History

The Fitchburg Redevelopment Authority is a quasi-public agency created by the Mayor and City Council on January 21, 1964 under General Law Chapter 121 Section 26 and was charged with assisting the City of Fitchburg with efforts of supporting and attracting companies to Fitchburg.

The 1998, closure of the General Electric Plant in downtown and the closure of Burbank Hospital the previous year, was the impetus of Fitchburg’s Urban Renewal Plan. GE’s closure, with its 600 employees and 30 million dollar annual payroll, was a devastating blow to downtown Fitchburg’s economy.

In 1999, the FRA began implementing Fitchburg’s Downtown Urban Renewal Plan, tying into the construction of public facilities such as the new Fire Headquarters, Fitchburg State University’s new gymnasium, and the MBTA Commuter Rail Station/Garage. In addition, the FRA has supported private economic development within the Urban Renewal District, including the CVS Pharmacy.

A History of our Headquarters: Putnam Place

You may have driven by Putnam Place at 166 Boulder Drive countless times, but never knew its great history and impact on the Fitchburg community. Many people associate it with being the old City Hall or “the old GE property.” But did you know the Fitchburg Redevelopment Authority has owned the entire property since 1999?

The “old GE plant,” the place where many residents once worked in the large campus is located just one block from Main Street along Boulder Drive. The site was utilized by General Electric to manufacture electric turbines from circa 1941 until 1998. The property comprised several buildings including the main factory, a machine shop, an office building, many smaller ancillary buildings, and a power plant that supplied power to the entire campus. Today, only three of the buildings remain; Building 2, which houses the FRA’s headquarters and tenants, as well as Building 3/200 Boulder Drive, and Building 6, the former power plant.

History tells us there was a life on the site before GE. Early in its history, from 1851-1886 the site was home to the Putnam Machine Company. Here they manufactured metalworking lathes and later steam engines. In 1886, Putnam Machine absorbed the Putnam Tool Company, which grew the site and existed until 1913, when New York City company Manning, Maxwell, and Moore, bought the business. Manufacturing of Putnam Machine’s products carried on under Manning, Maxwell, and Moore. Interestingly, it appears that the Manning & Maxwell Machine Works Company shared the site with General Electric until 1950 when GE fully took over. However, the legacy of the Putnam Machine Company remains today with the nearby Putnam Street and Putnam Street bridge, adjacent to the property.

So how did the FRA come to acquire the property? The City of Fitchburg took control of the property once GE vacated the space. Subsequently, the City gifted it to the FRA who took ownership of the entire site complex circa 1999. As part of the redevelopment of the site into “Putnam Place,” FRA leveraged several public and private funding sources to conduct the cleanup, facility renovation, improvements, and partial building demolition, all completed in 2004. In 2014, the original GE office building was demolished to make way for more parking for our tenants.

Today the property is home not only to the FRA, but also to the Northern Worcester County Registry of Deeds, Leonardo DRS, Fitchburg Fiber, the Fitchburg Public Library and a National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) field office – a National Science Foundation laboratory. We like to call it the Swiss Army Knife of buildings given the diversity of tenants.

In the future, you will be seeing new tenants move into available units, but if you or someone you know is looking for space, please call the FRA’s executive director, Meagen Donoghue at 978-345-9602 or [email protected] or the FRA’s Realtor Tracy Sladen at 978-870-7572 or [email protected] for more information.