Springfield Vermont - Build What's Next

Why Springfield, Vermont Should Be on Your Shortlist for Business Expansion

When companies consider expansion or relocation, the usual names tend to dominate the conversation: major metropolitan areas, established industrial corridors, and rapidly growing suburbs.  But sometimes the better opportunity is found where fewer companies are looking.

Springfield, Vermont, is one of those places.

Located in southeastern Vermont's Connecticut River Valley, Springfield offers a combination that's hard to find elsewhere in New England: interstate access, commercial and industrial development opportunities, high-speed connectivity, a history of skilled manufacturing, workforce-development resources, business incentives, and a community actively seeking new investment.

Springfield isn't trying to become Boston.  It's offering businesses an alternative.

Strategic New England Location

For businesses serving the Northeast, location matters.  Springfield sits directly along Interstate 91, the major north-south transportation corridor running through the Connecticut River Valley. That gives companies convenient highway access north toward Canada and south toward Massachusetts and Connecticut.  The community's economic-development strategy specifically identifies proximity to I-91 as one of Springfield's major business assets.

For manufacturers, distributors, service companies, and other businesses that depend on regional transportation, Springfield offers the ability to operate in rural Vermont without being disconnected from the New England marketplace.

The Springfield area also provides access to multiple commercial airports within a few hours' drive, while Hartness State Airport provides a local general-aviation asset.

For the right company, Springfield can offer the best of both worlds: a rural operating environment with access to a much larger regional economy.

Commercial and Industrial Space with Room to Grow

One of Springfield's most compelling economic-development advantages is simple: We have room.

Springfield's industrial history left the community with infrastructure and commercial and industrial areas that can support future development.  The Springfield Regional Development Corporation works with businesses looking for commercial space, expansion opportunities, technical assistance, and financing throughout southern Windsor County. Springfield's municipal plan also calls for continued redevelopment of former industrial properties to create additional mixed-use and industrial space. The community has opportunities ranging from existing buildings to sites with redevelopment potential, including areas with convenient access to I-91.  Rather than squeezing your company into an expensive metropolitan property with limited expansion potential, Springfield allows businesses to ask:

What could we build here?

Infrastructure Already in Place

Rural doesn't have to mean disconnected.  Springfield has invested in infrastructure that can support modern businesses.

High-speed fiber connectivity is one of the community's strongest assets. Springfield-based Vermont Telephone Company (VTel) provides local fiber service. At the same time, the Black River Innovation Campus (BRIC) offers technology entrepreneurs and businesses access to exceptionally high-speed connectivity, coworking facilities, conference space, educational programming, and an entrepreneurial community.  

Springfield also has municipal water and wastewater infrastructure, highway access, public safety services, and established commercial and industrial areas.  For companies evaluating rural locations, existing infrastructure can dramatically change a project's economics.  Springfield isn't starting from scratch.  Much of the foundation already exists.

A Manufacturing Community That Understands Industry

Before Silicon Valley, Springfield had Precision Valley.  For much of the 20th century, Springfield was internationally known for its machine-tool industry. Companies here developed precision equipment that manufacturers worldwide used.  That legacy created something that doesn't disappear simply because an economy changes: a community culture that understands manufacturing - Springfield understands factories - it understands skilled trades.

It understands that industrial businesses need truck access, power, infrastructure, employees, suppliers, financing, and room to expand.  Today, Springfield is working to combine that manufacturing heritage with advanced manufacturing, technology, entrepreneurship, and new industries.  For companies interested in making things again in New England, that distinction matters.

Building the Workforce of Tomorrow

Workforce is one of the first questions every expanding company asks.  Springfield benefits from a regional network of workforce and educational organizations that can help employers develop talent.

The River Valley Technical Center provides career and technical education and helps prepare students with both technical and workplace skills.  The region also has access to organizations supporting advanced manufacturing, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and technology education.  The Black River Innovation Campus has added another dimension by helping develop digital and technology skills while supporting entrepreneurs and technology-oriented businesses.

Workforce challenges are real throughout rural New England, and Springfield doesn't pretend otherwise.  Instead, the community is actively working on them.  For an incoming employer, that means the conversation doesn't have to begin with, "Good luck finding workers."  It can begin with, "What skills do you need, and who should we bring to the table?"

Competitive Operating Costs

Location decisions ultimately come down to economics.  Commercial and industrial businesses in major metropolitan areas face significant expenses for real estate, expansion space, labor, commuting, and other overhead.

Springfield presents an alternative.  The community's economic-development organizations identify affordable operating costs—including real estate—as one of Springfield's competitive advantages.  But you should consider cost alongside another factor: capacity.

A lower-cost building isn't much of an advantage if your company can't expand. A rural location isn't useful without adequate connectivity. Affordable land doesn't solve anything if it is disconnected from transportation and utilities.  Springfield's opportunity comes from combining relative affordability with infrastructure and access.  That's a much more compelling economic-development proposition.

Financial Incentives Can Strengthen the Business Case

Businesses considering Springfield may also have access to local and state economic-development programs.  Depending on the project, companies may be able to explore financing programs, redevelopment assistance, workforce resources, state incentives, and other economic-development tools.

Vermont's Employment Growth Incentive (VEGI), for example, provides performance-based cash incentives to qualifying companies expanding or relocating in Vermont based on new jobs, payroll, and capital investment.  In addition, Springfield On The Move has a Downtown Economic Development Fund, and the Springfield Regional Development Corporation, along with the Town of Springfield, offer revolving loan funds to aid business development and growth.

Springfield also has local economic-development organizations that can help companies identify programs that fit a particular project rather than expecting a business owner to navigate every program alone - That matters.

A good economic-development community shouldn't simply hand you a stack of applications.  It should help you figure out which doors are worth opening.

An Innovation Ecosystem in an Unexpected Place

Perhaps one of Springfield's biggest surprises is the Black River Innovation Campus.  Located in a redeveloped former school, BRIC represents Springfield's effort to build a new economy on top of its history of innovation.  Technology companies, remote workers, startups, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and digitally enabled businesses increasingly don't need to locate in major cities.  What they need is connectivity, affordable space, talent, community, and market access.  Springfield can provide those ingredients while offering something increasingly difficult to find in metropolitan technology hubs: room to build.

A Community That Wants Business Investment

Another factor companies should consider when choosing a location rarely appears on a spreadsheet.  Does the community actually want you there?

Springfield has made attracting and growing businesses an explicit part of its economic-development strategy.  The Town of Springfield, Springfield Regional Development Corporation, Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, Black River Innovation Campus, educational institutions, state partners, and other organizations all play roles in strengthening the regional economy.

The whole Town/Community is wired to help new businesses set up, integrate, grow, and thrive.  Whoever you talk to follows the policy of a single point of contact.  Town Hall, the Chamber, SRDC- everyone has you covered.

That creates an environment where an expanding company can have conversations with people who understand that business investment means jobs, property-tax growth, stronger local suppliers, workforce opportunities, and greater economic stability.  In a community of Springfield's size, a significant new employer doesn't disappear into the economic landscape.  It becomes part of the community's future.

Your Employees Have to Want to Live Here, Too

Business recruitment isn't only about recruiting companies.  It's about recruiting people.

Springfield offers the Vermont lifestyle many employees want: mountains, rivers, forests, outdoor recreation, historic villages, four-season activities, and a community where people can actually know their neighbors.

Employees can live in a rural environment while remaining connected to communities throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.  That quality of life can become part of an employer's recruitment story.  Instead of asking an employee to relocate solely for a job, companies can offer something larger: a different way of living.

The Opportunity Is in What's Next

Springfield isn't selling itself as a finished product.  That's precisely what makes the opportunity interesting.

Former industrial properties are being reconsidered. Infrastructure is being leveraged. Technology and entrepreneurship are becoming part of a community once famous for machine tools. Workforce development remains a priority. Commercial and industrial sites offer possibilities for companies willing to look beyond the usual locations.  Springfield has already reinvented itself more than once. Now we're looking for businesses that want to be part of what comes next.

Take a Look

Don't make site-selection decisions from a brochure.  

·      Come to Springfield

·      Drive Interstate 91

·      Tour our commercial and industrial properties

·      See our infrastructure

·      Visit the Black River Innovation Campus

·      Meet our workforce-development partners

·      Talk with the Springfield Regional Development Corporation

·      Sit down with community leaders and tell us what your company needs

·      Then compare what you find here with the cost and complexity of your other options

You may discover that the right place for your company's next chapter isn't a major metropolitan market at all.  It may be a small Vermont community with a long industrial history—and an even bigger appetite for what's next.

Springfield, Vermont: Build What's Next.

For information about relocating, expanding, or starting a business in the Springfield region, visit www.springfield802.com, contact the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, Springfield Regional Development Corporation, or the Town of Springfield.   We can help connect your company with available properties, business resources, workforce partners, and the people who can help move your project forward.