and Play – NH” after graduation. In effect, a typical graduate would leave NH after graduation would have to earn 20% more than the graduate who stayed in NH – just to break even. Londonderry officials believe their major task is to develop The Corridor as a way to meet corporate needs, and those of the state which would like to keep New Hampshire graduates contributing to the economic well-being of the state.
“Currently, there are major development projects within the Enterprize Corridor…the 1,000 acres involved with the Manchester-Boston Airport Access Road Expansion in Londonderry (scheduled for completion in 2012), the revitalized Manchester Millyard, and properties in Londonderry and Manchester. Add to that, smaller parcels in the cities and towns in the region, plus projects on the periphery of the Corridor, and New Hampshire has a tremendous amount of potential to welcome new businesses”, says Londonderry Realtor/developer Judy Tinkham. “In fact, this may be the time of the greatest development in the state’s history simply because of the integration of economic development efforts on the state and local levels, the active participation of the colleges and universities, the airport and rail systems, and the deep development of lifestyle factors such as entertainment, dining, and activities usually promoted by our successful tourism efforts,” she noted.
When asked at a recent presentation by Stay, Work, Play – NH, LLC., if New Hampshire held appeal to young workers and their technology companies, one New Hampshire professional replied, “Some might still say there’s nothing to do in NH. I’d have to then ask them why I’m so tired on Mondays” says 35-year old Graham Chynoweth, VP- General Counsel for Dyn, Inc. - a high-tech company headquartered in Manchester, NH. “The overall attractiveness of New Hampshire as a lifestyle/workstyle choice is astounding,” said Chynoweth, a board member of the statewide “Stay, Work, Play – NH” Initiative.
Recent magazines as varied as Forbes, Money, US News & World Report and many others have found areas such as Manchester-Londonderry, Nashua, Portsmouth, and Concord as ideal places to work and grow a family, according to state development officials at the Department of Resources and Economic Development. Southern New Hampshire has been profiled well-over two dozen times in recent years by national and international magazines.
Mark Brewer, the Director of Manchester-Boston Regional Airport noted that the airport just received its most recent economic impact study. Brewer proudly notes that Manchester-Boston Regional Airport has a $1.24-billion impact on Greater Manchester and it creates approximately 3,800 jobs as a result. “I’m pleased to see that more fuel is being added to the sales pitch we’ve been making for years about the airport and New Hampshire,” he said.
Manchester and Londonderry have been active with their individual “Birthplace of Your American Dream” and “Business is good. Life is better!” branding campaigns. These campaigns will be leveraged and coordinated into The NH Enterprize Corridor activity.
“This is a perfect time for NH to get the ball rolling” said , Garron. “With the spirited efforts of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s $1.2-billion recruitment campaign in life sciences and biotech underway, I’m sure some of those folks will take a look at what NH has to offer… just 40 miles away. What they’ll be saving cost-wise, and enjoying from a lifestyle perspective will most-likely give many of those companies pause”, he added.
“When we have everyone speaking in one voice with one coordinated message about NH being a great choice, I’m sure our high tech membership will be welcoming many of their contemporaries to the state”, said John Farrell, Chairman of the Londonderry Economic Development Task Force. “NH has not only needed the recent re-definition of the NH Advantage for a long time…it also needed a re-birth of its economic development pitch. It’s time to tell the NH story like never before so that when the current economy turns for the better, NH will be squarely on people’s minds.“, explained Farrell.
“When you get right down to it, this entire effort is about bringing more jobs to New Hampshire by using our tremendous physical and intellectual assets as the primary rationale”, said Londonderry Town Manager Dave Caron. “A lot of hard work was done by local committees and task forces to ensure that Londonderry kept is unique appeal, while offering the highest and best uses for our industrial/commercials lands.”
For more information on the cities and towns that comprise the NH Enterprize Corridor and more facts on The “new” NH Advantage, call Andre Garron at 603-432-1100 – X 101 (Londonderry), or visit www.thriveinlondonderry.com
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