Quonset Business Park is home to a wealth of companies, contributes more than 5% of Rhode Island’s GDP and is forecast to employ more than 16,000 people by 2030. Natasha Turak looks at how state support has been vital to this success.
Occupying 1300 hectares on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay on the site of two former naval bases, Quonset Business Park is humming with activity. Surrounded by green land and its Atlantic eastern flank, with a name believed to be a Native American word for ‘small long place’, Quonset is a pillar of growth and production for the state. Welcoming visitors to the park, David Preston, founder of Rhode Island marketing agency New Harbor Group, says: “Let’s see what 11,000 jobs looks like.”