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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Bringing Jobs to Boston

Four years ago, local officials launched an initiative to attract biotech companies and create Boston city jobs. With the help of Massachusetts’ billion-dollar life sciences incentives package, the city’s effort is finally paying off. Recently three separate biotech companies announced that they would be relocating to Boston and creating new jobs in the area.

Paratek Pharmaceuticals, which is currently located in the city’s Leather District, will be moving to the South Boston waterfront. In order to encourage Paratek to relocate, the city gave the company a tax exempt loan of $14 million to be used for developments needed at its new location in the marine industrial park. This drug development company will be bringing with it 65 employees when it makes the move, but has also mentioned that it hopes to create 50 new jobs with in the new few years.

Health focused software company Cogito Health Inc. and its affiliate Dimagi Inc., will be relocating form Cambridge to Boston. These companies will be bringing with them 10 employees and plan to be hiring an additional 10 professionals soon after moving.

In addition to these businesses, Soadco/klockner has decided to open its American headquarters in Boston. The move, which was announced last month by Governor Deval Patrick, will create somewhere around a dozen jobs in the beginning. Soadaco is also currently in the process of looking over several different pieces of property in the city in hopes of finding the perfect location to open its manufacturing plant. This facility could potentially create another 130 new Boston jobs, according to city officials.

With these businesses all deciding to relocate at the same time, some believe that Boston may be on its way to becoming a hub for the biotech industry. Recently, the city sent a delegation to the Biotechnology Industry Organization convention in San Diego to prepare for such an occurrence. The current plan is to attract more businesses to the area through the LifeTech Boston Initiative and create as many as 10,000 jobs by 2010.

1 comment:

K said...

As a Bostonian, this is great to hear! I'm not too surprised that they want to attract biotech companies in order to increase jobs... it makes sense that they'd want to expand this industry, since Boston already has some of the best hospitals in the country. Boston Children's is ranked second best hospital in the nation, while Mass General holds the #5 spot, and Brigham and Women's is 8th (according to US News and World Report).

Great post.

Kayla
Cortera