Whitman Economic Development Committee Reorganizes, Eyes Regal Shoe Property and Revenue Sources

WHITMAN — November 20, 2025 — Whitman's Economic Development Committee met for the first time in years, electing officers and outlining a crowded agenda of revenue challenges and development targets. Members unanimously chose Justin Evans as chair and Brittany — identified by first name only — as vice chair at the November 20 organizational meeting. Evans told the group that the town's projected new growth for the coming fiscal year is just $125,000, lower than expected, and that revenues from the newly opened Route 18 marijuana dispensary are unlikely to reach the budgeted $100,000 this year. The committee flagged the old Regal Shoe property near the train station — a roughly two-and-a-half-acre parcel with remediation costs estimated between $2.25 million and $3.85 million — as the town's most promising near-term development site, and discussed the recently vacated town-owned Courthel building, solar and battery storage on capped town land, and potential revenue from East Bridgewater's sewer connection through Whitman pipes. Evans plans to invite Old Colony Planning Council's Nick Giacquinto and Massachusetts Office of Business Development Southeast Regional Director Jennifer Menard to the committee's next session, set for December 11 at 5:30 p.m.