Old Worcester County Courthouse at Lincoln Square

CDubs

CDubs

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I was walking in Worcester this weekend and noticed that the old Worcester County Courthouse will soon be up for auction. It's nearby the Worcester Art Museum and the seemingly abandoned War Memorial Auditorium. A fine spot for some decent development, hopefully some good will come of this.

Old Worcester Courthouse Goes Up For Auction In January

By Matthew L. Brown

An important piece of the city?s North Main Economic Development Strategy could take its first step toward reality in January when the former Worcester County Courthouse hits the auction block.

A request for qualifications of potential bidders was issued last month and responses are due Dec. 17.

The courthouse complex is considered state surplus property and is under the control of the state Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM).

The auction is scheduled for Jan. 19. In addition to meeting DCAM?s qualification requirements, which include a willingness to spend at least $10 million on the project, bidders must also be ready to cut a check for 10 percent of the purchase price or $50,000, whichever is greater, on the spot.

A minimum bid of $100,000 has been stipulated. The property?s assessed value is about $4.1 million. The main courthouse building is about 110 years old. There?s also a second building constructed sometime in the 1950s.

The property and 10 others are part of the city?s North Main Economic Development Strategy Area as documented in late 2008 in a report drafted by the Worcester office of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. The report notes that ?the cost of adaptive reuse will be high,? in the $225-per-square-foot range, or about $47 million. Federal and state historic tax credits could offset as much as 40 percent of the cost, however.

But the money is just the beginning of the challenges and obstacles facing any developer with the stomach to take on the 180,000-square-foot building.
Strategy Session

The North Main strategy report recommends that the old courthouse be developed as 211,000 square feet of office space, retail space and parking, and calls the property ?a key element in the revitalization of Lincoln Square.?

Kevin Flanigan, a DCAM spokesman, said the value of the property to those who would consider bidding on it will drive DCAM?s ability to set it on its way to redevelopment.

?The biggest challenge to development is the economy itself,? said James Glickman, principal with Glickman Kovago & Co., a commercial real estate firm located across Harvard Street from the courthouse.

?It?s a terrific spot. It?s one of the best-located pieces around. I?d love to see someone do something with it, but somebody?s going to have to be pretty creative if they?re going to continue to use that building,? Glickman said.

The complex sits on not quite 4.5 acres on the corner of Main Street and Highland Street (Route 9). It was vacated in 2007 upon completion of the new Worcester County Courthouse on Main Street just to the south.
The Square

The North Main area is enjoying a bit of a construction boom.

The former Worcester Boys Club building at 16 Salisbury St. very nearby attracted two competing developers and is expected to be under construction by the city?s preferred developer, Acorn Management, as 28 units of market-rate housing by the end of the year.

Two former Worcester Vocational School buildings just across the street and next to Worcester Polytechnic Institute?s Gateway Park are in demolition and are being redeveloped by owner New Garden Park Inc. and Winn Development.

Another Lincoln Square property that is part of the North Main strategy is the former Crowne Plaza hotel, which was bought for $16.8 million earlier this year by the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to be used as student housing.

?That speaks to the location,? Glickman said. ?But those are smaller projects? than the courthouse, and are geared almost exclusively toward the residential market.

Mark Shear, president of Berman Auctioneers & Appraisers of Worcester, will conduct the auction of the former courthouse.

Shear said the site could be attractive to developers, schools and others.

?There?s a real excitement and a real interest in building that area into something attractive,? Shear said. ?Someone is going to have a real win-win situation here. This is not a property you see transferred every day.?
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Here's a google map of the area, with the Old County Courthouse in red, and the War Memorial Auditorium in blue.
 
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And now the Memorial Auditorium next door to the County Courthouse will be going up for sale. Good news!

City to seek bids for Auditorium
Front section must be preserved

By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
nkotsopoulos@telegram.com

WORCESTER ? The City Council has given the green light to putting the Worcester Memorial Auditorium up for sale.

By a unanimous vote, the council authorized the transfer of the long underutilized facility from the Memorial Auditorium board of trustees to the city ? an action that had previously been recommended and supported by the auditorium board.

As a result, the city will be able to market the property and solicit requests for proposals for it.

City officials hope to seek bids for the auditorium in February and possibly have a preferred developer selected by June.

Timothy J. McGourthy, the city?s director of economic development, said the city intends to aggressively market the auditorium in an attempt to find a suitable developer, including utilizing the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Mr. McGourthy told the City Council that because Worcester Memorial Auditorium is not designated as a historical landmark, developers will not be required to keep the building as it is. He said a developer could raze a good portion of the building or make modifications to the structure.

But while the auditorium is not considered a ?protected structure,? Mr. McGourthy said it is within a historic area and any major modifications made to the building or plans to raze portions of it would likely require local and state reviews.

He emphasized the one thing the city will insist on, however, is preserving the front portion of the building, which includes the main lobby and Memorial Hall, which has murals depicting Worcester?s wartime history. That is a condition the Memorial Auditorium trustees also called for.

?The RFP will not call for demolition, but it can be done to parts of the building,? he said. ?The front part (of the building), though, must be preserved; that is the wishes of the (Memorial Auditorium board of) trustees.?

Mr. McGourthy said the structure is roughly 200,000 square feet. He said the portion of the building the city wants to see preserved is roughly one-third of that.

Councilor-at-Large Kathleen M. Toomey called the auditorium a ?remarkable piece of architecture.? She said she strongly supports efforts to preserve the front part of the building, which she described as being ?absolutely exquisite,? with the murals in Memorial Hall.

Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes and District 5 Councilor William J. Eddy, meanwhile, said the auditorium parcel in Lincoln Square has significance because of its location.

With the auditorium building, the former courthouse complex and the former Boys Club building all up for redevelopment, Mrs. Lukes said, Lincoln Square has the potential to become one of the most attractive urban intersections in the country.

In conjunction with the disposition of the auditorium, Mr. McGourthy said, the city administration is working with the Off-Street Parking Board to include the sale of the Highland Street Municipal Parking Lot with the auditorium as well.

He said the parking board has been considering selling the lot because its usage has declined measurably since the old courthouse closed.
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This old courthouse
BUILDING, LAND SET FOR AUCTION IN JANUARY

By Lisa Eckelbecker TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
leckelbecker@telegram.com

WORCESTER ? At the northern end of Main Street sits the city's ultimate fixer-upper.

Paint peels from interior walls. Ceiling tiles display the telltale brown stains of past water leaks. In some places, well-meaning but ugly renovations have left old fluorescent bulbs, not sunlight, showing through skylights.

But officials responsible for finding a new use for the former Worcester County courthouse say the 180,000-square-foot complex at Lincoln Square also has its attributes: grand rooms with massive windows, graceful metal work and a certain flexibility.

?It takes vision,? H. Peter Norstrand, deputy commissioner for real estate services for the state Division of Capital Asset Management, said of the challenge ahead for the building.

Largely empty for the past three years, the former courthouse is due to go on the auction block Jan. 19. State officials began escorting potential bidders through the shuttered complex last month.

To bid, interested parties must show they can finance a project of more than $10 million. They must also include architects or firms with experience in historic preservation on their teams. The opportunity, according to the state's description, lies in the chance to ?adaptively reuse? the courthouse.

That's what city officials want, too.

?Bottom line, we think it's a great building, a historic part of that urban fabric that makes up that location, and we want to see someone who has the wherewithal to capture the essence of the building,? said Timothy J. McGourthy, Worcester's director of economic development.

First built in 1843-45, the courthouse is actually two buildings. The 110,000-square-foot granite building facing Main Street is of a Greek Revival design that started with a structure at the southern end of the fa?ade. It underwent additions in 1878 and 1898-99. A 70,000-square-foot annex was built across the rear of the building in the 1950s.

By the end of the 20th century, however, the complex was cramped and dated. Court activities moved down Main Street in 2007 to a new Worcester Trial Courts center. A law library moved out last year.

The long history of the old complex shows in the architecture and decor. The former law library in the older building features metal bookcases with egg-and-dart detailing, and a mezzanine constructed with glass floors.

Honey-toned wood paneling in the annex courtrooms give the newer addition a mid-century ?Mad Men? feel. One of the annex courtrooms still bears fake clocks and a faux FBI medallion from the movie ?Surrogates,? which turned the room into a futuristic office for filming in 2008.

Off courtrooms throughout the complex lie dark holding cells for prisoners and rooms with tattered carpets that once served as judges' chambers. Cobwebs show on desks where court officers formerly observed trials. Old papers still sit in pull-out metal files lining the walls of a room on the top floor of the old building.

The complex is cold now and unlighted. Mark H. Shear, president of Berman Auctioneers & Appraisers, which will run the January auction of the property, hands out flashlights for a tour.

?We do have interest,? Mr. Shear said, though he declined to talk about who has been touring the building.

The market will dictate the redevelopment of the courthouse, according to Mr. Norstrand. That might mean demolishing part of the complex, he said. Mr. McGourthy said some interest in the courthouse has focused on using it for housing or for college, university or cultural uses.

Under the best circumstances, a school would take over the old courthouse, said Deborah F. Packard, executive director of Preservation Worcester, an organization devoted to preserving significant sites and buildings. Maintaining public access to it would also be positive, she said.

?Just maintaining it makes it prohibitive for some people to consider,? Ms. Packard said. ?There's been quite a bit of talk of taking down the most recent addition, and we would not have an issue with that. And that really opens up that property quite a bit. It increases space in the back of the building that someone could use.?

The state has experience selling unused properties for redevelopment. Former state hospitals have become housing. The old Chestnut Hill pumping station in Newton has become the Waterworks Museum.

But the old Worcester courthouse may be the single largest building the state has ever tried to sell. There's no room to think that the auction won't draw bidders, Mr. Norstrand said.

?We can't have that thought enter our minds,? he said. ?There are going to be people who want this property. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.?
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Lincoln Sq. projects ?a priority?

By Nick Kotsopoulos TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
nkotsopoulos@telegram.com

WORCESTER ? City Manager Michael V. O?Brien is asking the City Council to designate the North Main-Lincoln Square area of the downtown as a priority development site.

The three properties Mr. O?Brien wants to include within that priority development site are the former Worcester County Courthouse, Worcester Memorial Auditorium and the Highland Street municipal parking lot.

Under state law, such a designation expedites the permitting process for developer and investors by establishing a 180-day time frame for decisions and approvals to be made.

?In light of our aggressive efforts to redevelop the courthouse and the auditorium, this designation for the North Main area offers developers and investors a powerful incentive to revitalize these important historic buildings as well as the potential to leverage additional assistance and attention from the Commonwealth,? Mr. O?Brien wrote in a report that goes before the City Council tonight.Since the City Council adopted the provisions of state law governing priority development site designation a few years ago, the city has used it for three other areas ? CitySquare, Gateway Park and South Worcester Industrial Park ? incorporating 25 parcels, according to Assistant City Manager Julie A. Jacobson.

She said such a development tool is beneficial in this instance because Lincoln Square is considered an important crossroads in the downtown area.

Within walking distances of the North Main-Lincoln Square area, Ms. Jacobson added, there is already new investment occurring in Gateway Park, CitySquare and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences campus.

The historic Worcester County Courthouse building is owned by the state. The Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance has issued a request for qualifications for the redevelopment of the court complex.

Ms. Jacobson said the request for qualifications is being used to pre-qualify developers to bid for the purchase of the property, at a minimum bid reserve auction scheduled for Jan. 19.

The total courthouse property encompasses 186,352 square feet.

Meanwhile, the City Council last month authorized the city to sell the largely vacant and greatly underutilized Worcester Memorial Auditorium. City officials hope to seek bids for the auditorium in February and possibly have a preferred developer selected by June.

The auditorium property encompasses 105,314 square feet.

Ms. Jacobson pointed out that the city?s North Main Economic Development strategy favors renovations to the building that could accommodate new or relocated creative industries and could prepare the building for additional private revenue generating uses, such as office, research and development space, and housing.

Because Worcester Memorial Auditorium is not designated as a historic landmark, developers will not be required to keep the building as it is. The developer could raze a good portion of it or make modifications to the structure.

But while the auditorium is not considered a ?protected structure,? city officials have said it is within a historic area and any major modifications made to the building or plans to raze portions of it would likely require local and state reviews.

They have also emphasized that the city will insist on preserving the front portion of the building, which includes the main lobby and Memorial Hall, which has murals depicting Worcester?s wartime history.

That is a condition the Worcester Memorial Auditorium board of trustees insisted be included in the request for proposals for the property.

Also, with the closing of the old Worcester County Courthouse and continued vacancy of Worcester Memorial Auditorium, Ms. Jacobson said the Highland Street municipal parking lot has become grossly underutilized.

She said the Off-Street Parking Board has voted to close the 36,974-square-foot parking lot and make it available to the city for disposition.

?It is our anticipation that there is a possibility to market the sale of the auditorium property together with the parking lot property to make the redevelopment more appealing to prospective developers,? Ms. Jacobson said.
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These are great old buildings. Spent alot of time in that courthouse. Very handsome detailing. As for the auditorium, a real 30's gem that was doomed when the Centrum (or whatever it is now called) was built. I remember seeing Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue there in November 1975.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Thunder_Revue

Too bad a university couldn't buy the whole complex.
 
Cool, thanks for the links! These are some great buildings - recently I've been in Worcester a bit, and seen that Lincoln Square is such a fantastic location, with such potential! Let's hope that the developer and Worcester don't squander it! The excellent Armsby Abbey is just a block or so away, too...what this neighborhood needs is some serious foot traffic.
 
Wow, not much developer interest in Worcester. Maybe next year...

Friday, December 31, 2010

With only one bidder, courthouse auction nixed

WORCESTER ? A state agency has canceled an auction for the former Worcester County Courthouse, after only one company submitted documents as a qualified bidder.

Acorn Management Co. of Quincy was the only company to provide documentation to the state Department of Capital Asset Management, which owns the building, according to Martha J. McMahon, legal counsel for DCAM. The deadline for bidders to submit documentation was Dec. 17. The auction had been slated for Jan. 19.

?Since we only got one response, we have canceled the auction,? she said. ?We are evaluating our next steps.?

No one was available for comment at Acorn Management yesterday.

The total courthouse property encompasses 186,352 square feet. The Greek revival-style building was built in 1899 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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this whole area is relay unfortunate, you have the court house, the auditorium and the Voc school. All of which are empty and all of which are beautiful.

In my oppinion, the Courthouse should be turned into and office building, perhaps with an addition, the Voc School should become condos or apartments, and the Auditorium should be sold or given to the Art museum and a tunnel or suspended walkway should be created linking the two buildings. The murals inside it alone are worth it for the museum.
 
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