HAMPDEN – A lot of construction is on the horizon for the town’s business and commerce park.

One business is going up in the Carey Circle park on Route 202, while four other lots are under sales contracts. Haverlock, Estey & Curran LLC, a certified public accounting business, is building a new office space on the third lot in the park, which sold for $92,000, said Bion Foster, Hampden’s economic development director.

The front lot, closest to Route 202 and the park entrance, is under contract for $92,000 with local veterinarian Barbara Farren, who intends to move her office from Main Road North to Carey Circle, Foster said.

In between Farren’s lot and the existing business site of the John W. Kennedy Co., Zenas Realty LLC has the middle lot under contract. John W. Kennedy Co., a petroleum equipment distributor, is a subsidiary of Zenas. If the petroleum distribution company wanted to expand in the future it would have to be in that middle lot, hence the negotiations, Foster said. Zenas offered $184,500 for the two parcels a year and a half ago, he said.

Finally, Penske Transportation has two lots, just beyond the existing Kennedy building, under contract for a total of $212,500. Penske Transportation is a commercial truck rental company that now is in Hermon, Foster said.

“Momentum is increasing, as well as the phone calls,” Foster said. “Prosperity is contagious. When people see growth, they want to be a part of it.”

The Hampden Business and Commerce Park is owned by the town. The first phase of the park contains 18 lots, and the first business, U.S. Blades, opened in 2002. When completed, the 132-acre property would be divided into 37 lots for light industrial manufacturing, distribution companies, wholesaling, commercial businesses, office space and other uses, Foster said.

Park businesses cannot have more than 5,000 square feet of retail space, which means no big-box stores will be allowed, Foster said. Businesses built farther away from the Route 202 entrance will have less strict building requirements on features such as roof pitch, exterior masonry, and the ratio of doors to windows.

When the town decided to create the $3.1 million business park, councilors vowed that it would be self-supporting and the burden would not fall to taxpayers. Lot sales had not kept pace with the debt service, and in March councilors voted to pay off the remaining $1.2 million owed on the park using funds received for hosting the Pine Tree Landfill.

Now nine of the 18 lots in the first phase have been sold or are under contract. Foster said he expects closing dates on the four lots under contract to take place within the next 30 to 60 days.

“We’re a transportation and distribution hub,” said Foster. “There is an easy on and easy off access to the interstate. You pull out from here and in two minutes you can get on the highway going north, south, or east, west.”