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Enterprise Zone administrator flags $7M Unilock investment and Woodstock childcare project
Summary
Administrator Mark Stricker told the board he expects a projected $7 million Unilock investment that would retain 28 jobs and described a Woodstock renovation (HOC Academy) under $1 million expected to create roughly 20 jobs and about 85 child-care spaces; several local commercial openings were also reported.
Mark Stricker, the enterprise zone administrator, updated the board on active applications and projects in the zone.
Stricker said Unilock (recorded in the transcript as “Unilock/Unilock”) is projected to be a $7,000,000 capital investment with an intention to retain 28 employees. He described HOC Academy in Woodstock as a renovation of a former facility (referred to as “Hearthstone” in the transcript) with capital investment under $1,000,000 and an estimated timeline to create roughly 20 jobs over two years and to provide about 85 child-care spaces, addressing a significant countywide childcare gap.
Other updates included work underway at a Dollar General in Woodstock, construction at Driscisco and Harvard, a three-brothers restaurant façade update leveraged with state enterprise zone benefits, Action Packaging renewing building-material exemptions, and a recently submitted application from Ducky's Car Wash in Harvard. The transcript also records partner updates that Starbucks expects a late-May opening pending final inspections and that a gravel-mining operator on Route 14 withdrew a proposed north expansion and is pivoting to development of a speculative industrial park of roughly 300,000 square feet.
Stricker urged that developers drop addresses or PINs to him for quick eligibility checks and said the board will assist applicants through preliminary approvals and certification processes. Several members noted state site-readiness and capital-ready grant programs and ongoing TIF and redevelopment actions for the DICAS site.
