Wilmington, MA – Camber Development and Dacon Corporation recently celebrated the commencement of a 238,000sf industrial warehouse and distribution facility at 800 Salem Street in Wilmington.
The precast panel, flexible warehouse and distribution space has 36 feet clear heights, the capacity for 47 loading docks, 32 EV charging stations, and a solar ready roof. The property is one of the first fully electric industrial buildings to be built in Massachusetts. Located 20 minutes from Boston, it has access to I-93, Route 128, and I-495. The project is being developed by Camber Development and is anticipated to be completed in November.
Build-a-Bureau logo, designed by Dacon’s Alison Kidder
To mark the commencement, Camber Development and Dacon are funding the first year of Build-a-Bureau, a pilot program between Mission of Deeds and Northeast Metro Tech. Mission of Deeds is a turnaround organization where sheltered families being placed in apartments can shop for upcycled furniture, kitchenware, new beds and linens for free. Additionally, every client is given a new coat, and children receive security blankets, stuffed animals and books. This year it will aid 900 families, and since its 1993 inception has furnished 16,748 homes. One furniture donation that is limited is bureaus, as most are too large to carry up stairwells. To answer this need, Howard Seplowitz, a former maxillofacial surgeon and now a Mission of Deed’s volunteer, conceptualized Build-a-Bureau, in which Northeast Metro Tech carpentry students design and build three-drawer bureaus that act as end tables and provide storage.
Creators of Build-a-Bureau, Howard Seplowitz and Bruce Secor, carpentry instructor at Northeast Metro Tech, received the new logo designed by Dacon and awards for their innovative program concept helping shelter children transition into homes.
Northeast Metro Tech is a school of 1250 students from 12 communities north of Boston that are educated in 17 career areas. Representatives of Dacon say that, through Build-a-Bureau, the carpentry students are learning technical skills, awareness, responsibility, compassion, and character while solving a societal need by instilling permanency for children whose lives have been in transition. The students are building 40 bureaus and the success of this program will determine if other vocational schools follow suit.
Camber and Dacon also donated 150 lions from the Jimmy Fallon book series, This Is Baby, to the children, with help from Kohl’s department stores. Additionally, Dacon’s Alison Kidder designed a logo for Build-a-Bureau.
David Wilkinson, managing partner of Camber Development, said, “Both Mission of Deeds and Northeast Metro Tech are quiet champions – one for rebuilding lives experiencing domestic violence and the other for developing talent. This program wins on all fronts.”
Lauren Nowicki, chief communications officer at Dacon, added, “Society’s challenges such as homelessness necessitate rethinking social services and the role that private businesses can play in aiding state initiatives. Local nonprofits are particularly astute at targeting issues and meeting needs.”
