Lebanon Economic Development Initiative

SOURCES

https://www.businessnhmagazine.com/article/the-upper-valleyamp39s-economic-upper-hand

The Dartmouth Hub

Dartmouth-Hitchcock is the largest employer in NH outside of government, employing nearly 10,000 workers. Dartmouth College, founded in 1769 and one of the nation’s most highly regarded educational institutions, employs 3,355 faculty and staff, according to its website.

Their presence spurs other businesses. “One of the big things that Dartmouth College has brought to bear is that is has two very famous graduate schools, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Tuck School of Business,” says Rob Taylor, executive director of the Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce (the college is also home to the Geisel School of Medicine). “The influence of those two graduate schools has been large in the Upper Valley, creating spin-offs. People like the area and the proximity to the college and spin off into their own startups.”

Hanover-based Hypertherm is an example. The company chose to locate in the Upper Valley “because of Dartmouth and its strong engineering community,” says Michelle Avila, communications manager for the firm.

She says that the company’s founder, Dick Couch, attended the Thayer School of Engineering in the late 60s, went to work at a Hanover engineering services firm, Creare, and with a former professor, Bob Dean, “discovered that by radially injecting water into a plasma-cutting nozzle, they could create a narrower arc, capable of cutting metal with a speed and accuracy never before seen.” That led to the creation of Hypertherm, which has not only been recognized for its industry leadership in cutting products but for its eco-friendly practices and its workplace culture, including being employee owned.

Centerra Resource Park, across Route 120 from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, hosts offices, retail shops, small businesses and the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center (DRTC), a nonprofit formed in 2004 as a mixed-use technology incubator to foster startups. “It’s like the Silicon Valley just dropped into New Hampshire,” Cooley says of the tech center.

The center has been so successful that it has expanded twice since launching in 2006 and its 60,500 square feet of office and laboratory space now houses 19 tenants, ranging from a medical imaging company to a firm specializing in ways to improve safety in contact sports.

Dartmouth College, the Grafton Regional Development Corporation and North Country Council govern the center, which was built with $10 million in grants from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the NH Community Development Finance Authority on land donated by Dartmouth.

The relationship the tech center has with Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock is “absolutely critical,” says Trip Davis, chairman of the board for the center. “Every single one of our tenants in one way, shape or form has some type of affinity or relationship or maybe even a contract with Dartmouth or DHMC. Most have some sort of [intellectual] property or research started in DHMC or a Dartmouth lab, and when they reach a certain stage, they legally need to get out and start their own for-profit stage.”

That, he says, is where the tech center comes in, providing phone, internet, utilities, wet labs and flexible space independent of any municipality or university. “It all comes back to that flexibility for the tenant,” says Davis. “We don’t want to have to go through a bureaucratic process or an RFP every time we want to change a light bulb.”

https://www.vnews.com/Column-The-Housing-Shortage-Affects-All-of-Us-22891317

“It’s no secret that there is a shortage of homes to buy or rent in the Upper Valley. That shortage affects all of us”

https://www.vnews.com/Bottom-Line-for-Sept-22-2019-28541412

https://www.vpr.org/post/upper-valleys-housing-crunch-keeps-stable-housing-out-reach-most-vulnerable#stream/0

Advocates in the Upper Valley say the region’s housing shortage is impacting vulnerable populations there. The region is seeing rental prices rise while availability stays low.

https://www.nhpr.org/post/housing-crunch-challenge-upper-valley-businesses#stream/0

“Big employers in the area, including the state’s largest hospital and several industrial suppliers, say the housing crunch is adding to their hiring woes in an already tight labor market. Potential employees are discouraged by the high price points and lack of supply, they say.”

https://www.nhbr.com/in-the-upper-valley-housing-is-the-challenge/

“Anchored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the largest employer in the state, and Dartmouth College, along with some of the most recognizable and successful manufacturing and tech companies in New Hampshire, the Upper Valley has one of the most robust economies in the state of New Hampshire, if not all of New England.

But that doesn’t mean the area doesn’t face its set of challenges, and they were made clear in a recent NH Business Review roundtable with business and community leaders from the region.

At the top of the list — as it is for so many other areas of the state — is the availability of affordable and workforce housing. In fact, the issue is seen as being at the root of other challenges that the area’s employers and communities are facing. It’s the “linchpin,” as Doug Adams, director of federal sales operations for Claremont-based Red River, put it.

The housing challenge is huge. At a recent breakfast on workforce housing put together by the Upper Valley organization Vital Communities, participants were told that a study found that more than 4,000 units would need to be constructed over the next few years to meet the demand for housing in the area — demand fueled by the workforce needs of Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the college, Hypertherm and other employers in the area.

https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/whats_working/whats-working-upper-valley-grapples-with-housing-crunch/article_0c4fc44f-3582-5447-b232-845d3a39336b.html

Across the state, employers and communities are grappling with high housing costs, whether people rent or own. Developers aren’t keeping up with demand, and prospective residents find themselves priced out of homes or apartments in areas they desire, often driving them farther away from work.

https://vitalcommunities.org/workforce-housing/

https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2020/11/students-confront-housing-shortage-high-living-costs-in-upper-valley

A regional housing shortage in the Upper Valley and the resulting high cost of living has posed an array of challenges for students in search of off-campus housing. In recent months, the College has placed a limit on the number of students allowed in dorms due to COVID-19 concerns, which has further increased demand for housing off campus.