By Bill Kirk
bkirk@eagletribune.com
September 14, 2008 02:13 am HAVERHILL — Joe Antista can't wait. The chief operating officer of Southwick Clothing stands in the vast, empty cavern that once housed the Rich's Department Store warehouse on Computer Drive and smiles. "This should be a really good time for us," he said. Soon, construction crews will begin the process of transforming the 91,500-square-foot shell from its original use as a storage space to its new use as a manufacturer of high-end men's suits sold by Brooks Brothers and other specialty stores around the world. By January, Southwick should have moved its 300-plus employees and millions of dollars worth of equipment into the building, which it will share with Magellan Aerospace next door. The gleaming property is a far cry from Southwick's current home in a run down, five-story mill complex off Union and Island streets alongside the Merrimack River in Lawrence. While the move is a big loss for Lawrence — the company has been in the city for 80 years — in Haverhill it's seen as a boon to the city's tax base and another example of the economic growth that continues along the Interstate 495/Route 97 corridor. "It's going to have an extremely positive impact on the city's tax base," Community Development Director Bill Pillsbury said. "There are two things you look for in a project — job creation and taxes. There are a large number of jobs being created, and due to the increased use of the building, it will mean the city will get more taxes." In 2008, the city collected nearly $165,000 in property taxes from the building's owner, Suffolk Advisors LLC. After Southwick moves into the renovated space, that figure will rise, Pillsbury said. Business is booming It's just one of numerous Haverhill properties that have been developed in the last couple of years on Computer Drive, Creek Brook Drive, Research Drive and Route 97, also known as Broadway. Pillsbury said 10 major companies now make their home in that part of town, employing nearly 1,000 people and paying upwards of $1 million a year in property taxes. While some of them have been there a while, in the last 18 months there has been a flurry of activity, with the opening of a Lowe's home improvement store and a Target department store, along with Magellan Aerospace and Adamson Industries, a company that puts the finishing touches on police and other emergency vehicles. And there's room for more. Two parcels along Computer and Research drives are still available for development, and active negotiations are underway with potential tenants to fill them, Pillsbury said. A plan is also in the works to build an $18 million mall on Broadway, which would add even more jobs and tax revenue to the city. Pillsbury attributes the area's success to existing infrastructure, including easy highway access, municipal water and sewer service, and roadway improvements. Increased efficiency For Southwick, the move was prompted in part by Brooks Brothers, a longtime partner whose parent company, Retail Brand Alliance, purchased the suit maker in July. During a tour of the company's Lawrence facility earlier this year, Antista lamented the inefficiencies of a nearly 100-year-old mill building. An extremely slow elevator services the building, which means long rides for employees when they arrive at work or go to the break room on the third floor. The material for the suits is stored on one floor, the cutting room is on another, and the suits are measured on a different level. Antista said the company, at the behest of Brooks Brothers, needed to trim costs and become more efficient, so it was looking for a new home on one floor. As the company shopped around, company executives found the vacant portion of the 20 to 24 Computer Drive building and decided it fit the bill perfectly. Antista said that while the Haverhill location is smaller than the 250,000-square-foot mill building, much of the current Lawrence space isn't used anyway. Shortly after the sale was announced, bus loads of workers were brought to see the new facility. They were told that, unlike the Lawrence facility, the new manufacturing center would be air conditioned. "They applauded," Antista said. "Everyone's anxious to get this going." In addition to the tax revenue it will generate, Haverhill officials were initially hopeful that some of the workers laid off as a result of the Newark Paperboard plant shutdown could be hired at Southwick. But it doesn't appear that will happen. Antista said some of those workers were interviewed during a recent job fair, but their job skills didn't match what was needed at Southwick. Instead, he said, the company may be looking at bringing workers up from New Bedford who were laid off from a textile plant there that does similar work. He said Southwick currently employs 305 people and has hired dozens of workers in recent months as business has picked up.
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