Economic Development

The Town of Auburn is committed to the development of a healthy business environment. The Town's approach to economic development is two-pronged: to foster a positive connection with its existing businesses and to promote the Town as a destination for new businesses.

The Auburn Development Authority welcomes new industrial and business development to the town. The Town features approximately 500 acres of commercial and industrial zoned land. With convenient transportation access via I-93, NH Route 101, NH Route 28 By-Pass and NH Route 121; available sites within minutes of New Hampshire’s largest city, and a charming rural character, Auburn offers inviting characteristics for businesses interested in the growing southern New Hampshire region.

In 2000, the Town entered into a joint venture with PD Associates, LLC and Prudential Verani Realty to develop and market a substantial piece of Town-property off Route 101, near the intersection with I-93. The site had formerly been the location of a military rifle range.

Since this project was undertaken, many businesses have located in the Wellington Business Park including Fisher Sports, Woodard and Curran Engineers, Equity One Mortgage Company, Sprint, Alliance Core Technologies, Bristol West, and the U.S. Veterans Administration. In addition, several condominium warehouse buildings are in full operation on the site.

Currently, Linear Technologies, Inc., of California, has signed a purchase and sale agreement and will build a 30,000-square-foot building. This is a computer assembly company that is anticipating to locally employ 60 people. The company is in final stages of approval by the Auburn Planning Board, and hopes to start construction in May of this year with occupancy around November 2006.

The Auburn Development Authority will work with prospective new industries and businesses. We'll help companies understand Planning Board Regulations, wetland issues, permits and more. We're willing to work as hard as we need to make a company's move to Auburn a pleasant experience.

For further information or assistance concerning lots available in the Wellington Business Park, contact PD Associates, LLC by phone at 603-641-8200, by e-mail at epease@pdassoc.us, or via their web site at: www.pdassoc.us

COVER STORY: Auburn business park is Building up

BYLINE: BENJAMIN KEPPLE New Hampshire Union Leader

DATE: April 26, 2008

PUBLICATION: New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, NH)

EDITION: State

SECTION: Avenues

PAGE: C1

AUBURN -- The latest addition to the Wellington Business Park, an office park located a hop, skip, and jump from Route 101's Exit 1, is well on its way to completion.

Construction crews are busy putting up an office building with roughly 25,000 square feet of space, the first of three such buildings planned for the lot. An office of Bristol West Insurance Group will take up about half of the building, according to the developers, while the other half will be available for lease this summer.

"It's great flex space, " said developer Elmer Pease, a partner in the project. "It offers and opportunity for someone who wants a nice address."

Bristol West presently has a claims office at 15 Dartmouth Drive, just down the hill. The company is a subsidiary of Farmers Group Inc., the insurance giant based in Los Angeles, which itself is a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Zurich Financial Services.

Bristol's new office up the hill will replace its old office, although a moving date hasn't yet been set. With more space in the new office, the company will eventually hire more staff, although at present the number of new hires isn't known.

"They'll be assessing once they move in, and over time, there will some job opportunities for sure," said Jerry Davies, a spokesman for Farmers Group.

The Dartmouth Drive location is the company's only New Hampshire office. The company's products are sold through independent insurance agents. There are about 220 agents selling Bristol West insurance in the Granite State.

With the construction of this newest building, which has a street address of 65 Dartmouth Drive, the park is past the halfway point for its total planned square footage, according to listing agent Thomas Duffy, manager of Prudential Verani Realty's commercial services division. Among the firms located in the park are Sunrise Labs Inc., and Linear Technology Corp.

Present plans for the park call for total construction of around 400,000 square feet. About a third of the park has been set aside for open space, protected by conservation easements.

Much of the park is built around Dartmouth Drive (just to the north of Route 101 and a few hundred yards east of Exit 1), and leads up a hill. After the three higher buildings are complete at 65 Dartmouth, more construction  is planned higher up the hill on two lots. Those lots will offer grand views of Lake Massabesic.

"That (highest) lot and the lot below it are probably going to be the premier two lots in Southern New Hampshire," Pease said.

The business park has other advantages as well. The location -- which offers quick highway access to Route 101, Interstate 93 and 1-293, is one. Another is the park's infrastructure for customers needing high-speed Internet connections.

Fiber-optic cable is supplied to each building site. But the park also has connections to not one, but two of FairPoint Communications Inc.'s main fiber-optic data cables. That means that if one line gets cut or otherwise goes down, data will still flow through the second connection. Data speeds of up to 155 megabits per second are available at the park.

"The whole park is actually wired for a SONET ring. We have the highest fiber speeds available, " said Duffy.

Space in the building at 65 Dartmouth Dr. will be offered at $9 per square foot on a triple-net basis, Duffy said.   

Two other spaces are now available at the Wellington Business Park: a roughly 5,200-square-foot space on the first floor of the 30,000-square-foot building at 5 Dartmouth Drive, and a roughly 3,500-square-foot-space on the second floor of 15 Dartmouth Drive, which is also a 30,000-square-foot building. Both spaces are being offered for $12.50 per square foot on a triple-net basis, Duffy said.

For further information about the spaces, contact Duffy at 845-2101, or email: tom.duffy@verani.com.

Union Leader Correspondent Toby Henry contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 Union Leader Corp.

Auburn Development Authority

Michael DiPietro

Harland Eaton
James Lagana
Michael Myers