HAVERHILL — Several local business leaders are cooking up a way to bring new companies to Haverhill.
They have teamed up to develop a business incubator on the seventh floor of the Burgess Building at 143 Essex St., where emerging, innovative businesses can share resources and ideas.
In a few short months, the formerly empty seventh floor has been filled with small businesses, including Exultium, Setrix Inc., Northeast Computer Services, Mindware Music, Advertising That Works, and the offices of Attorney B. Michael Cormier.
Former City Council President John Michitson along with Lisa Fitzpatrick, property manager for Kifor Development LLC, have been working together to market the downtown directly to emerging and innovative businesses across the Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston.
Their focus has been on developing a concept known as the "Burgess Business Center Incubator," which offers common areas such as a lounge, conference rooms and lunch area, while networking and sharing business ideas that are mutually beneficial.
"The number-one issue in America and for Haverhill is to attract business and to create jobs," said Michitson, who is running for council this year.
William Pillsbury, the city's planning and economic development director, said the backbone of any economy is small business and often they don't have the ability at an early stage to lease all of the space they want.
"Common space and the common use of space in an incubator is an excellent tool to help these small businesses grow," Pillsbury said.
The newcomers to the incubator join with long-term tenant USAi.net, which can provide them with wired/wireless service, server co-location, and generator backup, in addition to a direct broadband wireless link to Boston's new innovation district.
City officials see the downtown as a place where people can live and work at jobs that are just around the corner from their apartments, or who commute by train to jobs out of town, and who shop and dine downtown.
In the last several years about 500 residential units have opened in redeveloped former mill buildings in Haverhill's downtown, many of which are in new developments including the Hamel Mill Lofts at Locke and Essex streets, the Hayes Building on Granite Street and the Cordovan on Walnut Street.
Michitson and Fitzpatrick say their long-term intent is to create a feeder system to Haverhill's industrial parks and to have a ripple effect on the downtown's restaurants and other retail businesses.
"As you add new companies like these, you can expect that 80 percent of our future job growth will come from these companies as they grow," Pillsbury said.
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