Man, it is said, has always come down to the sea. Unfortunately, the same apparently cannot be said for Gloucester.

Actually, it is not humankind so much that appears to be avoiding the Northern Massachusetts city, but rather the companies that Gloucester’s Economic Development & Industrial Corp. has been trying for several years to lure into the area. According to EDIC Executive Director Alan Hagstrom, a planned expansion of the Blackburn Industrial Park has not gone as well as hoped, with just one of eight lots in the initial phase spoken for after more than two years of marketing.

“It’s a tough sell to get [companies] to come here,” Hagstrom said in an interview last week. “It has been very slow going.”

Although the park has fared well in terms of occupancy, Hagstrom said most of the growth has come from within rather than by migrating operations. Indeed, although the city had prepared the 73-acre expansion with outside companies in mind, the only company to bite so far is Ark-Les, a home-grown manufacturer of switches and controls. “They are the prototype of what you’d like to see,” said Hagstrom, noting the well-kept, clean facility in which Ark-Les now employs more than 50 people.

Hagstrom cites Gloucester’s image as a fishing port as one roadblock, maintaining that companies have a one-sided view of the city, especially in the wake of the locally based Perfect Storm movie that has increased tourism but had a less tangible impact on other industries. The supposed lack of a stable labor pool – a notion Hagstrom and others dispute – has been one detriment. Hagstrom also blames the geographic location at the outer end of Route 128 as another key reason.

Companies feel “it’s at the end of the tracks, and maybe you are going to have less of a labor pool,” Hagstrom said. “That perception is there, and you aren’t going to lick it.”

Adding to the city’s bad luck of late has been one existing building which has contamination issues, making it unmarketable. Hagstrom said he believes the most likely scenario for that structure will be to tear it down for parking.

Another negative trend for Gloucester has been the advent of business and industrial parks closer in to Boston. Cummings Properties, for example, is preparing another expansion at the former Shoe machinery complex in Beverly, at which the Woburn-based firm has already developed more than a million square feet of office and research space in the past several years. Meanwhile, the Merrimac Valley Planning Commission recently launched a marketing campaign on behalf of more than 1,700 industrially zoned sites in the valley, a region more centrally located than Gloucester. Hagstrom added that the city is losing another firm, Dynisco, to Peabody.

No Impediment
Interestingly, other tenants seem quite satisfied at their present locale. One of the largest – and most enduring – companies there is Varian Semiconductor, whose roots at Blackburn date back to the early 1970s. As far as location, company Treasurer Alan R. McKinnon said last week that his firm has had a successful recruiting program since breaking off into a separate company from its California-based parent in early 1999.

Since the spinoff, Varian has doubled its employee base to nearly 1,200 people, with workers coming from as far away as Interstate 495 west of Andover and from across the border in nearby New Hampshire and Maine. In noting that the labor market is difficult throughout the New England, McKinnon said he believes Varian has done as well as anyone in recruitment.

“You could be in Burlington, and it would be hard to double your staff,” said McKinnon. In that regard, “We don’t view Gloucester as being a serious impediment at all.”

Along with a reverse commute, Varian officials credit the Gloucester ambiance as another bonus. The city’s famous harbor can be seen from much of the park, facilities manager Richard Josephson said, while there has been a cooperative relationship with the EDIC and the town in general. Along with allowing the use of city facilities for special events, Varian has contributed back to the community, he said, not to mention Blackburn itself.

In preparing for the expansion, for example, Varian swapped land with the EDIC to allow the agency to overcome a watershed problem. Overall, Josephson said the relationship has always been solid between the two.

“The industrial park has always been very friendly, like a big family” said the Gloucester native. “The [EDIC is] accommodating and very patient.”

Hagstrom said other benefits include the lack of a developer in the middle of any deal, plus the full complement of necessary utilities. The EDIC, which recently hired broker John S. Chiungos to market the park, also has tax increment financing and Section 108 monies available.

Despite the delays to date, the park’s expansion is building some momentum, with the EDIC planning to meet next week with two Gloucester companies that might absorb three available lots. One of the firms would combine two lots to build a 50,000-square-foot fish processing plant. The issue right now, Hagstrom said, appears to be whether the firm can raise the capital to construct the $8 million facility.

“It is a complicated time, but we’re hopeful,” Hagstrom said. “It would really give us a shot in the arm.”