Middletown emerging as tech town

When the Aquidneck Corporate Park was being planned in the early 1970s, the city of Newport supported its development, but it didn’t have the land mass for it. And it could’ve ended up in Portsmouth, except the town didn’t have sewers.

Instead, the park ended up in Middletown, said Robert M. Silva, a member of the town council during the creation of the park. And when it was created, it helped spur a private sector based largely upon Aquidneck Island’s defense industry.

The Navy’s relationship with Middletown was nothing new at the time; it had maintained a heavy presence on Aquidneck Island for the better part of last century.

At the beginning of World War II, the U.S. Navy purchased more than 300 acres of waterfront property in Middletown. Originally farmland, the land was converted to naval support facilities and housing, according to Middletown’s comprehensive community plan. With a population that rose 900 percent between 1940 and 1970, the town saw the creation of a large public service sector – one that added thousands of jobs to Middletown and all of Aquidneck Island.

A 1973 reorganization of Navy operations caused 14,000 jobs to be cut from the Newport Naval Complex, the comprehensive plan said.

Around that time, with the Navy reducing its presence, the three communities on the island sought a way to attract companies for job creation, said Silva, who currently serves on the town’s Economic Development Advisory Committee.

With all three municipalities contributing to its creation, the Aquidneck Corporate Park was born and proved to be a boon to all, Silva said.

Newport County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Keith Stokes – who jokingly referred to Aquidneck as “Silicon Island” – said that in the past 25 years the town has been highly successful in attracting defense-related research and development companies. “We swapped swabbies for scientists,” Stokes said.

The combined jobs of the six largest software development firms in Middletown totaled more than 1,100 last year. On a list of the 25 largest software firms published in PBN last month, 10 were based in Middletown – more than any other municipality on the list.

According to R.I. Economic Development Corporation Defense Industry Manager John Riendeau, the majority of the software firms located on Aquidneck Island have dealings within the defense industry.

Many of the companies based in Middletown – including several involved in projects spearheaded by the EDC – are developing technologies that not only have use for the defense industry, but can eventually be commercialized, he said.

“That’s the kind of talent we’re able to get in Rhode Island,” Riendeau said.

According to a 2003 report commissioned by the Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance (SENEDIA), Aquidneck Island’s defense-related computer, engineering and management services jobs represent 21 percent of Rhode Island’s employment in those areas.

According to David Sanders, a spokesperson for NUWC, the center currently has more than 900 contracts out worth a total of $336 million. Those are primarily awarded to New England companies, with about one-third of the money staying within Rhode Island.

In 2002, a University of Rhode Island analysis of Aquidneck Island’s economic clusters, all 10 respondents to a telephone survey said that their business was predominately military-oriented and that their desire to be close to the center played a role in locating on Aquidneck Island.

The survey respondents also said they work with other firms to procure contracts from NUWC and other governmental agencies. However, with the heavy concentration of the high-tech companies, the competition in the area was described as “cutthroat.”

“NUWC is really what is generating the money from a contracting standpoint,” said Eric Hovermale, president of systems engineering firm McLaughlin Research Corp. of Middletown.

The center also benefits from the relationship with the local companies, working closely with the private sector to meet its needs, Sanders said.

“The undersea and maritime contractor base [on Aquidneck Island] is well-suited to meet NUWC’s needs,” Sanders said.

Other businesses have also facilitated the cluster.

Raytheon Company, a Massachusetts-based defense technology development company, has a plant in Portsmouth that employs more than 1,000 people.

According to SENEDIA’s 2003 report, Raytheon had close to 100 Rhode Island-based subcontractors.

“Both Raytheon and NUWC have tens of millions of dollars in contracts,” Stokes said.

While Middletown’s comprehensive plan says that the town needs to branch into other economic areas, Town Planner Ronald M. Wolanski said the town is in the midst of planning improvements to the Aquidneck Corporate Park.

Signage and landscaping improvements are being considered. But Wolanski said that Middletown is examining ways to add space in the park, potentially through rezoning. The corporate park, which is one of several in Middletown, is critical to the high-tech sector’s continued success in the area.

“That park particularly is in the forefront,” Wolanski said. “[We want] to keep the businesses we have in town happy.”