It was a multimillion-dollar project, and the company leased 4 acres of vacant land at 28 Loon Hill Road as a staging area to store their equipment while the work was ongoing.
They liked that location so much, they decided to buy it and move their operations there from Malden.
Nearly four decades later, Albanese Brothers still occupies 28 Loon Hill Road. The company that provided sewers for about half of the town has been selected as Dracut Economic Development’s Business of the Month for January 2024.
“We rented the land here, and we liked it so much, we moved from Malden to Dracut and we’ve been here ever since,” said Maria Albanese, part of the second generation of Albanese Brothers Inc.
"We love Dracut,” her sister, Marcella Albanese, added. “We’ve always given back to the community when asked.”
In fact, when the town acquired the 25-acre parcel of land at 80 Broadway Road, right around the corner from Albanese Brothers, in the early 2000s with a plan to build Veterans Memorial Park, the company donated fill and equipment to help the town realize its vision.
When Albanese Brothers -- not to be confused with Albanese D&S up the road a couple of miles (more on that later) – set up shop on Loon Hill Road, there wasn’t much around them. Aside from some homes along Loon Hill Road that were built in the early 1900s, most of that area of the Broadway Road corridor had not yet been developed. In fact, the only business plaza in existence was the one at 14 Broadway Road that now houses Bravo! School of Dance, Broadway Convenience, Talk of the Town Hair Care and Village House of Pizza.
Soon after Albanese Brothers set up shop, though, Village Square Plaza was built at the corner of Broadway Road and Loon Hill Road, now featuring such popular eateries as Scola’s, M.L. Shaw’s, Brothers Sports Bar & Grille and Frobies Café, joined by the plaza across the street at 34 Broadway that now includes Don Tito’s Mexican Grill and Kenwood True Value Hardware.
The U.S. Post Office and Washington Savings Bank branch soon followed, and in this century, CVS, The Arbors Assisted Living and Circle Health Urgent Care have added to the growth that section of Dracut has experienced.
TWO SISTERS AND A BROTHER
The Albanese Brothers moniker is somewhat of a misnomer, as the company is now run by three siblings – Maria, 58 (clerk), Marcella, 55 (president), and Oto, 53 (vice president and treasurer) – all of whom started working for the family business as teens in the 1970s.
The company was founded by the original Albanese brothers -- Marco and Giovanni -- in 1978 after leaving their homes in Flumeri, Italy, to come to the United States in the early 1970s without their families, who would join them later. The brothers had worked in their father’s small construction company in Italy.
Once in the States and settling in Malden, Marco had a hard time finding a job in construction and took whatever was available, working as a dishwasher, cook and taxi driver until he found full-time work with a local underground utility contracting company. He would send much of what he earned back to his family in Italy.
That set the groundwork for him and Giovanni to start their own company six years later, specializing in underground utility installation.
Their families soon joined them, and Marco’s three children began working for the company. They’ve never left.
Marco and Giovanni were aggressive and bid any type of construction job they thought they could handle, such as installing residential water and sewer connections, and paving sidewalks and driveways.
The company has come a long way in those 46 years. Today, Albanese Brothers is one of the leading underground-utility contractors in New England.
In a 2012 article in Wood Works Magazine, published by C.N. Wood, a provider of equipment for construction companies, Marco explained that when he and his brother started the company, they were hoping to receive bonding up to $100,000. At the time the article was published, they were bonded up to $60 million.
"I never dreamed the company would be where it is today,” Marco told Wood Works. “All I wanted was a little company and to be able to make a decent living for my family. The fact that we exceeded that tells me if you love what you do and never give up, anything is possible in America.”
ALMOST FIVE DECADES IN
A lot has happened in the 46 years Albanese Brother has been in business and in the 38 years it has called Dracut home.
The company has installed sewer systems all over New England, including about three-quarters of Chelmsford, and several large cities, including Portsmouth and Manchester, N.H., and as far west as Chicopee, Mass.
In 1991, Giovanni left the company to start his own, the aforementioned Albanese D&S, at 66 Silva Lane, Dracut. The two companies are friendly competitors these days. (Giovanni also owns Equipment East at 61 Silva Lane.)
In 2010, Marco retired, leaving his three children in charge of Albanese Brothers.
In 2020, Marcella served as the first female president of UCANE – the Utility Contractors’ Association of New England – and still sits on its Board of Directors.
In 2023, the siblings welcomed Catie’s Closet, a nonprofit agency that provides clothing and other necessities to school-aged children throughout Massachusetts and beyond. Catie’s Closet rents most of the building that stands at the front of the Loon Hill Road property that was formerly occupied for 20 years by Gravity Fitness before a flood in late 2022 forced it out of business.
Albanese Brothers has a small office space on the second floor of the building, as well as a lot in back where the company houses its equipment.
The company specializes in difficult and challenging sewer projects, employs 33 people, and completes an estimated $10 million to $15 million of construction work per year.
Over the years, Albanese Brothers learned to adapt when needed, buying state-of-the-art equipment and hiring new employees as they expanded the scope of the business.
For instance, realizing that many underground utility jobs involve removal of ledge, the Albaneses followed the steps necessary to be able to do the blasting themselves, cutting costs and giving the company an advantage over the competition when bidding work. They have also taken on other types of jobs, including doing track work for the MBTA.
As Maria told Wood Works Magazine in 2012, “The key to our success is hard work. We do whatever it takes to complete a quality job on time and on budget, and do it with a smile.”
It remains to be seen if there will be a third generation to take over Albanese Brothers. Oto has two sons and two daughters, but they have yet to chart their own courses.
Whatever happens, though, the Albanese siblings plan to stay right where they are in Dracut and to continue to support the community any way they can.
For more information on Albanese Brothers, visit www.albanesebros.com.