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It’s not as well-known as Route 128, aka “America’s Technology Highway,” or the start-up hubs in Cambridge’s Kendall Square and Boston’s Seaport District. But a cluster of landlords and tech companies along the Charles River in the inner suburbs have their own story to tell about the innovation economy. Now a formal marketing effort has begun to publicize their presence and lobby on their behalf.
Economic development officials held a reception Thursday to mark the formation of the Charles River Mill District, a coalition that will promote the tech cluster near where Newton, Watertown and Waltham intersect. The district includes 2.6 million square feet of commercial space, including eight mill buildings converted into office space in recent decades.
“There are literally dozens of companies existing in these old mill buildings, and each of the property owners has done an amazing job,” said Greg Reibman, president of the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce. “The only thing that was missing was an identity for all three communities.”
The group will help the region present a unified front on economic development and infrastructure issues, particularly transportation, Reibman said.
“We don’t need a rail line, but we’d like to have the bus routes changed a little bit,” he said. “The MBTA bus routes are the same as they were when they were started.”
Another goal: creating a public space similar to District Hall in Boston where the business community can collaborate.
Originally suggested by Michael Grill, president of Cambridge-based Fairlane Properties, the initiative comes on the heels of a similar chamber-sponsored initiative for the 500-acre commercial real estate submarket along the Newton-Needham line, dubbed the N2 Innovation Corridor. That project seeks to leverage this year’s opening of the new TripAdvisor headquarters at Normandy Real Estate Partners’ Center 128 mixed-use development and encourage more economic development in the area.
Other participants in the Charles River Mill District coalition include the Watertown-Belmont Chamber of Commerce and the three municipalities. Seed funding has been provided by more than a dozen businesses and property owners.
