Signs of Good Things To Come: In Brockton

Brockton Enterprise Center: A Plan Comes Together

Creating a mixed-use development with residential units, interconnected streets, and dozens of retail businesses requires tremendous cooperation among city agencies, business owners, and developers. It also requires many different types of interior and exterior signage, all of which must work together to serve the development’s many users.

Metro Sign & Awning began working with property owners at Trinity Financial to begin creating signage for the $100 million Enterprise Center project more than a year before Enterprise Center, Phase I, opened to the public in November 2015.

City officials and business leaders expect that the project at the corner of Main and Centre Streets will serve as a beacon and an anchor for continued development and revitalization in downtown Brockton.

Attractive Signage for Foot Traffic, Residents, and Businesses

In addition to residential living space, Enterprise Center features the Enzo Flats and Art Gallery and a wide variety of retail businesses. Because increasing foot traffic on the streets and bringing more visitors to Brockton in the evenings was a primary goal for the project, downtown leaders realized they needed excellent directional signage, as well as interior and exterior signage for numerous buildings.

Glenn Metallic was Metro Sign & Awning Project Manager at Enterprise Center. Numerous sign fabrications and installations, incorporating a wide variety of materials, design and fabrication techniques, and technical requirements had to

work together to make the space as useful as possible for Enterprise residents, employees, and shoppers.

Mixed Use Developments Spur Growth, Connect Communities

Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter has said that the Enterprise Center project is a key to achieving the city’s goal of sparking downtown development. Walkable streets connecting workplaces, housing, the commuter rail station, an art community, and shopping have proven dynamic economic drivers in other communities. They also require extensive planning – right down to the signage.

Brockton Mixed-Use Development Signage

For Brockton’s Enterprise Center, that included:

• Blade signs for retail businesses
• New vinyl and blade signs for the art studio
• Canopy mounted signage on each canopy entrance,
• Illuminated sign on either side of the main entrance, and
• Interior signage for the entire 52,000-square foot Enterprise Building

Metallic said interior signage was completed first; the exterior signage came later.

Canopies Add Pop of Color, Color-Matched for Consistent Look

Metro fabricators color matched the canopies to the color of the raceway for the metal dimensional letters to be attached to. Two sets were designed and fabricated  for each, to be installed at the front and rear.  Also, color-matching was done for two internally illuminated tenant signs on the front side of the building. On the rear entrance, facing the parking lot, vinyl was used as a cost-improving measure.

Planning and Approval: Looking to the Future

Metro Sign and Awning was involved throughout the development process, including Permitting, Planning Board Approval, and Engineered Stamped Drawing and Zoning Approval.

Additional blank blade signs were fabricated and installed by MSA to ensure design consistency as future tenants move into the space.

Brockton Mixed-use development signage and canopiesNext Phase To Include Parking, More Residential Units

A restaurant is expected to open in the main level of the Enterprise Building, while government agencies and offices are currently housed in about half of the building. As Phase I was completed, Mayor Carpenter said, “This really is the core of the redevelopment of downtown Brockton.”

Representatives from Trinity have said that Phase 2, to begin in the next few years, will include a multi-story parking garage and 100 additional housing units at the site.

Stay tuned!