MANCHESTER, NH – Less than two years after the city was awarded a $44 million federal grant designed to position it as a center for the emerging biofabrication industry, there’s tangible evidence that it’s taken root and growing fast.
A major sign is a big uptick in new residential housing units, particularly downtown.
In 2022, the city was already starting to see residential projects, particularly downtown and in the Millyard taking off. But things picked up after the $44 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant was awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, announced in November of that year, Jodie Nazaka, director of the Manchester Development Office, told Ink Link Tuesday.
“That’s a trend we don’t see slowing down anytime soon,” she said.
The biofabrication industry in the city is led by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, better known as ARMI | BioFab USA. Founded by Dean Kamen, the company develops regenerative tissue and organs from stem cells that are aimed at making expensive treatments like kidney dialysis obsolete. The overall biofab hub initiative comes under the umbrella of the nonprofit NextGen Manchester Resiliency Council, of which the city’s economic development director is an ex-officio board member. Nazaka is currently the chair.
“We are a super active participant in the growth of this industry,” Nazaka said. “We are ensuring that the growth happens here and that we are helping to shepherd it along.”
Numbers that tell the story include:
- The city planning and building department issued 284 certificates of occupancy for new dwelling units in 2023, compared to 100 in 2019.
- The planning department issued 710 building permits for dwelling units in 2023, compared to 104 in 2022.
- From January through April, 182 dwelling units have been issued.
- Since 2018, the Planning Board has approved 2,379 new housing units.
A major city initiative that will help encourage more development is the rewritten city zoning ordinance. The city released a draft of its new zoning map earlier this month.
Nazaka said the new ordinance, designed to be more inclusive and developer-friendly, will support the effort.
“What we know is that if we’re trying to grow and industry and we’re looking to have an innovative approach in workforce, we have to be innovative with our land-use control,” she said.
A community update last week drew more than 100 attendees and had to be rescheduled to accommodate the crowd. Many of those attending were builders, developers, engineers and other development industry stakeholders.
“That tells me the developers are taking notice,” Nazaka said. “They want to be part of it, and they can see the growth of an industry happening right in front of them.”
The biofab industry emerging around ARMI | BioFab USA’s under-development headquarters at 150 Dow St., in the Millyard, is expected to generate around 7,000 direct jobs and thousands more indirect ones, stretching through southern New Hampshire. But those behind the initiative, including Nazaka, stress that many of the jobs will go to people who already live in the city or region.
Julie Lenzer, ARMI chief innovation officer, in an interview with Ink Link last week, said that the focus is on training and hiring local people, including an equity and diversity effort to make sure that those who are often overlooked don’t get left behind.
That effort includes a newly formed Equity Advisory Committee. Some $2 million of the BBBRC grant money is also going to build capacity with community organizations that serve under-represented populations in order to get them into the job pipeline.
ARMI | BioFab USA was awarded a U.S. Department of Defense grant in 2017, now totaling $100 million, to grow the industry. But Nazaka pointed out that ARMI didn’t have to include Manchester in its plans. That grant was simply to scale the industry.
“They could’ve scaled it anywhere,” she said. “Build Back Better funding makes sure the growth of the industry specifically happens in Manchester.”
The BBBRC grant was part of a $1 billion competition, created through the American Rescue Plan Act and awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, that “challenged communities to identify a set of interconnected investments that, together, could transform their local economy, expand economic opportunity and competitiveness, and create thousands of good jobs.”
The city was the lead on the grant, in partnership with ARMI, Southern New Hampshire University, University of New Hampshire-Manchester, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport and the Manchester-Transit Authority.
The BBBRC grant and its focus, “Shows that we want to make sure that we’re building up Manchester to the best that we can be and take advantage of what this industry means for Manchester, but also what it means for all of New Hampshire,” Nazaka said.
When the grant was first announced in November 2022, a lot of people had never heard of biofabrication.
“I think a lot of people were questioning the reality of [the development initiative],” she said. “Is it real? Is this going to happen?”
Now, with tangible evidence that things are moving forward, “We’re seeing a lot of interest.”
She said the fact that there are real-life stories about people who’ve benefited from regenerative medicine helps.
There are also signs in the community, aside from the uptick in construction.
One example is the STEM-MoBILE, unveiled last week. The former food truck, a UNH-Manchester initiative, will travel the state with information about the industry and job and training opportunities that come with it.
“That’s real time. Because of [the BBBRC grant] they were able to establish that tool,” she said.
Another initiative underway is a transportation equity study, conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation Volpe Center and locally by Deo Mwano Consultancy, seeking feedback from Manchester community members about their experiences and challenges with transportation in the city.
Nazaka said that its findings will help guild policy that will make transportation more accessible to residents, visitors and people who work in the city.
The initiatives involved in the biofab cluster and spurred by the grant are many and widespread. Nazaka said that it never would’ve happened if it hadn’t been for the creative insight of ARMI founder Dean Kamen, ARMI Deputy Executive Director Maureen Toohey, and the rest of the ARMI team.
She said the city’s involvement helps make it “an inclusive new industry in the city.”
“It’s really exciting to have a role,” she said. “And be a part of the support for this, and to see it happening.”