Investment in Framingham Topped $630M over Five Years, Marketing Grants Available, Meet DFI’s New Executive Director Anthony Lucivero, and More! The Choose Framingham Newsletter

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Monthly Newsletter

April 30, 2021 | In This Issue

Grants Available to Help Marketing of MetroWest Small Businesses

The Town of Ashland, City of Framingham, and Town of Natick recently announced a new Business Marketing Technical Assistance Grant sponsored by all three communities, which focuses on providing marketing support to small businesses in these three MetroWest municipalities. The grant was made possible with funding from the Baker-Polito Administration Regional Pilot Project Grant Award to Support Economic Recovery and you can read more about the administration’s efforts here. Businesses interested in applying for a grant should download the application here.

Through the Technical Assistance Grant, the communities of Ashland, Framingham, and Natick are providing consultant services to assist businesses to improve their marketing efforts to increase sales. Business owners will have an opportunity to work directly with marketing professionals to create, redesign or update their website, upload online point of sale tool to business websites, and focus on social media marketing strategies for direct marketing to consumers.

To apply for this grant, please CLICK HERE to download the application. Applications submitted after that date will be considered if funds allow.

New Data Show More than $630 Million Invested in Renovation and New Construction Projects in Framingham over Last Five Years

Since 2016, 77 New Construction Projects Have Brought in More than $250 Million in Investment to the City

This week, Framingham’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) and Planning and Community Development (PCD) Division issued a press release that looks at an analysis of data that show developers and others have invested $639 Million in renovation, new construction, accessory projects and more in the past five years. The data reflect commercial building permitting applications in the City from 2016 to 2020 and include 77 new construction projects, 50 of which were permitted after Framingham became a City. Those new construction projects have brought $253 Million to Framingham since 2016.

“It is exciting to see that residential and commercial real estate developers are interested in locating in and building in Framingham,” said Doug Lawrence, Chair of the EDIC Board. “It’s also gratifying to know that residents and building owners are doing their own kind of investment by reinvesting and renovating their properties. Even while we continue to work hard to address the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important we recognize we are in a good place to recover when the time comes – hopefully soon.”

77 new construction projects have been permitted in the last five years, according to the data. In total, 38 of those projects have multifamily residential developments. The remaining 39 projects are commercial buildings. In total, the projects have brought more than $8 Million in fees to the City of Framingham. Since becoming a city in 2018, 50 new construction projects were permitted, bringing in $163 Million in investment into Framingham.

Among the 77 projects that have either been constructed or are underway include Modera Framingham, 270 new units of transit-oriented housing in Downtown Framingham. The development, which received a tax increment financing agreement from Framingham in 2015, was built by Mill Creek Residential. Construction on Modera Framingham, which has been an important part of the revitalization of Downtown Framingham, was completed in 2020 and leasing began in October.

Commercial development projects currently underway include the expansion of Whole Foods Marketplace on Route 9. In September 2020, Crosspoint Associates announced that it had acquired a nearly three-acre site next to the store’s current location, which will allow the market to be expanded to more than 43,000 square feet. The total job cost of the expansion is estimated to be $4.5 million.

“It is encouraging, for instance, to see a brand like Whole Foods recognizes that the City of Framingham is a strong market, even after the last year where the pandemic impacted so much commercial activity,” said Angela Randolph, the EDIC Board Vice-Chair. “Increased commercial development and new and renovated housing mean growing revenues, a better quality of life, and more jobs in the community.”

In 2020, the EDIC issued a report, produced by Framingham State University’s MetroWest Economic Research Center (MERC), that looked at economic growth and employment trends in Framingham. The report suggested that the City is poised for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and found that as of 2018, Framingham employment has reached more than 49,000 jobs at a record number of establishments within the City. The study focused on Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development data from 2018, the latest annual data available.

Meet Anthony Lucivero, Downtown Framingham, Inc.’s New Executive Director

In March, Downtown Framingham, Inc. welcomed its new executive director, Anthony Lucivero, who took over for the departing Courtney Thraen. Choose Framingham caught up with Anthony to learn more about who he is and what his vision is for the organization that does so much to promote Framingham’s thriving Downtown neighborhood.

Tell us a little bit about your background. What did you do before becoming executive director for Downtown Framingham, Inc. (DFI)?

I grew up in Worcester, and studied Political Science at UMass Amherst. I then went on to study something completely different (Environmental Management) at Harvard Extension School for my master’s degree. I’ve worked in a few non-profits, as well as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center, doing transportation planning work. I also worked in restaurants starting when I was 18 to support myself during school, and I credit that experience for instilling a lot of life lessons in me.

What is DFI’s mission and programs?

DFI’s mission is all about making Downtown Framingham a place where people want to live, work, and play! Our programs are always evolving to fit the needs of the community, but our main focuses are to support Downtown businesses, and enact placemaking and community building projects. The great thing about DFI is that we are able to interface directly with the residents. In my past life working for the federal government, I missed that personal connection to my work, and it’s great to have that here.

What will your key priorities be for Downtown Framingham?

My number one priority is to help Downtown businesses recover from the pandemic, which involves working with businesses directly to apply for government funding and keeping them informed about those programs. I’ll also be bringing attention to Downtown Framingham as a destination; there’s so much to do here, and it’s a great place to do business!

How is DFI helping the neighborhood address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic?

One of the things we’ve been focusing on is helping business owners navigate the application processes for numerous recovery programs, such as the small business grants through the city. I’m also assisting restaurants in updating their Common Victualer’s licenses to permanently add outdoor seating to their floor plans. There’s a lot of legwork involved with these applications, and many small business owners just don’t have the time to do it alone.

What are your favorite things to do in Framingham in general?

Meeting everyone! I’ve also been enjoying walking around and getting the lay of the land these past few months. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I’ve been grabbing some lunch (Kous-Kous is my favorite!) and eating on the Downtown common on nice days.

What should Choose Framingham’s readers be looking for next when it comes to DFI’s work and/or programming?

I’m really looking forward to when we can have in-person events again. I have some exciting ideas in the works for when that happens, so stay tuned to our social media and subscribe to our newsletter!

Anything we missed?

Shout out to my predecessor, Courtney Thraen! Her impact on the community was huge, and everyone I meet Downtown always has something great to say about how much she helped them. I hope I can live up to that legacy!

To learn more about Downtown Framingham, Inc. please visit them at their website.

Update on Framingham's Gift Card Matching Program

The Framingham Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) recently launched a gift card matching program to help local Framingham businesses dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The EDIC has committed to spending up to $10,000 by offering a dollar-for-dollar match on gift cards purchased by members of the community at participating Framingham businesses.

Twelve Framingham businesses will be participating in the program:

From Saturday, May 1 through Sunday, May 16, 2021, members of the community are encouraged to purchase gift cards from the participating businesses listed above. Visit the Choose Framingham website to learn when, where, and how to purchase gift cards for the participating businesses. Support these local Framingham businesses by buying a gift card to use at a later date or a gift for a friend of loved one.

WATCH: Small Business Workshop Helps Local Small Businesses

The Planning and Community Development Division and Framingham Taking Care of Business BNI (TCOB) co-hosted a Small Business Workshop on Monday, April 12, 2021. Roughly ten local small business owners attended the workshop to learn from seven members of TCOB, each with their own specialty and years of experience in their field. Attendees were given the chance to learn what their bank should be doing for them, how a lawyer could help with negotiating contracts, what's happening in the local commercial real estate market, how to protect their assets, and how their business should be handling accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll. This second workshop in the series led to questions about how business metrics might impact the overall performance of a business, whether business owners had a succession plan, and more.

If you were unable to attend the workshop and would like to watch the video, please click here. If you would like to learn more about the Framingham Taking Care of Business BNI, please visit their website.

The Framingham TCOB consists of 49 members and counting. BNI is the world's leading business referral organization with over 275,000 members in over 10,000 BNI chapters worldwide. The Framingham TCOB members range in expertise from marketing, finance, legal, health/wellness, construction, consulting, real estate, and more.

Workshop participants heard from the following Framingham TCOB members:

Jana Abramson, Northern Bank - business banker
Jeremy Bombard, Bombard Law - business lawyer
Tom Charbonnier, Paresky Flitt - accounting
Matt Kaplan, Solex Payroll - payroll and human capital management
Brian Kilcoyne, H&K Insurance - commercial insurance
Casey Killam, Re/Max Executive Realty - commercial real estate
Michelle Teitelman, Accounting Solutions Providers (bookkeeping)

A third Small Business Workshop will be held on Monday, May 10, 2021. Participants will hear from another group of professionals from the Framingham TCOB as they share why it's important to have life/disability insurance, how increasing your energy efficiency can have a positive impact on your employees, how to reduce business costs, how to use a credit card processing company to serve your merchants better, why you should plan for your financial future, and more.

Registration link: http://framinghamsmallbusinessworkshop3.eventbrite.com/