Rechristened in the 1990s as the Bay State’s economic development flagship, Devens has become a jobs magnet. But there’s one big catch: Just 600 of the more than 2,700 jobs at the former military base have been the result of deep-pocketed, out-of-state firms lured to the complex’s abundant acreage near Route 2.

In fact, the vast majority of jobs at Devens have come from within Massachusetts itself, with more than a few drawn from nearby towns.

It’s far from the picture of Devens long promoted by MassDevelopment, the commonwealth’s finance and development authority, as an economic boomtown, luring high-paying jobs from other states to high-cost Massachusetts, which typically ends up with the short end of the stick on such transactions.

“The only business they haven’t poached from municipalities within the Devens Impact Area is [a company] which they poached from Billerica!” wrote outspoken Devens critic Frank Maxant, an Ayer selectman whose town borders the former base. Billerica is located just outside the Devens Impact Area.

Attractive Local Option

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Gov. Mitt Romney and legislative leaders announced a blockbuster deal in 1996 that lured a big Bristol-Myers Squibb drug manufacturing plant to Devens, suddenly putting the old Army base in the boondocks of Ayer, Shirley and Harvard on the map.

Suddenly it seemed like the Bay State, after years of seeing lower-cost states like North Carolina snatch away promising companies, had found a way to fight back. And Devens, with its 4,000-plus acres and business-friendly policies, would be its weapon of choice.

Alas, it was not to be. The much ballyhooed deal with Bristol-Myers has produced a modest 400 jobs, with a handful of other companies from out of state accounting for another 200.

Touted as another prize catch, Evergreen Solar looked like it might really help Devens become a true jobs magnet – until its 800 jobs were shipped to China.

By contrast, Devens has proved to be far more successful establishing itself as an attractive option for local firms seeking land on to which to expand their operations. MassDevelopment says such deals also fit its economic growth mission, providing room to grow for local firms that might otherwise jump ship for another state.

Of the approximately 75 firms that now do business at Devens, as many as 65 moved from other Massachusetts towns, including, in at least one case, from the neighboring town of Ayer.

Critics argue such deals simply bring in more revenue to MassDevelopment, at the expense of cash-strapped local towns and cities. Given the fact many communities have made it an annual practice to lay off teachers and firefighters, municipalities can’t but help notice the loss of taxpaying companies.

The state authority fights back by saying it works closely with the firms in question to “exhaust all alternatives” before agreeing to open Devens’ gates, and I’m inclined to give MassDevelopment the benefit of the doubt here – not to say there probably haven’t been some abuses.

A Larger Problem

But vindicating the agency from charges of poaching raises more questions than it answers about the Bay State’s troubled business climate. If we take MassDevelopment at its word, there have been dozens of companies ready to flee the state, unable to find or get local approval for that new warehouse or manufacturing facility.

If there is one thing town officials in upscale suburbs and hick towns alike seemingly all agree on, it is that all new proposals involving building things are the work of the devil – or at least a greedy developer.

Still, this is all playing defense, trying to convince companies that are already here to stay.

And that’s a far cry from what we were all told back in 2006, when state leaders were pounding their chest over the Bristol-Myers deal, or for that matter, two years later, when Evergreen was going to make Massachusetts a green jobs Mecca.

The idea was that Devens would be importing high-paying jobs from other states, not simply keeping so-so jobs here.

Devens has certainly turned out to be a jobs magnet. Just not the kind anyone would have bargained for.