Press Releases
2023
March 23, 2023
The majestic, albeit ailing Bank Street Armory once housed a volunteer militia, the National Guard and the Greater Fall River Re-Creation among its tenants before it was shuttered by the city building inspector in April 2015. Now a local developer with a track record of transforming old city buildings is eying the castle-like structure for redevelopment into 37 market-rate apartments or possibly a mixed-rate project with 20% of the units deemed affordable.
March 15, 2023
Mayor Paul Coogan delivered his fourth State of the City address on Tuesday at Government Center before a joint session of the City Council and School Committee, framing the city as one of “energy, hope and unprecedented growth.”
February 10, 2023
After sitting idle for 14 years with a broken promise to redevelop the property, the sale of the 117-year-old former Lincoln Elementary School on Pine Street is expected to be completed within a week with plans to convert it into 24 market-rate apartments.
January 19, 2023
Now that the Route 79 expressway reconstruction project has officially broken ground, one of the first things to be broken will be the Route 79 expressway itself, with the highway scheduled to be closed for good sometime in February.
2022
December 22, 2022
The much-anticipated $135 million Route 79 and Davol Street Corridor Improvement project is officially underway with a ceremonial groundbreaking led by outgoing Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and other state and local leaders at the City Pier on Wednesday.
November 30, 2022
Maura Healey is getting help from several leaders on the SouthCoast as she prepares her transition from attorney general to governor.
July 7, 2022
Cars wrapped around the building and the restaurant overflowed with customers as the city’s first Chick-fil-A location opened on Wednesday.
March 24, 2022
The city’s first round of pandemic-related, small business grant awards handed out Thursday morning at Government Center was “just the beginning,” according to Mayor Paul Coogan.
February 9, 2022
An out-of-town developer has big plans for Davol Street that should add to the growing inventory of market-rate apartments in Fall River.
January 19, 2022
Facebook chatter notwithstanding, the pavilion containing the historic Fall River Carousel is not falling apart.
January 14, 2022
More than $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act grant money will soon be available to local small businesses impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
December 16, 2021
Ramesh Izedian says $400,000 is nothing to sneeze at.
“If not for the funding, I’m not sure this project would be feasible,” he said.
October 19, 2021
It’s been an untold number of years since the appointed Fall River Port Authority has met, but a new committee has been assembled and will meet officially for the first time on Tuesday, making the way to restore the Fall River Line Pier group that has been dormant for at least the past two years.
August 25, 2021
It’s taken about 20 years and millions of dollars in clean-up costs, but on Wednesday, officials said the City Pier is headed into the final steps of its redevelopment, opening it up for waterfront access. The Fall River Redevelopment Authority hosted a groundbreaking ceremony with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito to help celebrate the milestone for the four-acre pier project.
March 26, 2021
Tim Reyes is optimistic about the future of the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum and his employment at the famous Fall River tourist attraction.
2020
September 1, 2020
The Fall River Tax Increment Financing board last week approved more than $1.56 million in tax breaks to a developer and two businesses who are investing $34 million between three construction and expansion projects.
August 28, 2020
After years of clean-up and controversy, residents and visitors could be enjoying the views of the Taunton River from the redeveloped City Pier by next summer after the Seaport Economic Council awarded a $1 million grant to the Fall River Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday.
August 6, 2020
Despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, economic and business development plans for the city remain on track, according to a speech delivered Wednesday morning by Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan.
August 4, 2020
Cordeiro says the entire project would not have been possible without the availability of state and federal tax credit and loan programs.
July 26, 2020
Bristol County Economic Development Consultants (BCEDC) has announced a $500,000 Small Business Emergency Loan Fund (ELF) to assist Fall River businesses affected by the COVID-19 virus and related temporary business closures.
May 27, 2020
Liberty Utilities has acquired the former Homeland Builders property on Sykes Road in the Industrial Park for $5.8 million with plans to make it its local headquarters in the 72,280 square-foot facility on 8.63 acres of land.
March 19, 2020
2019
August 2, 2019
For years, residents have been hearing that the City Pier, owned by Fall River Redevelopment Authority, would be turned into a marina with a restaurant and transient dockage to lure out-of-town boaters away from Newport and Bristol. There was talk that maybe a hotel could be built on the shores of the Taunton River.
July 24, 2019
For the next two years, the city will benefit from an economic development coordinator specifically tasked with downtown revitalization.
2018
June 14, 2018
The Fall River Office of Economic Development is no more.
In its place is the Bristol County Economic Development Consultants, a non-profit that will offer advice to business and communities through the region.
April 13, 2018
The city will receive just over $2.6 million in Community Development Block Grant awards and other funding for housing and homelessness.
January 29, 2018
The new poles are big and happily futuristic — 225-foot cheerleaders on the city waterfront.
And when they are complete, the erector set towers at Commonwealth Landing that carries high-tension wires over the Taunton River will be dismantled.
2017
December 27, 2017
What does the length of 17 football fields, with the end zones, look like? Go no further than the 77 acres of the Southcoast Life Science and Technology Park straddling Fall River and Freetown to the massive Amazon Fulfillment Center, where city staffers from the inspectional services department to the fire department — and many others in between — helped make Fall River’s massive construction project a reality.
December 15, 2017
The depth of the hard work done 150 years ago by the builders of the City Pier is becoming apparent.
That depth is more than 32 feet, according to Ken Fiola, the executive vice president of the Bristol County EDC.
Deep water is sending project planners at the pier back to the drawing board.
October 25, 2017
A 40minute drive from Fall River to Boston? Forty-five minutes to Logan International Airport? The Fall River Redevelopment Authority’s proposal to Amazon that the retail giant should consider building its second North American headquarters in the SouthCoast/Riverfront Park also mentions that SouthCoast Commuter Rail is expected to service Fall River and Freetown by 2022.
2016
August 9, 2016
After 13 years of providing the Redevelopment Authority with administrative services that include marketing and selling parcels in the city’s biopark with the Fall River Office of Economic Development, a new three-year contract was approved by the redevelopment board last week.
June 22, 2016
Unemployment ticked down again in May, continuing the city’s trend.
The unemployment rate was listed at 6.2 percent last month, down from 7 percent in April, according to figures released Tuesday by the state Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
March 10, 2016
Planners will be asked this month to imagine this city in 2036.
January 14, 2016
Cash freed up from the sale of land for the Amazon facility will let the city begin improvements in other neighborhoods.
2015
December 24, 2015
The 21st century is threatening to sneak onto the city’s waterfront in 2016.
December 10, 2015
Amazon is a magnet in the SouthCoast Life Science and Technology Park, city officials said.
November 2, 2015
Money will flow into the city so water can rush into the Commerce Park.
July 5, 2015
Mayor Sam Sutter said there are five critical areas as he charts his vision and practical plans for the city’s economic development.
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