Press Releases

2023

October 16, 2023

A former Fall River church and two mills will be converted into market-rate apartments

The Zoning Board of Review cleared the way last week for two major housing projects and one mixed-use plan that will add another 851 units of market-rate housing in the city, including the conversion of a former Catholic church.
October 16, 2023

Fall River, MA – Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2023

Along the banks of the Taunton River, Fall River is characterized by its picturesque waterfront and diverse cultural offerings, including a robust Portuguese community. A revitalized downtown, affordability and potential for growth make it hard to resist.
March 23, 2023

Bank Street Armory has a potential buyer. The project could transform downtown Fall River.

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

Tax relief, police funding, housing: Mayor Paul Coogan tackles issues in State of the City

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

Fall River apartments are planned at this former school. City will make a profit, too.

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

Say goodbye to Fall River’s Route 79 highway. MassDOT is shutting it down forever.

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

Big changes are coming to Route 79 in Fall River. Here’s what to expect.

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.

2021

October 19, 2021

Fall River Port Authority, pier boards haven’t met in years. Here’s what they must do ASAP.

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

After 20 years of effort, the final phase of Fall River’s City Pier project is under way

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.

2020

September 1, 2020

Fall River businesses OK’d for tax breaks; Adams House redevelopment among recipients

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

Fall River Pier Project Awarded $1M in Grant Funding

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.
May 27, 2020

Liberty Utilities buys Fall River Industrial Park property for $5.8 million

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.

2019

August 2, 2019

Fall River Redevelopment Authority will explore new uses for City Pier

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.

2018

January 29, 2018

‘Godzilla Structure’ Coming Down

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

Bizko Gives City a Gift to Memorialize Amazon Effort

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

City Pier Being Prepped for New Life

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

PRIME LOCATION
Fall River submits bid for Amazon HQ2 with pitch of 40-minute drive to Boston

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

Redevelopment Authority inks new 3-year contract with FROED

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

Fall River’s Unemployment Rate Drops

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.

2015