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.

Developer filed application one day before ordinance vote, clouding the project’s fate
John J. McConnell Jr. says he and his family have been targeted after he issued court decisions against the Trump administration
Shellfishermen were looking to bounce back from a tough winter. Now they’re shut out from prime clam beds
“Reducing your footprint” became one of the most familiar ways to talk about climate change, but why did that framing catch on? And what does it leave out?
A recycling nonprofit, through its New Bedford warehouse, puts used nets, ropes and other marine debris in the hands of local artists
Republican John Loughlin says he would reshape the office into a taxpayer oversight and accountability agency similar to a state inspector general