Much of Lexington’s economy revolves around the Town Center, a fact especially observable during vibrant Lex250 celebrations in April. But how will Lexington ensure the coming year is just as fruitful as the last? LexObserver sat down with the head of Lexington’s Economic Development Office, Sandhya Iyer, to chat about the town’s economic goals for 2026.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What does the Lexington Economic Development Office hope to achieve in 2026?
Our division’s goals for next year are:
First, focus on public art programs and support community events to increase foot traffic. The more art programs we have, the more community events, the more increase in foot traffic—the more vibrant the center gets, and we can reduce the Center vacancy rate through that.
Next, we’ll continue to work with committees on streamlining the Lexington zoning bylaw, attracting new users, looking at what exists, seeing how we can enhance that. An example that I can give is, a couple of years ago, we saw how the definition of “restaurant use” was outdated. We improved upon that, and now, when we are trying to attract a new restaurant, it doesn’t have to be a restaurant that is sit-down style. It could be a fast-casual restaurant, or some other kind of restaurant.
We will aim to fill the vacancies in Lexington Center, Hartwell Avenue, and East Lexington. We don’t have tools in our arsenal where we can provide incentives or grants or tax breaks to attract new businesses, but we can create opportunities to make sure that people understand what is available. We have good relationships with property owners, and we do a lot of outreach as well. We go out there and see what’s missing, and let property owners and businesses know that we have a huge vacancy coming up. A lot of times, businesses end up coming here because of that.
Finally, we plan to evaluate tourism operation models, including destination marketing. Right now, tourism operations are run by the Town, but there are destinations that have different models, such as being under a nonprofit organization, the Chamber of Commerce, or a destination marketing organization (DMO). These different types of organizations help the tourism economy grow. We plan to ask for funding through the Select Board and Town Meeting to hire a consultant who can do this research and let us know how to take tourism further in the next five to ten years. Given that tourism is within the Town realm, we want to know how we can expand public-private partnership.
Are there any other projects the office is working on?
We are currently developing our business toolkit. It gives you an overview of why to come to Lexington, and how businesses can start in Lexington. Additionally, one of the biggest challenges that we had back in 2020 was, folks used to say that the permits take too long. It’s not a streamlined process. So we have created more streamlining within the department. We create methods wherein people are able to see how easy it is to come to Lexington and work with Lexington.
Last year was a very fruitful year for tourism and local business due to Lex250. How will you make sure that the coming year is just as successful as the last one?
We are working very closely with the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism and Convention and Visitors Bureaus, whether it be Revolutionary Valley or Meet Boston, to increase our offerings and add value to existing events so that we can attract people who are coming from all across the world for 2026. Either it’s MA250, US250, or the FIFA World Cup—there are seven games here in Massachusetts. There’s also going to be Sail Boston in July; that’s going to bring so many people from all across the world. We definitely want to make sure we have offerings that help people navigate their way to Lexington. We are partnering with Boston to make sure that the travel and tourism sustains and expands here.
Which economic sectors are most prominent in Lexington, and which do you hope to see develop in 2026?
If you look at the economic pie in Lexington, number one would be the life sciences and biotech industry. The next would be defense, because we do have the MIT Lincoln Lab and Hanscom; and a lot of different businesses that are related to defense contracts have a presence here in Lexington. Tourism is another big piece; this year, we had almost 120,000 visitors come through Lexington and that’s just through the Visitors’ Center—not even counting the history museums, houses, Battle Green, or the number of buses that came in. Tourism also really brings in the small businesses, the foot traffic, the events.
We always look at new sectors that the state is promoting, such as technology, artificial intelligence, climate tech, and medical and robotics. We are working towards how we can make sure our zoning and use table is aligned to what those industries require and need in terms of utilities or the scale of development.
Regarding the comment about “tools in our arsenal”
I think it would be helpful if the town could give property tax incentives to landlords for renting to “preferred” businesses. The reduced taxes would allow reduced rent to the types of businesses we want, and allow them to succeed and survive.
The rents are out of line, any small “mom & pop” business has no chance of paying current rents with the small sales they make. Lexington shoppers are few and far between (but that’s another issue)
Tax incentives to bring in more desirable businesses is a great idea. Something must be done about the empty storefronts and former restaurants.
Another thing that would help is if Lexington could be a welcoming community like Concord and provide free parking. The little we must be netting from the meters and parking lots would be less than the benefits of having a thriving, bustling Center.
I agree with you, Linda. Other suburban towns offer free parking, which makes shopping more appealing. Pleasant St in Arlington has no meters, and Belmont has a large free parking lot in the center.
The link on the Town’s website to “View Lexington’s Business Toolkit” is broken and provides the message: “Oops — we can’t seem to find the page you’re looking for.” However, you can click on the link to “download” the toolkit to review its contents.
What can we learn from Concord? They have a vibrant center with a variety of shops. If their footfall is higher its because they developed it. Free parking is one great example mentioned. What else?