Business View Magazine | December 2020

414 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020 Town-wide has been ongoing throughout the pandemic, which is impressive to say the least. In addition, we also have a 384,000 square foot facility that was formerly occupied by Medline. They will be moving out of town to a new one million square foot facility. However, their current facility is being obtained and housed by Amazon. So, we were able to work through that transaction and its required permitting efficiently through our expediated permitting review process. The building permit alone is more than $200,000, and they will occupy that space by mid-2021. We are very pleased for this new addition to our business park and community.” Also, at 30 Reservoir Street, a new 100 room hotel under the Marriott family is currently under construction. And there is a mixed-use commercial office building under construction on the same site, which is directly across the street from the Xfinity Center entertainment venue on Route 140. Kevin is proud of the continued developments in the town. He notes, “While we are seeing so many negative impacts on the economy outside of Mansfield, I can say that the development is still going on in town, which is an impressive sign for our local economy. We have seen a new Italian Restaurant, Trattoria Romana, open in the North End just outside of our downtown which is adjacent to the ongoing rehabilitation of a former Chocolate Factory that will house 130 residential units and be occupied in 2021. So, I can say that, certainly, there are a lot of positive items to report here.” As you can imagine, State Aid and local revenues were of concern in developing a budget for FY2021 due to the pandemic. LaCasse recounts, “I joined Kevin’s team in early February of this year. And when I came on as the Assistant Town Manager and Finance Director, one of my first tasks was to balance the proposed budget. The initial budget was complete before March 15, 2020. And then with the advent of COVID-19, we had to reconsider our budget and make some really tough choices and decisions about what SALES SERVICE PARTS LEASING & RENTAL www.AllegianceTrucks.com • Ford & International • Class 4-8 Truck Sales New & Used • Gas, Diesel, & Hybrid Options • Complete Medium & Heavy-Duty Truck Support • All Makes Truck Parts Wholesaler • Over $2.4 Million Parts in Stock • Mobile Maintenance • Factory Trained and Certified Technicians • Full-Service Body Shop & Paint Booth 2181 Providence Highway Walpole, MA 02081 Toll Free: 800-225-4808 FORMERLY MINUTEMAN TRUCKS! NOW Locations in MA, CT, NY, ME & VT! For all locations visit our website!