TAUNTON-Dick Shafer said the visit Wednesday morning by Secretary of Housing and Economic development Greg Bialecki to Taunton’s Myles Standish Industrial park was a sign that the state stands behind the future development of the park’s final two phases of land development.
Bialecki stopped off for a brief tour of the site that will be used for industrial business clients as well as a education and training center with an emphasis on so-called life science.
Shafer, who retired last year after a long career as the city’s economic development director, said he now works for non-profit Taunton Development Corporation in an independent-contract capacity for expanding the park to full capacity.
He was among a small group of officials who held a brief roundtable discussion with Bialecki in the office of Taunton Development/MassDevelopment Corporation.
The TDMDC collaboration set the stage in 2011 for transferring ownership of 220 acres of unused land formerly part of the now closed Paul A. Dever State School, an institution that for more than 50 years provided group homes for mentally disabled residents.
In late 2011, the state sold the land for $1 to the TDC — which for more than 30 years developed and maintained the 800-plus-acre industrial park — and its MassDevelopment partner.
State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, along with former Taunton state representative James Fagan, was instrumental in spearheading legislation more than 10 years before to transfer ownership of the land to the city.
Read More: Taunton Daily Gazette