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QDC Chief Operating Officer Chelsea Siefert (right) gave the keynote address at the New England Real Estate Journal’s 2024 Commercial Real Estate Summit, where she shared the roots of Quonset’s success and the strategic upgrades and expansions happening across the Business Park.“A key element of Quonset’s success is our unique site readiness program which provides pre-permitted, pre-engineered, shovel-ready sites primed for construction within 90 days of a company signing a lease and taking site control,” Siefert said in her remarks.
In the last decade, Quonset’s site readiness program has led to the creation of over 4,000 jobs and $664 million in private investment across 33 developed sites and 36 companies at the Business Park.
“Based on that success, state leaders thought it would be a good idea to apply Quonset’s successful approach statewide. We agreed – and agreed to take the lead on making it happen,” Siefert continued.
Administered by QDC, the Rhode Island Ready program is a statewide industrial site readiness initiative based upon Quonset’s site readiness program. With the Business Park nearly at capacity, RI Ready was designed to create an inventory of pre-permitted properties ready for industrial development, leading to job creation statewide. Enrolled sites are provided technical assistance with engineering, permitting and other approvals along with support that will prepare sites for development activity.
To date, 18 sites are enrolled in Rhode Island Ready, totaling 429 acres. Combined, these sites could host over four million square feet of new industrial buildings.
“Coming up with a way to expand the supply of space for industrial growth in Rhode Island will be a key challenge of the coming decade. The continued growth of our economy, the creation of new jobs and the future prosperity of Rhode Island families depends on it,” Siefert said. |
