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News
Pulling together
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Public-private partnerships take center stage |
04/24/08 1:32AM
The downtown revitalization initiative being formulated by the city administration has received a noteworthy private-sector boost.
At its annual meeting yesterday, the nonprofit Worcester Business Development Corp. announced a slight "recalibration" of its strategic plan, making its No. 1 goal "to focus its skills and resources on improving the economic and business climate of downtown Worcester."
Since its reconfiguration in 1999, WBDC's special talent has been brokering public-private partnerships. The recently opened Hanover Theatre was the product of just such a partnership, leveraging private donations, support from the academic and business communities and city, state and federal aid.
Also brokered by WBDC is the partnership with WPI, using brownfields cleanup funds and other public support, that yielded the new Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park. WBDC honored WPI president Dennis D. Berkey as recipient of its Bowditch Award yesterday in recognition of his role in the highly complex project.
Worcester has been a pioneer in forging such partnerships. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Park and Gardner-Kilby-Hammond Main South renewal both used creative public-private partnerships to stellar effect.
The potential has not been lost on state officials. Getting state and municipal governments and the business community working together is an important element of the Patrick administration development policy, Daniel O'Connell, secretary of Housing and Economic Development, told the WBDC meeting. Indeed, Gateway Park, which epitomizes that philosophy, is the first of the "growth districts" to be designated by the administration statewide.
As City Manager Michael V. O'Brien indicated yesterday, the city's new downtown strategy will focus on improving key properties to strengthen links with other neighborhoods.
That targeted approach is worth pursuing vigorously. From Washington Square to Wheaton Square, there are opportunities in abundance for the kind of creative partnerships WBDC and the city both have nurtured.
A hopeful economy
Official says region is well-positioned
04/24/08 1:16AM
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| Daniel O'Connell speaks to the Worcester Business Development Corp. annual meeting yesterday. (ED COLLIER) |
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WORCESTER— The city and surrounding communities are faring better during under the current economic downturn than many areas of the country, and the regional economy — a mix of health care, education, life sciences and financial services — will help keep the state's unemployment rate below the national average, according to the state's economic development secretary.
Daniel O'Connell, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, said partnerships between the private and public sectors and between business and academic institutions can foster growth and help the region build on its strengths.
Speaking to about 240 people at yesterday's 43rd annual meeting of the Worcester Business Development Corp. at Mechanics Hall, Mr. O'Connell said the Worcester area's economy has helped the state gain jobs over the last six months, lowering the state's unemployment rate and staying below the national average.
"We won't be immune to the national and international downturn and the credit crisis caused by the sub-prime lending issues and the insatiable Wall Street appetite for those mortgage-backed products," Mr. O'Connell said. "But I think we're positioned to fare fairly well as we move forward."
Citing Gov. Deval L. Patrick's recently-announced economic plan, he said the state is investing in road and bridge repairs, as well as having passed legislation to streamline and speed the permitting process for industry. Mr. O'Connell also said growth would come out of research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and through the state's partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
"We have seen the facility at Gateway Park grow and attract new businesses," he said. "It's a key part in our economic development strategy. It's an example of business and academic communities partnering with government.
"We're focused on putting all of the tools of state government in the service of creating vibrant communities in places where local leadership is asking us to work with them and with the business community."
WPI and the Worcester Business Development Corp., a nonprofit business organization that promotes economic development in Worcester and the surrounding area, are partners developing the 12-acre Gateway Park at Grove and Lancaster streets into a mixed-use center for life sciences and biotech companies as well as housing. In February, the state established the first of what will be several so-called growth districts, the 82-acre Innovation Square Growth District, comprising several parcels, including Gateway Park and land extending south to Lincoln Square.
Helping to bolster the city's economy, he said, is the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, a 2,300-seat theatre WBDC developed with public and private funds. The project renovated the former Poli Palace Theatre, which was built in 1926. A mainstream movie house, the Showcase Cinemas IV, occupied the building near the intersection of Southbridge Street and Main Street from 1967 until its closing in 1998.
Massachusetts is a series of regional economies, and the administration is trying to "forge solutions that work regionally," he said.
"The administration is making a long-term investment in the economy of Massachusetts," he said, "life sciences, clean energy, financial services and manufacturing.
"You are building tomorrow's sectors. We are playing the role we in government can play. … Those life sciences investments are particularly focused in the city of Worcester."
A part of the administration's economic plan is for international trade missions, such as the governor's December trip to China, he said. Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray will lead another to Ireland in the fall, he said.
"These international trips are important," he said. "Selling our goods and services, developing products and selling in emerging markets are key parts in our ongoing commercial growth."
Worcester Telegram Gazette
02/27/08
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Gateway project in spotlight State applauds plan for biotech center
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Author: Martin Luttrell
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WORCESTER - Using Gateway Park as an example of how to do things right, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O'Connell yesterday announced the establishment of the state's Growth Districts Initiative, a program to spur economic growth opportunities at 16 locations around Massachusetts.
The first designated growth district is the 82-acre Innovation Square Growth District, comprising several parcels including the 12-acre Gateway Park and land extending south to Lincoln Square.
Speaking at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center on Prescott Street, Mr. O'Connell said the state will partner with municipalities that have identified areas for significant residential, commercial or mixed-use growth by providing fast-track permitting, as well as planning, marketing and infrastructure improvements.
He applauded Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Worcester Business Development Corp., the partners developing Gateway Park into a mixed-use center for life sciences and biotech companies as well as housing.
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"It is those partnerships that make things happen," Mr. O'Connell said.
The permitting for Gateway Park is already complete, but the project will benefit from the state's efforts to market it nationally, said WPI President Dennis D. Berkey.
"The growth district designation highlights all the advantages that are already in place at Gateway Park, like expedited permitting and pad-ready sites," Mr. Berkey said in an interview. "But it adds fuel to the marketing capability and increases recognition for the opportunities that are here in Worcester for companies that want to come. We are marketing Gateway to a fairly extensive list of prospective tenants," he said.
Gateway Park is finalizing a relationship with a Boston developer that will provide the capacity to construct additional buildings. He declined to name the developer, saying an announcement will be made in weeks ahead.
Mr. O'Connell said the objective is to create "development readiness" within each growth district comparable to that now available at Devens. Communities seeking growth district designation should be committed to planning for development in the district for between five and 20 years. The remaining growth districts will be announced in the future, he said.
Some 4,400 acres at the former Fort Devens military base off Route 2 is being converted into an industrial center under the control of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency.
Undersecretary for Business Development Gregory P. Bialecki said too often land use planning is done poorly, if at all. While Devens has been a success, it should not be up to the state to take control from local communities. He said Gateway Park has a rich cluster of science and technology, with the forethought to include housing.
"What I like about this plan is that it is a big vision," he said following the official program. "It is also a very manageable and practical vision. It's not a three-year plan. It's probably a 10-year plan or more. That's the right thing to do. It's not one building, and that's the approach we want to see.
"It's a local, well-kept secret. It deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as Devens. It's that ready for development. But it isn't getting mentioned or getting attention, so that's the big thing we can do."
Among the sites that could be developed in the Innovation Square Growth District are:
- The 130-room Courtyard by Marriott at 72 Grove St., with the potential for a 30-room expansion.
- The Worcester Memorial Auditorium in Lincoln Square, with approximately 100,000 square feet of potential cultural, office or research and development space.
- The former Boys Club in Lincoln Square, with 48,000 square feet of potential mixed-use space
The former Worcester County Courthouse on Main Street, with approximately 200,000 square feet of potential mixed-use space.
Growth districts will be chosen by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, in collaboration with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Areas for consideration must be identified by the city or town as a priority for growth, and there must be market demand to support that growth.
Copyright (c) 2008 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.
Record Number: 0802276784
Gateway Park Anchors First New State Growth District
02/26/08
WORCESTER,– State and local officials gathered today at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park to launch the Massachusetts Growth Districts Initiative—a new program to focus resources on economic growth opportunities across the Commonwealth. .
Speaking at Gateway Park, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Daniel O’Connell said the state’s new initiative will help accelerate development at sites local leaders identify as most appropriate for significant new growth, whether commercial, residential, or mixed-use. .
"Focusing economic development in appropriate areas is precisely what we have done, and are continuing to do, here at Gateway Park,” said WPI President and CEO Dennis D. Berkey, who hosted today’s announcement. “The rebirth of the Gateway Park area as a center for life sciences and biotechnology initiatives will lead this important new district in downtown Worcester, and I hope serve as an example for other places in Massachusetts. So we are very pleased and honored that Secretary O’Connell has chosen Gateway Park as the place to launch this important new initiative."
Through the Growth Districts Initiative, O’Connell said the state would partner with municipalities and property owners to help coordinate local permitting, state permitting, site preparation, infrastructure improvements and marketing. The objective is to create a level of development readiness within each growth district, so they can compete on a national and international level. In the next several months, the state plans to designate 16 new growth districts across Massachusetts, O’Connell said.
The first new growth district includes the Gateway Park neighborhood as well as the Lincoln Square area in downtown Worcester. City Manager Michael O’Brien, State Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester), State Undersecretary for Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki, and dozens of community leaders attended today’s announcement and voiced support for the state’s new program.
"When local, state, or federal governments leverage private investments, such as WPI's investment in Gateway Park, great and important results are achieved,” said D’Anne Hurd, WPI’s general counsel and vice president for business development at Gateway Park. “As we continue to build out Gateway Park, this new designation will be a great asset. We are pleased and proud to be the anchor of the state’s first new growth district."
About Gateway Park
Gateway Park is a joint venture of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC). Located in Worcester, near the intersection of I-190 and I-290, Gateway Park is designed as a 12-acre, mixed-use destination for life sciences and biotech companies and the people who work for them. The project includes five life sciences buildings totaling 500,000 square feet of flexible, adaptable lab space designed to meet the needs of research organizations; 241,000 square feet of market rate, loft condominiums; and several planned retail establishments. WPI is also exploring the possibility of graduate student housing on one of the sites. Gateway Park is part of the larger 55-acre Gateway Redevelopment District. It is currently home to numerous businesses, offices, restaurants, and business services, as well as a Courtyard by Marriott hotel. For more information see www.gatewayparkworcester.com .
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI was one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. WPI's 18 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, management, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to the BA, BS, MS, ME, MBA and PhD. WPI's world-class faculty work with students in a number of cutting-edge research areas, leading to breakthroughs and innovations in such fields as biotechnology, fuel cells, and information security, materials processing, and nanotechnology. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Perspective Program. There are more than 20 WPI project centers throughout North America and Central America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe. For more information see www.wpi.edu .
Governor OKs plan to transfer land for biotech use.
12/04/07
BOSTON— A bill transferring ownership of 35 acres of former state hospital land off Plantation Street to the Worcester Business Development Corporation has been signed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick.
Execution of the bill will allow the developers of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park to take ownership of property it had held under long-term lease until now, and offer it for biomedical and technology-related private development.
Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray said the transfer will provide another opportunity to expand Worcester’s biomedical and biotechnology cluster.
“The opportunity for further business development and job growth in Worcester’s biotechnology faction is not only strongly supported by me, but also by the Worcester legislative delegation, the city government and the business community,” Mr. Murray said announcing the governor’s approval of the bill.
In 1983, WBDC, a nonprofit development group, took over other land transferred from the former Worcester State Hospital grounds to develop the research park. The acreage being transferred has previously been leased to the WBDC by the state Division of Capital Asset Management, but the transfer will allow the group to offer the property for sale and development.
The land is expected to be offered for development in the areas of medical optics, pharmaceutical research and production, biotechnology or bioengineering and support services.
Council gives tax break to theater for 7 years
Opening of Hanover is set for March 25
12/04/07
WORCESTER— As expected, the City Council last night approved a property tax
break for the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts on Southbridge Street
that will save the theater — scheduled to open in March — about $2.7 million
in taxes over seven years.
“This was critical for us,” an obviously relieved Troy Siebels, theater executive
director, said after the council unanimously approved the tax break, known as tax
increment financing. “I’m not sure we would have been able to function without it.”
The council, acting on recommendations of its Commerce and Development Committee,
also agreed to apply for a $420,000 federal loan guarantee for the 2,300 seat theater,
a former stage and movie house now undergoing major renovations. The theater is expected
to stage 100 performances a year, including Broadway touring shows. The guarantee will help
theater owner WCPA LLC finance a $4 million construction loan.
Established as a nonprofit organization, the theater ownership had to change to for-profit
status for seven years in order to qualify for so called “New Markets” as well as federal
and state historical tax credits worth as much as $7 million.
“It was a legal maneuver,” Mr. Siebels said.
But the change in status would have put the building on the tax rolls at an estimated $325,000
a year, or about 25 percent of the theater’s operating budget.
Such a tax burden would have made the theater financially infeasible, said Julie A. Jacobson,
assistant city manager. The TIF does not represent lost revenue to the city, she said, because
the building would have been exempt from taxes on the property of a nonprofit organization.
“It’s well worth it,” she said of the TIF, “because of what the theater will mean to the city.”
Ms. Jacobson has estimated the theater will draw 170,000 patrons to its productions annually with
a total economic impact of about $40 million.
The theater opens with “Hairspray” March 25. Mr. Siebels told the council that 330 subscriptions
for the Broadway at the Hanover series were sold the first day they went on sale. The series includes
“Stomp” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Noting that March 25 is a Tuesday, Councilor-at-Large Gary Rosen suggested the council consider changing
the meeting to another night so the councilors could attend the opening.
In other business, District 2 Councilor Philip P. Palmieri railed against the years-long backlog in
converting private streets to public roads — five to seven years.
“That’s outrageous,” Mr. Palmieri said. He noted the city has 85 to 90 miles of private roads is “enough
to drive to Cape Cod,” he said. “We stand alone in New England — in the Northeast — with unpaved streets.”
“It’s an extraordinary problem,” Mr. Palmieri said and called on the administration to meet with the city’s
legislative delegation to determine if state aid is available. “Talk to them about what they will do”
Women Together presented the council with a $60,000 check, raised by the group to help build a $750,000 park
on a trashy vacant lot that was once the site of the Winslow Street School.
Susan Lovoraitis, Ines Beron and Raquel Quinones of Women Together made the presentation with Ms. Lovoraitis
thanking the council for accepting the check. The group is working on raising another $60,000 for the project.
The school was sold to a private party more than 30 years ago and soon after burned to the ground. The lot has been
vacant since. In 2004, Women Together began pushing for a park.
Praise for the park
Facility gets nod from U.S.
11/30/07
WORCESTER — Oh, the lowly parking garage.
It sends drivers, roughly, in circles. It shelters cars from snow and sleet. It's rarely flashy. It's just, well, a garage.
But yesterday, a 680-car parking garage partly funded with federal money gained a bit of respect when the Gateway Park development collected one of seven national awards for economic development from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Sandy K. Baruah, assistant secretary of commerce for economic development, presented the Excellence in Economic Development Award for Urban or Suburban Development to Worcester Polytechnic Institute's President Dennis D. Berkey with praise for Gateway Park, an 11-acre development off Prescott Street that aims to someday offer a mix of homes, businesses and academic offices.
"Gateway Park is making a significant economic impact on this entire region by providing a state-of-the-art facility focused on the life sciences and bioengineering," Mr. Baruah said at an afternoon ceremony at the WPI Life Sciences & Engineering Center, the first major building in the park. "Gateway Park will build on the regional assets that this part of the country uniquely offers."
The Economic Development Administration, or EDA, contributed $2.5 million to the $11 million garage at Gateway Park, support that was critical to getting Gateway Park off the ground, said David P. Forsberg, president of the Worcester Business Development Corp., which is developing Gateway Park with WPI.
"We made the case that the garage was necessary infrastructure," Mr. Forsberg said.
Plans call for Gateway Park to expand to five buildings with 500,000 square feet of laboratory space plus housing and retail space.
But it wasn't just the garage that won Gateway Park the EDA honor and the etched Tiffany bowl that came with it. Mr. Baruah said any U.S. development can apply for the EDA excellence awards, not just those that receive EDA money. ACCION Texas Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, and the Great Northern Town Center of Helena, Mont., were finalists competing against Gateway Park for the urban/suburban prize this year.
"EDA awards go to the best of the best," Mr. Baruah said. "Only one gets it, and that's Gateway Park."
The EDA's grant to Gateway Park was not the agency's first effort in Central Massachusetts. An $850,000 grant from EDA helped Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a life sciences economic development agency, develop laboratories for start-up companies on Winthrop Street in recent years. MBI moved some of those labs, and its commitment to honor the terms of the EDA grant, to the WPI building earlier this year.
Other EDA excellence award winners this year are the Ohio State University Endeavor Center in Piketon, Ohio, for rural economic development; KCSourceLink of Kansas City, Mo., for enhancing regional competitiveness; the Regional Planning Commission of New Orleans for economic adjustment strategies; the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Fla., for technology-led economic development; Pyramid Community Development Corp. of Houston for community- and faith-based social entrepreneurship; and the Paulding County Board of Commissioners of Dallas, Ga., for innovation in economic development.
Gateway Park Development Receives 2007 Phoenix Award
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WPI and Worcester Business Development Corporation share the prestigeous national honor for creating a gateway to unite life science industry and drive economic development
ebmell@wpi.edu
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11/29/07
Worcester, Mass. – – Gateway Park LLC, a venture designed to encourage economic development among the life science and biotech fields, was named a winner of the prestigious national Phoenix Award for its brownfields revitalization project in downtown Worcester, Mass. The national award honors individuals and groups who revitalize blighted and contaminated areas into productive new uses. Each year one winner is selected from each of the 10 U.S. EPA regions. Past Region 1 Phoenix Award™ recipients include the Pfizer Global Research and Development Headquarters project in New London, CT; Kendall Square Redevelopment project in Cambridge, MA; and Save the Bay Center in Providence, RI.
Gateway Park, LLC, a partnership between Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the Worcester Business Development Corp. (WBDC), is transforming an area of abandoned buildings and contaminated properties into a thriving site with the potential to create up to 2,000 high wage, high skilled jobs. From 1910 to about 1960, the site flourished as Worcester maintained its identity--earned at the start of the Industrial Revolution--as the manufacturing center of New England. But in the 1960s, the manufacturing industry began to decline, ultimately resulting in the loss of many jobs and leaving underutilized buildings and, as later studies confirmed, contaminated properties on the site.
"New England has always represented true academic vision and innovation, and Gateway Park has tapped that," said David Forsberg, president of the Worcester Business Development Corporation. "The clean up of an environmentally blighted and economically stagnant area has opened up a new 'gateway' to unite and capitalize on Worcester's burgeoning life science industry and WPI's leadership and vision in bioengineering and life sciences."
The Gateway partnership was formed in order to undertake a large-scale, brownfields revitalization project on a former industrial site in an environmentally and economically stagnant area. Along with WPI and WBDC, U.S. Representative Jim McGovern, former Mayor and current Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, City Manager Michael O'Brien, and State Senator Ed Augustus all played strong leadership roles, working collaboratively and lending their vision and support to the economic development plan for Gateway Park.
"From the start," WPI President Dr. Dennis Berkey explained, "WPI and Gateway made a deliberate decision to integrate the university into the community and to help revitalize a portion of the City of Worcester that was primed for an environmental and economic lift."
At full build out, Gateway Park will feature over $250 million in private investment and approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand square feet of new development including research and development, office space, and housing geared to both emerging and mature life sciences and bioengineering companies. To date, over $80 million has been invested to revitalize the Gateway Park property including the major cleanup and renovation of the first building, constructing a parking garage, utility upgrades, and surface lots, and significant road improvements.
In September 2007, Gateway Park opened its first building, the WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center. In addition to housing WPI's life science-related graduate research programs from four of its academic departments, the WPI Bioengineering Institute (BEI), and the university's Corporate and Professional Education Division, the Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center is also home to Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, an incubator for biotechnology and medical device companies.
A panel of environmental, business and academic professionals selects the Phoenix Award™ winners, based on the magnitude of the project, innovative techniques, solutions to regulatory issues, and impact on the community.
About Worcester Business Development Corporation
Established in 1965, the Worcester Business Development Corp. (WBDC) is a non-profit business organization whose mission is to serve as an innovative and leading force in the economic development of the Worcester region, resulting in job creation and tax base growth. Since its inception, WBDC has been responsible for developing seven industrial parks, creating thousands of jobs and significantly expanding the region's industrial tax base. WBDC's accomplishments include Higgins Industrial Park and Gold Star Distributor Park in Worcester, Goddard Industrial Park in Shrewsbury, and Holden Industrial Park in Holden. In the late 1980s, WBDC succeeded in developing the successful Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park, and recently opened a new technology park, Centech Park, in Grafton. With a recent focus on downtown Worcester and Brownfields revitalization, WBDC is continuing its vision of economic development through property restoration and environmental remediation.
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI was one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. WPI's 18 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, management, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to the BA, BS, MS, ME, MBA and PhD. WPI's world-class faculty work with students in a number of cutting-edge research areas, leading to breakthroughs and innovations in such fields as biotechnology, fuel cells, and information security, materials processing, and nanotechnology. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Perspective Program. There are more than 20 WPI project centers throughout North America and Central America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe.
About Gateway Park
Gateway Park is a joint venture of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC). Located in Worcester, near the intersection of I-190 and I-290, Gateway Park is designed as a 12 acre, mixed-use destination for life sciences and biotech companies and the people who work for them. For more information about economic development with Gateway Park in the Worcester region, please visit then Gateway Park website.
Gateway Park Wins National Award from U.S. Department of Commerce
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Senior Officials from Washington D.C. Present Award to Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Worcester Business Development Corp
ebmell@wpi.edu
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11/29/07
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| The WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, the first structure to be completed at Gateway Park, is fully occupied. |
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WORCESTER, Mass. – – In recognition of its successful transformation of an underutilized 19th century industrial site into a state-of-the-art life sciences and biotechnology park, Gateway Park, LLC has won the 2007 Excellence in Economic Development Award for Urban or Suburban Economic Development from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
At a ceremony held at Gateway Park today, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Sandy K. Baruah and Congressman James McGovern presented the award to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) President and CEO Dennis D. Berkey and Worcester Business Development Corp. (WBDC) President David P. Forsberg. Gateway Park, LLC is a joint venture of WPI and the WBDC."
"Gateway Park represents the best and brightest economic development methods and practices in use today,” Assistant Secretary Baruah said. “Gateway's commitment to sound, research-based, market-driven economic development is helping Worcester and Massachusetts grow their economies and create jobs. I am grateful for their participation in our national awards program."
The Excellence in Economic Development Award is given annually in seven categories to recognize "innovative economic development strategies of national significance.” In particular, the award for Excellence in Urban or Suburban Economic Development is given to a project that “utilizes innovative, market-based strategies to improve urban or suburban economic development results."
"This prestigious award is a wonderful recognition of the vision and the hard work of so many people in this community who helped to make Gateway Park a reality,” said President Berkey. “It is particularly fitting that this award is focused on projects that yield important results because WPI has a strong history of delivering results that help our community and our economy prosper. Now, by facilitating leading-edge work in the life sciences, I expect that in five or ten years time we will look back on this moment and marvel at the innovations that have sprung from the minds and the laboratories here and improved the lives of people around the world."
WBDC President Forsberg agreed, saying "we are honored to receive this award. It shines a national spotlight on Worcester, Gateway Park, and the critical mass of public and private partners who have made this project a wonderful success. Gateway Park is now part of the western anchor of one of the largest life sciences clusters in the world. As we continue to build out the park and populate it with top-flight researchers and companies, Gateway will not only create good jobs, but it will generate a vibrant mixed use community."
Throughout Gateway Park's development, WPI and the WBDC have worked closely with state and federal officials to make the park a centerpiece for growth of the life sciences industry in New England. Its buildings are custom-designed to answer the specific needs of life sciences researchers and companies with flexible, adaptable lab space and cutting-edge wireless infrastructure. Furthermore, Gateway Park is allowing for economic development in Worcester, while simultaneously preserving historically significant buildings and revitalizing the community.
"Gateway Park is an extraordinary project,” Congressman McGovern said. "I'm very pleased that the Department of Commerce is recognizing the hard work that has gone into making Gateway Park a reality.”
In addition to the restoration of two historic buildings, Gateway Park will include several new buildings, the first of which opened this year as the WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center. The center is the focal point for graduate education and research in the life sciences and related engineering fields at WPI. Its research areas include regenerative medicine, molecular nanotechnology and biosensors, plant systems, tissue engineering, and untethered healthcare. Specifically, the center includes WPI's Corporate and Professional Education Division, the WPI Bioengineering Institute, and faculty researchers from several academic departments, including biology and biotechnology, biomedical engineering, chemistry and biochemistry, and chemical engineering.
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The building also houses several business and commercial entities, including the Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI), a leading non-profit incubator center that specializes in promoting the growth of start-up biomedical companies. In October, Gateway Park announced that RXi Pharmaceuticals, the company co-founded by Nobel Laureate Craig Mello, PhD, signed a 20-month lease to locate in the WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center with the option to become the lead tenant of a future 100,000-square-foot building planned for construction at Gateway Park.
About Gateway Park
Gateway Park is a joint venture of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC). Located in Worcester, near the intersection of I-190 and I-290, Gateway Park is designed as an 11-acre, mixed-use destination for life sciences and biotech companies and the people who work for them. The project includes five life sciences buildings totaling 500,000 square feet of flexible, adaptable lab space designed to meet the needs of research organizations; 241,000 square feet of market rate, loft condominiums; and several planned retail establishments. WPI is also exploring the possibility of graduate student housing on one of the sites. Gateway Park is part of the larger 55-acre Gateway Redevelopment District. It is currently home to numerous businesses, offices, restaurants, and business services, as well as a Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI was one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. WPI's 18 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, management, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to the BA, BS, MS, ME, MBA and PhD. WPI's world-class faculty work with students in a number of cutting-edge research areas, leading to breakthroughs and innovations in such fields as biotechnology, fuel cells, and information security, materials processing, and nanotechnology. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Perspective Program. There are more than 20 WPI project centers throughout North America and Central America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe.
About Worcester Business Development Corporation
Established in 1965, the Worcester Business Development Corp. (WBDC) is a non-profit business organization whose mission is to serve as an innovative and leading force in the economic development of the Worcester region, resulting in job creation and tax base growth. Since its inception, WBDC has been responsible for developing seven industrial parks, creating thousands of jobs and significantly expanding the region's industrial tax base. WBDC's accomplishments include Higgins Industrial Park and Gold Star Distributor Park in Worcester, Goddard Industrial Park in Shrewsbury, and Holden Industrial Park in Holden. In the late 1980s, WBDC succeeded in developing the successful Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park, and recently opened a new technology park, Centech Park, in Grafton. With a recent focus on downtown Worcester and Brownfields revitalization, WBDC is continuing its vision of economic development through property restoration and environmental remediation.
Tax break endorsed for Hanover Theatre
$2.7M cut over 7 years said critical to financing
11/29/07
WORCESTER — The City Council Commerce and Development Committee last night unanimously endorsed a deal in which the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts would receive a property tax break of nearly $2.7 million over seven years.
That tax savings is considered critical to the overall financing package for the $30.4 million theater, which is expected to open in March, according to Assistant City Manager Julie A. Jacobson.
In order to be able to offer the building's owner such a deal, known as tax-increment financing (TIF), the three-member council committee also recommended designating the theater property at 4 Southbridge St. as an Economic Opportunity Area and a certified project under the Massachusetts Economic Development Incentive Program.
In addition, the committee endorsed filing an application with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a Section 108 loan guarantee for the project. The city will provide a $420,000 Section 108 loan guarantee as credit enhancement so the owner of the theater, WCPA LLC, can secure financing in the amount of a $4 million construction loan.
The $420,000 loan guarantee represents one-half of the interest on the $4 million loan, due for the second, third and fourth years of the loan, Ms. Jacobson said.
The committee's recommendations must go before the entire City Council for final action.
"This project is going to be a major catalyst for our downtown, but it would not be able to go forward without this TIF or loan guarantee," said Councilor-at-Large Michael C. Perotto, committee chairman.
The theater building, which has been vacant since 1998, is undergoing an extensive renovation and will be turned into a 2,300-seat, state-of-the-art performing arts center that will feature large-scale Broadway shows, concerts and family-oriented theatrical and musical performances.
It was the site of the former Poli Palace Theatre, which was built in 1926. The Showcase Cinemas IV occupied the building from 1967 to 1998.
Ms. Jacobson told the committee that the performing arts center expects to stage more than 100 events annually, brining an estimated 170,000 patrons to downtown. She said the center's economic impact to the city is expected to be $40 million annually, in direct and indirect spending, and in jobs.
The theater was originally going to be a tax-exempt property because its owner is a nonprofit entity. In order to qualify for much-needed "New Markets" and federal and state historical tax credits, the owner has to be a for-profit entity, Ms. Jacobson said. She said securing those tax credits is essential to the project's financing.
By becoming a for-profit entity, the owner now has to pay real estate taxes on the property. Before the theater-renovation project began, the property generated about $14,000 in real estate taxes annually. But in light of the improvements that been have made to the property, Ms. Jacobson said its annual real estate tax bill will now swell to more than $400,000, which would be about 25 percent of the performing arts center's annual operating budget.
As a result, Ms. Jacobson said, the owner is seeking a 100 percent exemption, over a seven-year period, on the additional property taxes resulting from the improvements and renovations made to the property. Over seven years, the total tax savings would be $2.67 million - money which the owner then intends to use to help finance the project.
During the seven years of the TIF, the city will collect more than $98,000 in real estate taxes on the property, based on its base value. She emphasized that is money the city would not have collected had the property remained tax-exempt as originally planned.
After the TIF deal runs its course, WCPA will revert to a nonprofit entity.
"This is a most complicated venture, but it's a worthy one," said District 2 Councilor Philip P. Palmieri.
District 1 Councilor Joffrey A. Smith also embraced the deal, saying this is what economic development is all about.
"I'm comfortable with the way this package is designed," Mr. Smith said.
Ms. Jacobson said the owner and operator of the performing arts center have agreed to partner with the Worcester public schools to provide access to theatrical performances to children and young people who might not otherwise be able to attend.
In addition, the owner of the performing arts center and the Worcester Business Development Corp. have committed to fund and undertake an immediate phase of revitalization to the Federal Square fountain and plaza. That work includes the installation of new curb cuts, construction of a walkway to the Federal Square municipal parking garage, repairs to the water fountain and installation of new ornamental fences and lighting.
Voke wing clears out for future prospects
Gateway Park still weighing its options
11/29/07
WORCESTER — The former machine shop building of the former Worcester Vocational
High School should be completely demolished within the next two weeks, leaving
the land at 1 Concord St. clear for the winter and for prospective developers.
What gets built there will depend on the market and developers, said David P. Forsberg,
executive vice president of Worcester Business Development Corp. The Worcester
Business Development Corp. and Worcester Polytechnic Institute own the property as
partners in Gateway Park LLC.
“It is kind of a swing parcel. We’ve evaluated it for commercial, housing and retail,”
Mr. Forsberg said. “The prospect of housing there is receding, particularly in this
market. … We have not made a final decision on it.”
At one point, plans called for a four-story, 80,000-square-foot building and a public
park, but Mr. Forsberg said those plans have changed. “We’re trying to be a little flexible,”
he said. “The one thing we’re committed to is making it … respectful of architecture on the
WPI campus and in the district.”
All of the remediation and environmental cleanup is finished at the 1 Concord St. property,
Mr. Forsberg said, but other work remains to be done on nearby Lexington and Faraday streets.
Lexington Street will eventually be closed between Grove and Prescott, while Farady Street
will be reopened, he said, which would move parking for the Courtyard by Marriot from the
Faraday area to the Lexington area.
Gateway is in talks with the city to buy the former school’s main building on the other side
of Concord Street from the machine shop. It would be good for loft-style condos,
Mr. Forsberg said
The fate of the final piece of the Voke School puzzle, the former Boys Club building that
faces Lincoln Square, is still up in the air as the city draws up a master plan for Lincoln
Square and North Main Street. The city held a charrette in September to consider ideas, and
Economic Development Director Timothy J. McGourthy said he hopes to have a draft master
plan by the end of the year.
Gateway has recently won two awards: a Phoenix Award, in which a panel of environmental,
business and academic professionals recognize projects that revitalize brownfields; and
an excellence in economic development award for urban or suburban economic development
from the federal Economic Developmental Administration.
An urban model
Gateway Park takes two prestigious awards
11/28/07
The Gateway Park project in Worcester, which has become well-known in the region
as a model of urban redevelopment, now is getting well-deserved national recognition
as well.
In fact, the partners in Gateway Park LLC, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the
Worcester Business Development Corp. have two reasons to celebrate this week.
As they were preparing to accept the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s 2007
Excellence in Economic Development Award at a ceremony scheduled for tomorrow,
they learned they also had won the prestigious Phoenix Award from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the International City Management Administration.
The Phoenix Award must be especially gratifying for WPI and WBDC since it recognizes
the revitalization of blighted, contaminated areas for productive new uses in each of
the EPA’s 10 regions.
Gateway Park was built on 12 acres of reclaimed brownfields. When completed,
the mixed-use project will have 750,000 square feet of educational, research,
commercial, retail and residential space.
The EDA award focuses on job creation and the positive impact a project has on
the economy of a city, according to WBCD President David P. Forsberg. Gateway
Park won in the Urban or Suburban Economic Development category, chosen from
among the many projects that received EDA funding. While the EDA supplemented
the private investment money used to build the Gateway garage, the award actually
recognizes the project’s ability to create 2,000, mostly high-end jobs and the
financial impact those jobs will have on Worcester. The project also will return
to the city’s tax rolls some properties that have been off the books for more
than 40 years.
The vision of the developers to create a mixed-use, urban village is steadily
being realized. The WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center is at full
occupancy, while the renovated building at 85 Prescott St., the first to be
developed, is at 80 percent. Three other building pads remain to be developed,
as well as a lot at 75 Prescott St., where WPI hopes to build graduate student
housing and retail space.
The project has replaced polluted industrial brownfields, transforming the
dreary landscape off Worcester’s Prescott Street and helping to speed
other major redevelopment, including a new hotel, on the city’s north end.
The payoff has and will continue to be considerable. Driven mostly by private
funds, the cleanup, the availability of well-educated, highly skilled workers
and the attraction of so much leasable space with room to expand already have
become magnets for companies such as RXi, whose work complements the life science
and engineering work WPI is doing.
Congratulations to WPI and WBDC for these latest, very well-deserved awards.
U.S. grant may help tech park
Shrewsbury calls CenTech vital
10/11/07
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| Mr. Forsberg |
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SHREWSBURY— The town and the Worcester Business
Development Corp. have been invited to apply for a $2
million federal grant to facilitate the development of
CenTech Park East.
The money would be a Public Works and Economic Development
grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic
Development Administration. The deadline for submission
of the application is Oct. 25.
The grant would cover half of the $4 million cost to construct
infrastructure and a water tank on the 84-acre property
to facilitate development.
David P. Forsberg, president of WBDC, said the agency
is excited about the prospects of the grant. He said WBDC
and Shrewsbury have received at least $2 million in previous
grants from the federal EDA. He said WBDC and the town
are very encouraged by the preliminary process they recently
went through with EDA.
"We've always had a great partnership with EDA. They have
been a major supporter of the park since it was first
developed in the early 1990s," Mr. Forsberg said. "I think
they have confidence in our ability to follow through."
The WBDC acquired the former state hospital land that
is now CenTech Park from the state in 1994 and now oversees
it. Since then, the 121-acre biotechnology park, located
in both Shrewsbury and Grafton, has been developed. CenTech
Boulevard, a 1.1-mile road, linking Route 20 near the
Hebert Candy Mansion in Shrewsbury to the MBTA commuter
rail station on Route 30 in Grafton, opened last year.
The boulevard recently re-opened after being closed to
allow for water and sewer utility installation for the
development of the nearby CenTech Park East.
Once the infrastructure is completed, CenTech Park East
will consist of 600,000 square feet of development on
nine parcels ranging in size from 4 to 20 acres. The first
parcel will be 20 acres, with a 150,000-square-foot building.
Development will be similar to the zoning and uses of
CenTech Park, which include biotechnology, light manufacturing
and research and development or other related economic
development uses.
Mr. Forsberg said there has already been interest expressed
in the first parcel.
Town Manager Daniel J. Morgado said completion of CenTech
Park East is crucial for the town.
"The development of CenTech Park East is a cornerstone
of the town's efforts to diversify its tax base and the
Board of Selectmen has committed great effort and resources
into this initiative," Mr. Morgado said. "Town meeting
has consistently supported the board's efforts in every
regard in the development."
Shrewsbury just completed construction of a new fire station
on CenTech Boulevard at the intersection with Cherry Street.
Memory of a lover of the arts inspires donation to theater
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By Lisa D. Welsh TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
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10/11/07
 |
| A bronze-relief likeness
of Alexander E. Drapos was unveiled at the offices
law firm Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple on Main
Street yesterday. The plaque will be installed
at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts,
which is scheduled to open in February. (T&G
Staff/JIM COLLINS) |
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WORCESTER— The Worcester Business Development Corp. honored its former board chairman yesterday by donating $250,000 to the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts and unveiled a bronze-relief with the likeness of Alexander E. Drapos that will be displayed among prime loge seats. The theater is due to open in February.
"When Alex died, we thought long and hard about how to honor him," said Nancy Sala, development corporation chairwoman. "We talked about naming a street after him. But Alex loved Worcester. Alex loved the arts. So we are so happy we can honor his service to the WBDC with something that will demonstrate his love of both."
Mr. Drapos was one of the city's most prominent lawyers and had been affiliated with the Worcester Business Development Corp. as a member, director and chairman until his death last year. Yesterday at the offices of the law firm Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple, former colleagues, associates and family members gathered for the unveiling.
"Alex was a close friend and law partner for over 15 years," said Sumner B. "Tony" Tilton Jr., firm director. "We are happy to lend this space where Alex spent so much of his time so that WBDC can honor his service to that organization while, at the same time, recognize his love of the theater."
The $26 million Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, in the former Showcase Cinemas in Federal Square, is the centerpiece of the Worcester Center for Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization that bought the former theater from National Amusements in 2002. The group plans to host Broadway plays and musicals, concerts, comedy, family and children's programming and performances by colleges in the restored theater.
At yesterday's reception, representatives from the Hanover Theatre said the theater will be completed by January or February. A schedule of events will be announced within the next six weeks for an abbreviated season to run March through June. After regrouping over the summer, its first full season will open September 2008.
"This majestic theater is much like the Opera House in Boston, and with 2,300 seats it will host world-class performances," said Troy Siebels, executive director of Hanover Theatre. "We plan to be busy 100 nights a year. People will be coming to us in Worcester, instead of us coming to them."
Development group moving
WBDC signs lease deal for Shrewsbury St. office
07/12/07
WORCESTER— The Worcester Business Development Corp. plans to move in October from downtown offices to a newly renovated building on Shrewsbury Street.
The WBDC, a development agency, will move to the third floor of 89 Shrewsbury St., a building owned by Condron Worcester Realty LLC. The ground floor is occupied by the new restaurant Via.
David P. Forsberg, WBDC president, said the WBDC’s lease at 339 Main St. with the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce was expiring. After examining options, the agency chose to take a 10-year lease on 7,100 square feet of space in the former School Department maintenance building.
“We’re excited about being part of what I think is one of the more exciting building restorations that’s taken place in the downtown area,” Mr. Forsberg said.
Also making the move with the WBDC will be the local office of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency and Cardinal Construction, a business that has done work with the WBDC.
P. Kevin Condron, chairman and chief executive officer of The Granite Group Wholesalers LLC of Worcester, said yesterday the second floor of the building has not yet been leased and is being marketed by Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates Inc.
The Worcester chamber is also negotiating a new lease for space, but said in a statement yesterday that it had nothing to announce.
The WBDC has traditionally based its operations in projects it has developed. In recent years it had offices at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park off Plantation Street and later on Waldo Street near polluted “brownfield” sites. Mr. Forsberg said the agency will continue to concentrate on its downtown projects, including the renovation of the Loew’s Poli Palace Theater and Gateway Park.
The move “keeps us in the heart of the action,” Mr. Fors-berg said. “We’re going to stay very, very focused on downtown.”
A Wider Gateway
Ex-Voke building added to redevelopment plan
07/10/07
Gateway Park LLC’s purchase of the former Worcester Vocational High School machine shop, adjacent to property it is already developing, makes perfect sense.
Plans call for razing the existing building, a dilapidated structure in an area that has undergone major redevelopment, including a new hotel. It also will put the parcel on the city tax rolls for the first time in 43 years.
In addition, Lexington Street will be abandoned, enlarging the parcel in order to accommodate a four-story, 80,000-square-foot building and public park.
The developer, a partnership of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Worcester Business Development Corp., has asked the Worcester City Council to allow for both commercial and residential space. The mixed-use model is in keeping with the redevelopment approach advocated for downtown, the Arts District and elsewhere.
The purchase price was set at $1.1 million. However, that will be offset by $615,486 in “remediation credits” to pay the cost of cleaning up asbestos, lead and underground solvents used in the vocational school programs formerly housed there. Brownfields reclamation — finding new, productive uses for once-contaminated property — has played a major and most welcome role in the Gateway Park redevelopment, highlighted by its $40 million, 125-square-foot WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center.
The purchase of the Wheaton Square building promises to be the latest chapter in Gateway’s continuing success story.
Old Voke Building to be Razed
Machine shop bought by Gateway Park LLC
06/30/07
WORCESTER— Gateway Park LLC, a partnership of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the Worcester Business Development Corp., yesterday purchased the onetime machine shop building of the former Worcester Vocational High School at 1 Concord St.
The 55,000-square-foot building had a purchase price of $1.1 million. The sale proceeds, however, will be offset by a $615,486 remediation credit that will fund the cleanup of asbestos, lead paint and underground solvents from the building, which housed the shops for the school’s automotive, HVAC and drafting programs.
The 43-year-old building will be razed this summer and in its place will rise a four-story, 80,000-square-foot building and a public park. Lexington Street, which was behind the building and connected Prescott and Grove streets, will be abandoned and will disappear, said Timothy J. McGourthy, the city’s director of economic development.
A master plan drawn up by Gateway Park LLC called for the building to be for residential use, but an amendment is pending with the City Council that would enable the developers to use the building for commercial purposes as well, Mr. McGourthy said.
Craig L. Blais, executive vice president of the WBDC, said the building will be torn down over the next few months and construction could begin next year on the new building.
The pending amendment to use the building for commercial purposes gives the developers greater flexibility, Mr. Blais said.
“It’s not the most attractive building and it’s right in the middle of the whole area, so we’re very pleased to take control of the property and start to reshape it,” he said.
The three vocational school buildings became surplus when the new Worcester Technical High School opened on Skyline Drive last August.
Gateway Park has been redeveloping the area in recent years, including the $40 million WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at Gateway Park.
The 125,000-square-foot facility will house WPI graduate research programs in chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, biology, biotechnology and biomedical engineering.
Ex-worcester
Firm Scores Big as Large N.E. Hockey Retailer
05/12/07
BERLIN -- William T. Craig admits he’s often confused with former U.S.
Olympic hockey goaltender Jim Craig, who held off the highly favored Soviets in
the U.S. team’s gold medal run at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
But Bill, as he calls himself, has engineered an upset of his own in making the
store he started in Worcester 13 years ago, one of the biggest hockey suppliers
in the country.
Pure Hockey, which opened in 1994 with 900 square feet in Worcester, now has five
stores in New England. Business has been so good the company has outgrown the
19,000 square feet it moved into three years ago on Donald Lynch Boulevard in
Marlboro and is building a 40,000-square-foot store and distribution center a
mile away on Whitney Street.
The new building is being financed with a $4.4 million loan through the U.S. Small
Business Administration, Southbridge Savings Bank and the Worcester Business Development
Corp. Officials said the facility will create 55 new jobs.
Mr. Craig said yesterday he will open the new store next month. The company is
the biggest hockey supplier in the East and third-largest in the country. The
Worcester resident recalled his first store on West Boylston Street in 900 square
feet, including the boiler room, then moving across the street six months later.
“I remember looking around. It was 2,000 square feet and I was thinking, ‘How
am I going to fill it?’ ”
Since then, he has built stores in Danvers, Braintree, Nashua, N.H., and Warwick,
R.I. giving the so-called “big box” stores the equivalent of a hip check. He would
not disclose financial data, but said all his stores have seen double-digit sales
growth over the past few years.
“The market has gone through a huge change,” he said. “We seem to be on the right
wavelength and doing well in sales growth.”
The Weston native dropped out of Babson College to run his first skating supply
business, the Ice House in Wellesley. His experience there showed him there was
an underserved niche market for hockey gear. A last-minute snag kept him from
opening Pure Hockey in Wellesley and he ended up in Worcester.
James P. Lavin, director of lending at WBDC, said financing was provided through
the SBA’s 504 loan program, which provides the same type of long-term, fixed rate
financing that larger companies can obtain.
“It’s a good story. He doesn’t worry about big boxes. He has a niche. It’s a great
product. He’s a smart business person. All the good loan characteristics are there.”
WBDC President David P. Forsberg said the Pure Hockey deal is the largest SBA
loan his agency has been involved in.
“This is a partnership that will further small business,” he said.
Maurice Dube, SBA Massachusetts district director, credited Mr. Craig for investing
in his dream and for working hard to make it happen.
“Bill had a dream and started small,” Mr. Dube said. “He put his blood, sweat
and tears into it. He invested his money in it. It’s everyday heroes like Bill
that make things happen and create jobs.”
Starting Over
Partnerships fuel Worcester’s reconstruction
04/29/07
WORCESTER - The downtown area, which for years bore the effects of urban decay, is undergoing a renaissance of redevelopment and investment that officials and investors hope will turn the urban core into a vibrant destination.
More than $1.3 billion in public and private development is under construction or proposed in the city, with whole blocks of underused or vacant buildings being renovated or razed to make room for housing, retail, office and classroom space.
While the largest project, CitySquare, is a public-private partnership to tear down most of the former outlet mall on Front Street and build $563 million in retail, residential, entertainment, office and medical space, some of the city’s colleges and universities have formed partnerships with the city for economic development.
Armand W. Carriere, executive director of Worcester UniverCity Partnership, cited the city’s nine colleges as being partly responsible for the community remaining viable after manufacturing left the city and urban decay affected the downtown.
“There is a shared vision in this community,” he said at an Urban Land Institute forum last week. “An economically healthy Worcester is in everyone’s best interests.”
He said his organization looks to the colleges to play a vital role as employer, real estate developer and provider of what he termed intellectual capital.
While CitySquare developer Berkeley Investments Inc. of Boston recruits tenants for its buildings, it received its first disbursement of $6.1 million from the city on Thursday in the state’s first District Improvement Financing program. The funds will reimburse Berkeley for relocating tenants of the former outlet mall, engineering, land transfers and design work needed to extend Front Street to Washington Square, the creation of two new streets in the development and a public underground garage.
Barbara Smith-Bacon, vice president and project manager for Berkeley, said that three new tenants will move into a portion of the former mall by the end of June.
“For the larger project we are still working on committing tenants,” she said. “Currently, we’re half done with improvements. The Registry of Deeds will be in the former food court by the end of June. Two retail tenants will be on Front Street, in the space where Media Play used to be.
“Those will be some things that people will see.”
She declined to name the two retail entities.
Ms. Smith-Bacon said she is hopeful that demolition of the vacant mall will begin later this year. Once that occurs, one of the first new tenants will be Portland, Ore.-based Hollywood Theaters, which will build a 43,000-square-foot, 12-screen cinema complex
The theater complex will be built in the southeast corner of the old mall, behind Notre Dame Church, near the Union Station transportation hub and Interstate 290.
Timothy J. McGourthy, director of economic development for the city, said the CitySquare project, as well as renovations done nearby at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, will contribute to the downtown eventually being a destination for shopping and entertainment.
During a panel discussion last week at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Mr. McGourthy said Worcester’s colleges, location, low housing costs and transportation will help continue the trend of economic development.
“This is the only city in the commonwealth to have a DIF,” he said, referring to the vehicle for disbursement of funds to the CitySquare developer. Those funds are later repaid to the city in the form of taxes.
“Worcester’s neighborhoods are diverse. We have arts and three professional sports teams. All these things create a great quality of life.”
Mr. McGourthy said more interest from outside investors will be needed to keep momentum in downtown economic development.
“An important piece in downtown revitalization is seeing more interest in outside folks in buying downtown and investing,” he said. “Worcester is seeing a turnover in its land that it has not seen in a long time. It’s a sign that change is coming, that Worcester is seen as a place to invest, and that there’s money to be made here.”
Just to the north of Main Street, Worcester Polytechnic Institute has partnered with the Worcester Business Development Corp. to create Gateway Park, a 55-acre development of brownfields land, former factory sites and existing buildings.
Craig L. Blais, executive vice president of the WBDC, said Gateway Park is creating affordable lab space for bioengineering and biotech companies. WPI is creating incubator space for start-up companies that will expand the city’s tax base, he added. When fully developed, the park will contribute an estimated $1.4 million in annual taxes, he said.
So far, 800,000 square feet of space has been permitted under the city’s master plan and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, he said. The $43 million WPI Life Science and Bioengineering Center, comprising 125,000 square feet, and housing research programs and biotech incubators, will be complete in two to three weeks, Mr. Blais said.
A nearby $11 million parking garage will open on May 1, he added.
WBDC also announced last week that it is in discussion with a Boston developer to potentially build a 120,000-square-foot to 140,000-square-foot building at the corner of Lincoln and Concord streets.
Meanwhile, construction is proceeding on schedule to renovate the former Loew’s theater at Southbridge and Main streets into the 2,300-seat Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts. The theater is slated to open in January 2008. WBDC announced last week that it would make a $250,000 donation to the theater in memory of Alexander E. Drapos, a Worcester lawyer who was chairman of the WBDC when he died last July.
The $180 million Worcester Trial Courts building is under construction at 201-249 Main St., and scheduled to open in the fall. The six-story, 427,500-square-foot courthouse will have 26 rooms, housing Superior, District, Probate, Juvenile and Housing courts.
The Economic Development Finance Corp. of Dedham began renovations two months ago on the former David Burwick Furniture Co. building at the corner of Main and Madison streets, and has purchased the other three buildings on the block comprising Madison, Main and Beacon streets and Ionic Avenue.
That urban village-type development, slated for completion in fall 2008, will have 185 mixed-income condominium and apartment units in four buildings and at least 5,000 square feet of commercial space.
The $32 million Gardner-Kilby-Hammond project, launched in 2000 with assistance from Clark University, will revitalize a portion of Main South with 80 units of new or renovated housing for people with low and moderate incomes. Several dozen homes have been completed and sold, including many on formerly vacant, polluted lots. Clark University was also among the private-sector participants in the new Boys & Girls Club that opened its $9 million facility at 65 Tainter St. last year.
Gateway
Park Wins $2.5M Grant
Tech center parking funds a breakthrough for project
Telegram & Gazette/ Andi Esposito Business Editor
|
03/30/05
WORCESTER - The developers of the city's Gateway Park have won a $2.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to help build parking for the proposed Prescott Street Technology Center and future buildings.
"This is a very important breakthrough for Gateway Park because it provides the lion's share of the funding for the parking strategy for the research park," said David P. Forsberg, president of Worcester Business Development Corp. "It is the critical step in allowing us to go forward with the first building, which we hope to have an announcement on later this spring.
Announced yesterday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Rep James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, the grant was made to the WBDC, managing partners of the Gateway Park LLC, the city of Worcester, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which is a partner with WBDC in Gateway Park and will be the anchor tenant in the first building.
The 680- space surface and deck parking will be located in Gateway Park behind 60 and 68 Prescott St. on a 5.1 care EDA district, much of it on the former site of New England Planting Co., one of the most difficult brownstone parcels to clean up, Mr. Foresburg said.
" We hope to start work later this spring, by the end of May or early June, at the same time prep work for the building would begin," said Mr. Foresburg. Initially the hope had been to complete the work with private funds, "but we hit the wall on the economics of the construction parking, and thankfully the EDA was very receptive to our application."
Mr. McGovern, who encouraged the EDA to consider the grant, has also helped obtain $1.8 million in federal highway funds for improvements to the north Main Street access to Gateway Park, and helped steer $7 million in Defense Department funds to the Center for Untethered Medicine at WPI's Bioengineering Institute, which will be housed in the first building.
With the EDA grant, Mr. McGovern said, "all the pieces are coming together. It's a great collaboration between the WBDC, WPI and the federal government, and we are moving forward with a great vision that will create jobs and industries Worcester can be proud of."
The ambitious Gateway Park project, a 55-acre redevelopment of brownfields land, fomer sites and existing buildings at the north end of downtown Worcester, has so far assembled and cleaned up 11 acres, and completed selective demolition. Initial funding for the project came from the WBDC and WPI, Flagship Bank and the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, which also guaranteed part of the borrowing, Mr. Foresburg said.
Police
Software Company Moves to CenTech
Secure information
Telegram & Gazette/ Jim Bodor
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12/06/03
GRAFTON -- A software business launched nearly 20 years ago in the founder's Grafton home began another chapter in its history yesterday with the unveiling of its new 16,000-square-foot headquarters in CenTech Industrial Park.
Information Management Corp. makes software used by police, fire and sheriff departm |
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