4.1.2026 State of Business Luncheon

Um, I'm Michael O Sullivan. I'm the CEO of One South Coast Chamber and on the board on behalf of the South Co one South Coast Chamber board of directors uh and partners, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the 2026 state of business with Mayor Paul Coogan. He always does a great job and we always look forward to this event. Um, the chamber is grateful that with the support of our sponsors, the city of

Fall River and our members were able to deliver this state of business address today. I know everyone's eager to hear from Mayor Coogan, but first I would like to take a brief moment to recognize those that have made this event possible. Our corporate sponsor, South Coast Health. Thank you very much.

our supporting sponsors, Bay Coast Bank and Bristol County Savings Bank. Thank you very much for your support.

Without them, One South Coast Chamber would not be able to do or organize major events like today's state of business. We are so much more than appreciative for their devotion to helping us and help lead the city.

Uh we'd also like to thank we have a few elected officials in house today. Um we'd like to thank them for being here as their schedules are very busy. We as we as we know we have uh state representative Carol Fiola and state representative Steven Wulette and city councelor in the back there sitting at a table is Linda Pereira and I don't we had a couple others scheduled but they looks like they

weren't able to make it but uh thank you very much to everybody. Um, so Paul Kogan is a graduate of BMC Dery High School, class of 1971.

Paul received his bachelor of science in 1976 from what was Southeastern Mass University, and he received his mers of science in 1996 from California College for Health Sciences. Paul worked in the Fall River public schools for over 30 years in a variety of roles such as teacher, program director, and vice principal. And I'd like to just add in there that he either taught many people

that are sitting in this room um or was their program director or was their vice principal. You always hear that because they always they always call him Mr.

Coogan. Uh they can't call him Paul. um in and in 2016 to 2017 he was a Smiles mentor recruiter at People Incorporated.

And from 2016 to 2019, Paul proudly served as an elected official on the Fall River School Committee. And since January of 2020, Paul currently serves as the mayor of Fall River.

Recreationally, Paul enjoys spending time with his wife Judy, watching live music, and working out to maintain his fitness. Please welcome the mayor of the city of Fall River, the Honorable Paul Coogan to deliver his state of vision.

Thank you.

Uh that was quite the introduction. I always appreciate it, but I um I do have to correct a couple of things Mike said.

Um I work out to maintain my sanity.

It really has little to do with my fitness. That's long gone. I used to have a lot of fun with that. But right now, it's it's not for that. And uh and again, I really really appreciate all of you coming out today. Um it's important to me because it makes me feel like um if people want to listen to me, I hope I have something to say that is positive

and promotes the city, which is what my responsibilities are. Uh when you're the mayor of a city, you have to try to make sure it's moving in the right direction.

and uh without my partners in government um we wouldn't be going anywhere. But um I can honestly say that Fore River is on the move and um it's because of 99.9% of the people in this room that want want the boat to go down the river in the right direction. Um I do want to of course thank the South Coast Chamber and its members for hosting the event. I also want to thank again everybody for

joining us here today. I know we got going a little late but that's okay. Uh it's my pleasure to be here as I deliver the 2026 state of business address. I am proud to report that despite its fair share of challenges, Fall River stands just as strong today, if not stronger than it did last year.

That resilience is reflected in the strong financial position of the city at this time. The our city's finances remain healthy with over $24 million in stabilization and over 40 million in reserves and a stable A3 credit rating.

We have also seen almost $2.6 million in new growth thus far for this year of 2026.

We also for the first time finalized a new and improved capital improvement plan for fiscal years 27 through 31. And this plan will help us to better invest in our capital needs and improve our financial reporting to offer more transparency to everyone. and our public school system in the city of Forever has shown tremendous improvements over the past year. With several schools making

significant stride in our performance ratings, Dery High School is no longer in the bottom 10% of high schools across the state. These improvements will undoubtedly result in more well-rounded and better prepared workforce for the city of Fall River. And the city also has been faced with an exciting opportunity to purchase the former Bris Bishop Connley High School. With this sale, the city would acquire 300

additional preK students seats, a beautiful auditorium and gymnasium, and over 50 acres of land. The expansion of our prek program that this sale would facilitate will significantly expand access to early education, which is so important for our young students across the board. Our early college enrollment has increased by almost 34% over the past two years and 97% of our students earning credits

last year, the highest ever for dual enrollment. This program has been extremely successful in preparing our students.

Over 88% of our early college students at Derby High School in the class of 25 are now enrolled in higher education.

That's a great number for the city and it's reflective of the hard work going on at the school.

As more students graduate, prepare for college and careers, Fall River is also seeing growing momentum in our business community. But I do want to go back to education for one moment. Earlier today, we had the opportunity to go down to Primacare and on the fifth floor they have the Northeastern School of Nursing.

Uh it's a tremendous asset to our community. Uh there was 55 students there. One of the young ladies that spoke commutes from Medford. She comes from Medford to Fall River to get an education nor eastern bypassing Boston to come down here. It's extremely extremely important and their partnership with Brown Health in the city of Fall River. And I know it's going to, you know, roll over into the

south coast health care systems also gives us qualified RNs to supplement our programs at Bristol Community College and UMass Dartmouth. So as we build our base of uh RNs in the city of Fall River, our health care can grow, our service to our residents can grow, and again it makes Fall River a better place to live. Extremely positive.

The health care sector remains our largest employer, accounting for over a third of all the jobs in the city of Fall River. South Coast Ventures recently purchased land next to the Commonwealth Landing along our waterfront for a proposed expansion of South Coast Health. It's expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the coming years. And again, uh, with our new deal with Brown Health, St. Ans

should be rolling along at the same level. And we really, we really, really are grateful that both of these hospitals are in the city of Fall River.

We want them. We need them. We appreciate both of them. And another one that we're talking about is Gold Medal Bakery, which has always been a huge employer on Bay Street. They opened a new 90,000 square foot facility on Commer Commerce Drive that's expected to add another 30 to 50 jobs over the next few years. And as we all know, right down on Bedford Street, Takeo Comfort Solution recently completed a 52,000

square foot expansion of its Fall River facility. This $20 million investment nearly doubled the size of the facility and will result in an additional 75 jobs over the next few years. That company builds large tanks, which I didn't know what they were for, 20, 30,000 gallon tanks. They're cooling tanks that are used in high tech centers or what we commonly call the cloud and things like

that to keep the temperatures down. And that company, Takeo, competes with companies from the south, overseas, and they more than hold their own. And it's a great great asset to our city.

Ice Ice Cube Cold Storage recently completed an 84,000 square foot expansion of its existing facility in South Coast Technology Park this past year and that will also help create another 20 good for River jobs. They also purchased land across the street at Innovation Way to build a new facility which is expected to create another 20 jobs. Construction on a second facility you'll see will begin later this month.

and Freeze Pack Logistics, which is the big one across from whatever that is up there, Neon or Cumbland Farms, is plans to open its brand new 200,000 square foot coal storage facility this month, bringing another 100 jobs to the South Coast Technology Park. Infen Pharmaceuticals is planning to create 70 new jobs. That's the one on the bend. As you go through, it's always has a, you

know, employment open jobs sign on the wall. and they are going to create another 70 jobs all in one research development manufacturing warehouse facility. The financing of this was made possible by business tax incentives from the Healey Driscoll administration and the Fall River tax increment financing board. Uh the Helale Driscoll administration has been a great partner to the city of Fall River.

whether it was the blizzard a few weeks ago where they had a hundred trucks come over from New York, one of our uh sister states to support snow removal in the city and they do this when they step up and they talk to us about what we need in the city of Fall River to make it a better place to live for everybody and I appreciate them especially for tax increment financing like this which

keeps businesses going. Along the waterfront, we've secured funding for 15 new moorings and a dinghy dock off the Norton City Pier, which will attract more traveling boers to the city.

Northfield Point, which is right next to the uh Norton City Pier, which was a spit of land that was all overgrown, no one could even walk down it, is now going to be open and after being fenced off for decades. The public will be able to use it later this year. It will feature a solar lighted walking path along with some granite benches and native landscaping.

And the biggest project in the city of Fall River, the Route 79 Deval Street Carter improvement project is complete, leaving us with beautiful and functional new roads, 19 acres of developable land, and we're almost ready to go. The Fall River Redevelopment Authority worked with S Stantech this past year to complete a master plan for all these parcels. Large-scale developers continue

to express interest in this um large piece which will have a transformative effect on our waterfront development. It will represent over a billion dollars of new investment primarily from the from the private sector along our waterfront.

Um, in downtown, our business partnership, first brought together by Mass Development's transformative initiative, now has moved up the street to North Main and Purchase.

It's called Nomar. We had a little function down there last week. Uh, this partnership consists of restaurants, arts venues, shops, public outdoor event space. Increased collaboration between all those partners is making our historic downtown district a hub for dining and entertainment once again. In 2026, monthly events will be held on Percher Street from March through December.

And several major pieces of revitalization along the way are going on right now in the Flint. Uh with our community development agency completing five storefronts and planning for seven more. Four major buildings are in the process of being rehabilitated and 1.6 million has been secured for street and sidewalk repaving all along Pleasant Street. This will help us to transform the Pleasant Street corridor from

boarded up, blighted, and decayed buildings to a safe, vibrant, welcoming neighborhood. Funding has been also secured for the restoration of the Flint Night Owl Diner, which is an iconic spot right on the corner. We want that owl lit up again, so when you make the turn, it has a little bit of an attractive draw going down Pleasant Street. In addition, both the urban renewal plan

and a roadmap for a neighborhood revital revitalization has recently been completed for all of the Flint. These plans are currently undergoing a formal review and approval process. They will greatly inform our efforts to keep the Flint going forward. The rehabilitation and redevelopment of this urban renewal plan identified properties along Pleasant Street is expected to help us yield over 200 new high housing units

along Pleasant Street and a critical means of alleviating some of our housing shortages across the city. In 2025, we issued 96 new residential building permits. We've also issued 229 commercial building permits and these include largescale to small apartment conversions like the Yarn Mill on Globe Street or the Charlton Mill lofts uh coming up soon on House Street which we will have another beautiful spot there.

If you drive down behind Mitchell highrise off of South Main Street, you can see the land being cleared. if that's going to be waterfront living in the south end to in to give them another shot in the arm down that way. Um that the Far Community Development Agency is also working with several projects including one on Pleasant Street, Bedford Rock, and Second. Once completed, these projects will result in

an additional 99 new housing units, 39 of which will be designated as affordable or single room occupancy for individuals.

And we work extremely hard with our developers, but we do hold them accountable for their failure to keep promises and redevelop former vacant school buildings in a timely manner. We we did that very hard this year in the last couple years. The old Sylvia School on Hartwell Street, for example, which had been sold for $5,000, was taken back and resold for $200,000.

the Lincoln school, which was originally sold for $10,000, we were able to recoup $178,000 with that sale. And the Deval school in the Flint, which was originally sold for $5,000, was taken back for another $150,000 to be sold.

These tax takings and resellings have produced a net income for the city of $533,000, of which I'm very, very proud. people would come in, buy an old school for $5,000, and then it would just sit where we we signed purchase and sales with the new buyers, and we put timelines in it.

We want them to move and renovate these neighborhoods. People don't want to live next to blighted properties anywhere.

So, we're very, very strict about what we expect when someone is nice enough to invest in the city of For River. The Sacred Heart Church and Rectory Building on Lynen Street has been successfully redeveloped and it now offers a total of 46 new market rate housing units in the historic Lower Highlands neighborhood.

Go by there, take a ride. It's right on the corner of Rugles Park. They took the church. They have townhouse apartments going down through the church. The other side, the rectory where the priest lived, they have a a small one and two-bedroom apartments. It's absolutely gorgeous. It was done by the same people that did Notre Dame school and they're looking at other projects in the city

and we welcome them. That was another blighted corner, an abandoned church and it looks spectacular.

And don't get me wrong, Fall River still has a long way to go, but Fall River is getting stronger every day. I am confident that the people of this city will continue to prosper in 2026.

I want to thank you again for letting me be here be here this afternoon speak to all of you. you care about the state of our city. You care about the state of business here and uh without that none of us would go forward. Um God bless you all and God bless the city of Forever.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Um, we really appreciate you taking the time today to address the business community.

Um, we'd also like to thank our sponsors again, South Coast Health, Bay Coast Bank, and Bristol County Savings Bank.

Again, we can't do these events without you. Um, on another note, our golf tournament's happening on Monday, April 27th at the Allenale Country Club.

individuals and foresomes are still available and anybody that can play golf that wants to take on Nick Christ and the Bay Coast team, we'd love to have a different winner. Not that we don't like you guys, but you know, I have to challenge you.

We appreciate it, Nick. Um, we also have fourtime Super Bowl champion and 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Adam Vinitaryi joining us on Wednesday, May 20th for our celebrity scholarship dinner at Venus Domo. This is going to be a great event. We thought Johnny Damon was good last year, but Adam Vinitary's just, you know, I'm a Yankee fan, so I thought the idea of Johnny Damon was was good. But, um, I think the

idea of Adam and Terry is awesome. So, uh, please join us. It's going to be a great night. Uh, you can register for either of these events at onsouthcoast.com or you can see Katie who's running around in the pink dress with the with the camera. And thank you again to everyone. We really look forward to seeing you all soon. Thank you so much for coming out. We really appreciate it.

Last but not least, before you leave, Paul, last before you I forgot to say it and I was supposed to. Right around the corner here is dessert. So, don't go out that door. Go out this door and grab your dessert and then you can head back.

Thank you very much.