1990s – A New Wave of Businesses
Through the 1990s LIDC maintained its collaborative efforts with town officials, the Chamber of Commerce, and businesses to further diversify and strengthen the local economy.
Continuing a project begun in the 1980s, LIDC funded preliminary engineering studies to improve access to the Industrial Park, including road improvements and a bridge replacement. The $2.5 million access road, park expansion and improvement project, known as Phase III of the Industrial Park development, received funding from LIDC, the town of Littleton, a federal Community Development Block Grant, and grants from EDA and FmHA. A new bridge across the Ammonoosuc River from Route 302 to the Industrial Park Road opened in 1995. Town and LIDC leaders surprised LIDC founder and president John McGoldrick by naming the bridge for him, in honor of his tireless work on behalf of the community.
In 1997, town voters agreed to transfer 19.5 acres of town property to LIDC during a special town meeting, enabling LIDC to negotiate with Littleton Coin Company, which was then operating in the Apthorp neighborhood of Littleton. Founded in Littleton in 1945 as the Littleton Stamp Company, the Coin Company has been an important part of the economic landscape ever since. Littleton Coin Company moved to its new 64,000-square-foot building in the Industrial Park in 1990 and expanded that space by an additional 20,000 square feet in 2005. Today the company employs more than 300 people.
Additional tenants to the Industrial Park during this decade included Genfoot America-Kamik Outdoor Footwear, FedEx, Greenville Screw, and the Littleton Transfer Station, which all remain in the Park today.