Special Olympics state headquarters may move to Marlborough
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

PHOTO/KEN POWERS (l to r) Special Olympians Colin Davidson and Melissa Reilly and U.S. Rep. James McGovern attend the Special Olympics Fall Reception Dec. 3 at the Coral Seafood Restaurant in Marlborough.

Marlborough - With local and national politicians in attendance, the Special Olympics of Massachusetts unveiled its "Campaign for A New Home" capital campaign at the Fall Reception it held Dec. 3 at the Coral Seafood Restaurant.

The plan is for that new home to be in Marlborough, on a five-acre lot on Forrest Street, adjacent to the 3Com campus. Plans unveiled at the reception show a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building on the lot as well as some athletic fields.

The building and location would become the home of the Special Olympics of Massachusetts (SOMA) and replace its current headquarters in Danvers. In addition to conducting SOMA's day-to-day business from the location, the site would be used for the training of those who coach Special Olympians and it would house the organization's Hall of Fame.

"This is an ideal location," said Robert Johnson, president and CEO of SOMA. "It's 1.2 miles from [Interstate] 495 and it's surrounded by wetlands."

Jay McGovern, SOMA's vice president for marketing and development, said location was a big key for the decision to go forward with the plan in Marlborough.

"I know advertisers and promoters like to use it as a catchphrase, but Marlborough really is in the middle of it all," McGovern said. "It is a crossroads, if you will. Marlborough is reachable in no more than 90 minutes from almost every part of Massachusetts, and being so close to 495 and the Mass Pike and Route 9 gives the people that live here and the companies that are headquartered here easy accessibility to Boston and Hartford and New York and Providence and New Hampshire and Maine."

James Walsh, the chair of the capital campaign that plans to make this dream a reality, said the cost of the project is $10 million, and that $3.25 million has been raised so far.

"Going from zero to $3.25 million was an amazing move, the result of hard work from a lot of volunteers, but we need more of those volunteer efforts to get us to the halfway point," Walsh said, "because we've had investors and people with the wherewithal to help us tell us, 'Get to the halfway point and come see us, we'll get you home from there.'"

Walsh said he's hoping to reach the $5 million mark by the end of this month. That would trigger the permitting process for construction, which he hopes will begin in the spring.

A political Who's Who was in attendance at the reception, including U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D; State Sen. Pamela P. Resor, D-Acton; State Rep. Stephen P. LeDuc, D-Marlborough; and Marlborough city councilors Arthur Vigeant and Robert Katz.

"Marlborough is a great location for the state's home for Special Olympics," Jay McGovern said. "I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the spirit of Special Olympics shine upon this great city."