Grafton Science Park

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Grafton Science Park is one of Tufts Cummings Veterinary School's several initiatives to use its faculty expertise, its unique research infrastructure, and its land and building assets to create economic development in Central Massachusetts. Through its collaborative research program, Tufts veterinarians and scientists help companies in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries achieve their research milestones and move their health care products through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process. With partial support from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Small Business Administration, the school developed and operates Tufts Biotechnology Transfer Center, a small - business incubator that has housed 17 companies to date. The presence of these companies has already resulted in property tax payment to the town of Grafton. Also, IDEXX Veterinary Service's New England Lab moved from incubation space on Tufts campus to become a tax paying tenant in Grafton's Centech Park.

To further leverage its scientific resources (and those of nearby institutions) into economic development, Tufts Cummings Veterinary School is developing the 702,000-square-foot Grafton Science Park on about 100 acres at the western end of its North Grafton campus. This land is a portion of the decommissioned Grafton State Hospital and is in an Economic Target Area. The town of Grafton created zoning to encourage this economic development in 1994 and approved Tufts master plan in 1999. The town also partnered with Tufts in securing infrastructure grants for Phase I of the park. It is also near public transportation: the MBTA's Grafton commuter rail station near its entrance will enable non-local employees to commute to work without adding to traffic congestion.

Grafton Science Park will bring biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, and animal health companies to the region. The RBL is expected to be a magnet for those companies. The park will also give companies in Tufts Biotechnology Transfer Center a place to grow. Private capital investment in the park will leverage past Tufts/federal investments in the Biotechnology Transfer Center, state investment in its infrastructure and current federal investment in the nearby Department of Labor's Job Corps program. Tufts active program of technology transfer, collaborative research, and real estate development make it a unique catalyst for economic development in Grafton.

Significant Capital Investment:
When Phase I of Grafton Science Park has been fully developed (with up to 348,000 gross square feet of buildings), we estimate overall capital investment ranging from $76.3 million to $139.7 million. Over the long term, when the park has been fully developed, Phase II will potentially add an additional 354,000 GSF, and we project a total capital investment of $138.2 million to $272.4 million ¹

Permanent Jobs and Construction Jobs:
When the Grafton Science Park is complete, we estimate that over 1,600 health sciences jobs will be created. We also estimate that 56 full-time annual construction jobs will be provided over the infrastructure and building construction periods at an average salary of $47,080.²

Biomedical research and development laboratories and manufacturing facilities operate with an average workforce of about three people per 1,000 square feet for office/labs and two per 1,000 square feet for manufacturing and animal housing facilities.³ Thus, we project 775⁴ new jobs at Phase I completion and a total of 1,607 jobs at the completion of Phases I and II.

Local Tax Revenues from the Park:
Assuming a property tax rate of $10.08 per thousand, we project annual property tax revenues for Grafton at between $560,000 and $1.2 million at the completion of Phase I build-out. At full build-out of both phases, we estimate that $1.2 million to $2.5 million in total annual tax revenues will be generated.⁶

1. Estimated building costs of $175-$375 per gsf were applied to calculate Phase I and II estimated corporate capital investments.
2. Urban Land Institute, Development Assessment Handbook, 1994, pp. 109-110, and U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics MA Construction Industry data, November 2004 (latest available). Based on average annual investment of $10,266,250 per building, 10.9 hours of on- and off-site construction labor hours per $1000 construction, and $23.54 average hourly earnings. A full-time equivalent job consists of 2,000 labor hours.
3. Occupancy ratios (persons/SF) are taken from ULI's Development Impact Assessment Handbook, 1997, p. 110 and Centech Park's EDA application (Exhibit IV-A-3c(4)).
4. These figures assume that 35% of the space will be R&D labs, 35% will be pilot manufacturing and 30% animal housing.
5. $559,000 to $1,198,260 in annual tax revenues. This calculation is based on the FY2006 tax rate as reported by the Grafton Assessors' office. The calculation assumes no inflation in either the tax rate or construction costs over the ten-year build-out period.
6. The FY2006 tax rate was also applied to total corporate capital investment of $117.4M to $251.6M to calculate combined Phase I/II tax revenues.