New Bedford’s Next Offshore Wind Play: More Office Space

The city is already a hub for marshaling offshore construction, but officials seek to create more space for the industry’s white-collar workers

The city-owned Quest Center for Innovation was built in 1899 as a technical college for the textile industry and now serves as office spaces for government agencies, nonprofits and a coworking center.
The city-owned Quest Center for Innovation was built in 1899 as a technical college for the textile industry and now serves as office spaces for government agencies, nonprofits and a coworking center.
Ben Berke/The Public’s Radio
Share
The city-owned Quest Center for Innovation was built in 1899 as a technical college for the textile industry and now serves as office spaces for government agencies, nonprofits and a coworking center.
The city-owned Quest Center for Innovation was built in 1899 as a technical college for the textile industry and now serves as office spaces for government agencies, nonprofits and a coworking center.
Ben Berke/The Public’s Radio
New Bedford’s Next Offshore Wind Play: More Office Space
Copy

New Bedford’s waterfront is already bustling with the colossal maneuvers of offshore wind construction – there are cranes assembling turbines taller than the city’s biggest buildings, and ships arriving with blades as long as football fields.

But on Monday, Mayor Jon Mitchell announced the city’s latest play in the industry: creating more office space for the industry’s white-collar workers, many of whom are clustered in larger cities and state capitals like Boston, New York and Providence.

The city will lead a $3 million renovation of a building it already owns at 1213 Purchase Street, aiming to reopen the third floor as a flexible office space where international maritime and offshore companies could rent space on a short-term basis during a wind farm’s development.

This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.

Counterclaim comes after three years and a trio of lawsuits by North Kingstown country club over shoreline dispute
From a sharp school-board satire at The Gamm to Black storytelling, chamber music and medieval fencing, here’s what’s happening this weekend and beyond in Rhode Island
In the aftermath of the deadly shooting at Brown University, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley reflected on what the city did right following the tragedy and what it can do better in the event of future emergencies
Mayor Brett Smiley said initial indications are positive, but that he ordered the city to engage an outside firm to review the city’s response
Activists gather in the State House rotunda with a list of demands for McKee administration
With the 2026 campaign and expectations of a budget hole hovering over the Statehouse, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee proposed ways the state can cut taxes