By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
THE ISSUE: Area legislators came together last week to celebrate the ceremonial ground-breaking of The Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center - a $168 million project aimed at improving education and creating jobs through the construction of a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, high-performance computing center in Holyoke's downtown canal district.
STORY SO FAR: Originally announced by Gov. Deval Patrick in June of 2009, the computing center is a collaborative investment, with partners that include The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The University of Massachusetts, Northeastern University, Harvard University, Boston University, Cisco Systems and EMC Corp.
After the Patrick administration allocated $25 million from the state budget for the project, each of the five state colleges invested in the center donated $10 million each, boosting the budget to $75 million. Then, at the ground-breaking ceremony last week, officials from Cisco Systems and EMC Corp. pledged to donate an additional $5 million to the project, bringing the total budget to $80 million.
The center, which designers are predicting will be approximately 75,000 square feet when completed, is expected to employ about 20 people. The center, which hopes to attract more technology companies and jobs to the area, will provide computer clusters and networks used to solve complex problems. Applications could include answering questions about biofuels, the life sciences and clean energy, among a number of other fields.
The center would serve as a resource for academic, research and corporate projects.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: In August, after spending five months studying prospective sites, it was decided that the computing center would be built at the former Mastex Industries Inc., a facility located between Cabot and Appleton Streets in downtown Holyoke. Since the announcement in August, half of the former Mastex building has been acquired by the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department.
Kofi Jones, Director of Communications and External Affairs for the state's Housing and Economic Development, said officials expect Holyoke Gas and Electric will purchase the rest of the building by the end of the month, at which point Green High Performance Computing Center Inc., a nonprofit organized by the five-college consortium, will buy the entire building from the utility company.
VERBATIM: "This center will serve as an anchor of a highly competitive and vibrant innovation district in the Pioneer Valley. The potential for job growth and advances in technology and research is unprecedented, and both the center and this collaboration will serve to create long-term prosperity for Holyoke and regional economies throughout western Massachusetts."
- Gov. Deval Patrick
WHAT'S AHEAD: Following the purchase of the building, Jones said, developers will spend six months preparing the site, which includes environmental assessment, environmental remediation and demolition. Then, when the former building has been torn down and cleaned up, Jones said construction on the computing center will begin. She said the work is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete.
RESOURCES: For more information about the computing center, or frequent updates regarding the progression of construction on the new building, residents are encouraged to visit a website devoted to the project: www.innovateholyoke.com
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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