Cross Street Partners

Redeveloping this historically significant building as an entrepreneurial engine for the Cambridge community in a manner that celebrates Cambridge’s unique heritage preserves the legacy of the Phillips Packing Company. The Packing House is a 60,000 square foot vacant warehouse building in a neglected industrial section of Cambridge. It is the last remaining factory from the Phillips Company’s empire of vegetable and food packing businesses, which once employed thousands of people in Cambridge. The company closed in the 1960’s, and the building has been deteriorating for decades.

The Packing House is located in a targeted revitalization area called the Packing District, 50 yards from Route 50, easily identified by the pair of smokestacks. Adjacent to the building is a 6.6-acre property that will become Cannery Park – a collaborative project that will result in a new central park for the town, the restoration of the headwaters of Cambridge Creek that flow through the property, and possibly a trail head for a new rails-to-trails system. Phase 1 was completed Q4 2022. The City of Cambridge, Dorchester County, the Governor’s office, ESLC, and Cross Street Partners recognize that the Phillips building is a crucial piece of Eastern Shore history. Transforming The Packing House, once a symbol of Cambridge’s manufacturing legacy, into a hub for innovation and social connectivity signals a major shift in this rural region’s economic outlook. The project harnesses the Eastern Shore’s inherent assets to usher the City of Cambridge into the modern innovation economy.

Watch Unpacking Cambridge: A Story of Rebirth and Reconciliation here