Worcester Infill and Developments

[WormtownNative]

Possible redesign of Mill St. is being studied.

City Hall Notebook: Configuation changes possible for Mill Street

By Nick Kotsopoulos

The Department of Public Works and Parks will do a comprehensive engineering study to determine what, if any, configuration changes might be beneficial for Mill Street, before moving forward with its reconstruction as part of an ongoing overhaul of the street’s infrastructure.

Commissioner Paul J. Moosey said the study will look at the geometry of the roadway around the Coes Pond Beach area, with the goal of adding on-street parking there.

Other items that will be reviewed include potential drainage and storm water improvements that affect the entire Tatnuck watershed, lane configuration changes or reductions, bicycle accommodations and safety improvements.
Also, pavement and subsurface conditions will be reviewed to determine the resurfacing methods that are most appropriate for the existing conditions.
Mr. Moosey said the engineering study is expected to be completed later this year.

Upon its completion, a report will be provided to the city manager and City Council, with recommendations, costs and schedules, as well as providing an opportunity for public comment.

Mill Street is a major road in the west side of the city, going from Webster Square to Tatnuck Square. From Airport Drive to the southern end of Coes Reservoir, Mill Street is a four-lane divided road.

To make Coes Pond more conducive for recreational uses, one idea that had been broached in the past has been to realign Mill Street by eliminating the sharp curve that hugs the shoreline at the southern end of the pond.

Some contend that relocating the roadway away from the water would create a much-needed green space to connect Coes Beach with the multi-generational, universally accessible park and playground planned for the former Coes Knife Co. property on Mill Street.

FULL ARTICLE

 

[WormtownNative]

I'm just going to leave this here....

Worcester housing prices struggle in a slow recovery since 2011

By Anqi Zhang
Special to the Telegram & Gazette

Posted Jan. 31, 2016 at 7:49 AM
Updated at 10:46 PM

WORCESTER - When David J. Parent purchased a single-family two-bedroom house in Worcester in November 2006, he paid $195,000 for it.

Now after a series of roof replacements, bath and kitchen remodels, new electrical wiring and the passage of nine years, his father's real estate agency, Parent Prudential Associates, sold the house for $184,900 – $10,100 less than the purchase price of the house.

“He won’t be even able to sell it for the original price. It’s worth less than it was 10 years ago,” said his father, David G. Parent, owner of Prudential Parent Associates in Worcester, said before a purchase and sale agreement was reached.

The house at 27 Uncatena Ave., which was listed for sale for $194,900 on Oct. 29, underwent a series of price adjustments, dropping to $189,900 and then to $184,900, which is the price it sold for earlier this month.

“This house is a typical situation of what is happening in Worcester right now,” David G. Parent said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

According to The Warren Group, a company that publishes real estate information for New England, prices for single-family homes in Worcester have declined as much as 22.5 percent from 2005 to 2015.

Although the Parents’ situation and data of the past 10 years has painted a bleak picture of Worcester’s housing market, recent numbers seem to show that the market is gradually recovering.

Median prices for single-family homes in Worcester in 2013 was $179,900, compared to $160,200 the year before. For 2014, the median price was $182,250, while increased in 2015 to $190,000. Prices have gradually improved since the low-water mark of $155,000 in 2011 for single-family homes in Worcester. But the median price at the end of 2015 was still $55,000 below the median price paid in 2005.

Prices for a single-family home in Worcester have been growing at least 2.9 percent each year starting from 2011, with median prices in 2015 up 22.6 percent from 2011 to 2015.

The increase, while notable, has not pushed Worcester’s single-family home prices back to their peak of 2005, when the city's median sales price was $245,000.

Mr. Parent echoed the statistics by noting the change in the housing markets. “It’s been slowly getting better since a few years ago, with prices starting to turn around at 2012,” he said.

Jamie Lange, managing director at the weRENTcentralmass agency, who has been in the real estate business for nine years, said 2015 has been one of the best years yet.

“I’ve had no problem seeing houses in Worcester sell for over marketing price,"he said. "Of course, prices for major cities like Boston will be higher because of location, but (prices for) real estate in Worcester are increasing.”

The latest real estate statistics show several communities in Massachusetts have been hitting the $1 million median price mark for single-family homes.

According to The Warren Group, the 2014 median price for a single-family home in Boston’s Back Bay saw a whopping 158.8 percent increase, to $7.3 million, compared with 10 years before.

“The closer to Boston, the higher the prices. As you get to places like Springfield, prices will decrease,” Mr. Parent said. “The thing with Worcester is that the town has no water, no river flowing through.”

FULL ARTICLE

 

[Scalziand]

“The thing with Worcester is that the town has no water, no river flowing through.”

I can think of one way to fix that...

..daylight the Blackstone Canal.

 

[FK4]

Quote:
“The thing with Worcester is that the town has no water, no river flowing through.”

I can think of one way to fix that...

The lack of water has little to do with Worcester's problems. Daylighting the canal would certainly be nice, but I doubt the return on investment would be worthwhile and it would do nothing to improve the overall problems the city faces.

They need a strong mayor and an abolition of the yahoos on the city council, to bring the city govt into the 20th (20th, not 21st) century, where people fluorinate their water and allow needle exchange programs in cities (like W) where heroin use is rampant... instead of arresting outreach workers who provide them... And plant trees instead of chopping them down...

 

[WormtownNative]

The lack of water has little to do with Worcester's problems. Daylighting the canal would certainly be nice, but I doubt the return on investment would be worthwhile and it would do nothing to improve the overall problems the city faces.

They need a strong mayor and an abolition of the yahoos on the city council, to bring the city govt into the 20th (20th, not 21st) century, where people fluorinate their water and allow needle exchange programs in cities (like W) where heroin use is rampant... instead of arresting outreach workers who provide them... And plant trees instead of chopping them down...

You're starting to make sense. Careful, WPD may want a word with you.

 

[WormtownNative]

On a more serious note:

• The ReadyMED on Shrewsbury St. is starting to come together - not entirely happy that over half of that parcel will be a parking lot, but I don't make those decisions.
• Construction equipment is in place for site prep for the hotel at Washington Sq. (the old KJ Barrons is already being demolished)
• Hampton Inn Hotel on Prescott is still in progress - frame is in place and interior work is underway.
• Osgood-Bradley building is progressing at breakneck speed - already leasing units for summer of this year.
• Last, but not least, the WRTA garage is up, and like the Hampton Inn, interior work is underway.

 

[WormtownNative]

Just revisited the city's website - holy crap they've added alot more info.

Urban Design Guidelines
Streetscape Policy
Downtown Worcester Urban Renewal Plan Presentation (GREAT AERIALS of the old compared to new)
Washington Square Redevelopment Strategy
The Beacon/Federal Neighborhood Revitalization Plan and Project Workbook (150+ pages)
Lastly, an overview of where the City wants Downtown to go: Smart City, Smart Choice

And going through the latest WRA agenda (since their minutes are non-existent) - thought this was interesting:

6. Discussion with P & W Railroad – Request that P & W Clean the Underside of
Their RR Bridges

 

[FK4]

Would be good to see some pics of developments out there if anyone can take some...

The Washington sq project/s are crucial. Would next like to see some safety measures around the northbound offramp onto shrewsbury st... I recall it being a wide ramp with only a yield sign.

 

[WormtownNative]

Would be good to see some pics of developments out there if anyone can take some...

The Washington sq project/s are crucial. Would next like to see some safety measures around the northbound offramp onto shrewsbury st... I recall it being a wide ramp with only a yield sign.

Will do what I can. Some projects are just excavators and other equipment moving around. But some of the completed ones......I'll see what I can do.

 

[WormtownNative]

MassLive's Michael D. Kane just posted these an hour ago. Photos of progress on the Washington Square hotel project:

 

[WormtownNative]

Progress on Clark's new Alumni & Student Engagement building. Photos from MassLive Worcester

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From the T&G, ground has officially been broken on the Washington Square hotel:

Groundbreaking set for Monday at Washington Square hotel site in Worcester

By Aaron Nicodemus

WORCESTER - The Fall River developer of a $21 million hotel project in Washington Square said he was drawn to the project because Worcester's "business environment has made Worcester a very attractive destination to build a project like this."

James Karam, president and chief executive officer of First Bristol Corp., said there is a "pent-up demand" for hotel rooms in the city of Worcester, and that "city officials have made a concerted effort to address that shortfall."

The groundbreaking for the Homewood Suites hotel is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Monday at its construction site, 212 Summer St.

The 120-room Homewood Suites is at Washington Square, in the shadow of Interstate 290 and at the rotary's entrance to Shrewsbury Street. Demolition of the existing buildings on the site, which include the former KJ Baarons liquor store and a shooting range, has already begun. Before the project could begin, the developer had to purchase an oddly-shaped parcel owned by the Worcester Redevelopment Authority that was a leftover piece of the rotary, after it was reconstructed. The developer purchased the WRA land for $150,000.

Homewood Suites by Hilton "is an upscale all-suite brand of residential-style hotels targeting travelers who are on the road for a few nights or longer," according to the brand's Facebook page. The hotels feature "spacious studio, one- and/or two-bedroom suites with fully equipped kitchens" and are intended for extended stays.

Mr. Karam said that he expects the hotel's clients will include "everyone from business travelers to convention attendees, research fellows and parents visiting their kids at college."

The hotel will have 115 parking spaces, a swimming pool, Jacuzzi spa and a fitness center. The hotel is expected to employ 35 full- and part-time workers and will generate more than $350,000 in property taxes and local hotel tax revenues. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2017.

FULL ARTICLE

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Lastly, MCPHS is moving its Acupuncture school to Worcester in a vacant building they currently own on Norwich St.

Acupuncture school, 120 positions coming to downtown Worcester
Sam Bonacci

MCPHS University will bring the New England School of Acupuncture (NESA) from Newton to downtown Worcester and along with it over 120 employees as well as 200 students and numerous clients.

The school will move to the MCPHS downtown campus, according to a statement from University President Charles F. Monahan Jr. The move would bring the school's numerous students and clients downtown.

"We are focusing on downtown Worcester as the place for the future growth of MCPHS University. We are also excited to play a part in the revitalization of downtown Worcester," Monahan said.

Renovations to the building at 19 Norwich Street are scheduled to be completed by July 2016 in order to receive students, faculty, and staff for the Fall 2016 semester.

FULL ARTICLE

 

[FK4]

Re the school, excellent news... also the clark building looks good - streetwall for main...

 

[found5dollar]

Worcester makes U.S. News' 100 best places to live

http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20160302/NEWS01/160309991/1002

 

[WormtownNative]

WOAH

The Grid District joins downtown Worcester's renaissance

By Michael D. Kane | mkane@masslive.com
Follow on Twitter
on March 22, 2016 at 9:16 AM, updated March 22, 2016 at 9:28 AM

WORCESTER – Across from the sounds of heavy equipment at City Square and away from the high profile announcements at Mercantile Center, more subtle changes are coming to fruition in downtown Worcester.

As renovations recently finished to the storefronts along Franklin and Portland streets, the brown paper came down and up went window wraps, a portent of things to come on the other side of the common.

Joseph Donovan, vice president of MG2, the ownership group that owns roughly six acres in downtown Worcester. Marketed as "The Grid District," the properties include storefronts along Franklin and Portland streets.

"We are pleased to have connected with several restaurant operators who will occupy retail spaces along Franklin and Portland Streets," Donovan said via email.

MG2 Group is a full services real estate firm based in Quincy that roughly six acres worth of properties in downtown Worcester. The company's website notes its properties hold 510 apartments and 50,000 square feet of retail space.

FULL ARTICLE

I had no idea these guys owned most of Franklin St. (and all of Portland)

Basic website, but it details their plans good enough:

http://thegriddistrict.com/

Google Streetview of Area

 

[WormtownNative]

A few updates: (been busy with work and a few other things)

Greendale Mall's value plummets 77%, foreclosure possible

SAM BONACCI

The value of the Greendale Mall property in Worcester has plummeted by 77 percent in the last 10 years to $14.7 million, setting up a possible foreclosure sale.

The Greendale Mall has been in financial trouble, with only an 80-percent occupancy rate, leading to the mall not bringing enough profits in to cover the $45 million commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loan on the property, according to Trepp, a data provider for those in the commercial real estate. That resulted in the loan being foreclosed on and sent out to special servicer C-III Asset Management in October of last year.

That company recently revalued the Greendale Mall property, which is the collateral behind the loan, down to $14.7 million as part of the process to give the involved parties and any future buyer an idea of how much the property is worth. The property was valued at $65 million in 2006, according to Trepp.

Simon Property Group is the commercial real estate company that owns and operates the Greendale Mall along with the Auburn Mall and Solomon Pond Mall in Marlborough. The company did not respond to requests for comments.

This revaluation devalues the $45 million loan down to $12.31 million were C-III Asset Management to sell the loan. For now the asset company will work with Simon to try and get more tenants into the mall and bring the value up, according to Trepp, but a foreclosure could also be on the horizon for the mall property.

FULL ARTICLE

If the Greendale Mall shuts its doors, that brings a substantial area in the northern area of the city up for redevelopment grabs.

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Former Creative Playthings building on Belmont Street has been sold; to be renovated and reused as office space for an insurance agency

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Update on the progress of the old Higgins Armory Museum

Armor may be gone, but lords and ladies will return to Higgins Armory

By Cyrus Moulton
Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER - You used to be able to go to the John Woodman Higgins Armory to find a model of your knight in shining armor. Now you can go there to marry him.

“I don’t know one bride who wouldn’t want to throw their bouquet off that balcony,” Jennifer Bachour, property manager at the John W. Higgins Armory, LLC, said Friday while showing off the building’s Great Hall.

John W. Higgins, the owner of the Worcester Pressed Steel Co., opened the five-story steel-and-glass building on Barber Avenue in the city’s Greendale neighborhood in 1931 to display his collection of armor. The company went out of business decades later; but the museum remained until Dec. 2013 when its trustees transferred the collection to the Worcester Art Museum and closed the building’s doors.

New Hampshire developer Brian J. Thibeault bought the building - which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - and a nearby 5-acre property for $850,000 in Dec. 2014, becoming owner of a building with a two-story medieval great hall, a 120-seat auditorium, and a children’s “Quest Room” with a larger-than-life, armored cartoon horse.

“It’s an asset; people want to go there,” Mr. Thibeault said, when asked whether such unusual amenities were a challenge or benefit to the building. “People will say, I once went on a school trip when I was ten, I mean we’re talking people who are 50 and 60 years old.”

Ms. Bachour, who grew up in and still lives in the neighborhood, agreed. She recalled seeing her now husband, Joe Breault, running around the museum when the two visited on school field trips. Mr. Breault remembered getting a plastic sword from the museum gift shop - which is now available as office or reception space.

“It was a beautiful museum, it’s still a beautiful building; we’ve got to celebrate it for what it is,” Ms. Bachour said. “To be part of bringing it back to life, it’s not just a job; I look at it as more as an honor to be a part of this.”

The building's 42,000 square feet includes three floors of business space available for monthly rental, the auditorium and orientation gallery for arts performances and award events and corporate meetings or trainings. There is a large parking lot that Ms. Bachour envisioned hosting car shows, farmers markets and more. Plus, the steel-and-glass construction means, as Bachour joked, “everybody has a window seat.”

Mr. Thibeault also noted that the building - because of its recent history as a museum - didn’t require significant upgrades in terms of security, fire safety and accessibility. He envisioned the space as a community building - similar to projects he has completed at the iconic Pawtucket Armory in Rhode Island - which soon will hold the city’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade after-party - and a school turned arts center in Concord, N.H.

“We’ve kind of already been schooled and are doing great things there (in Pawtucket), and want to continue with something like that with Worcester,” Mr. Thibeault said. “We want the community to use the building again and have it function as a community building.

FULL ARTICLE

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Higgins Armory moving from knights to firewalls

By Cyrus Moulton
Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER - It used to be defended by knights. But times change, and the first company to lease space at the John W. Higgins Armory provides security in a more 21st century mode.

“It’s set up almost like a castle motif ... and it fits what we are, a cyber offense, cyber defense company,” said Joseph Provost, chief executive officer of Syncstate.

The Higgins Armory, built in 1931 on Barber Avenue in Worcester's Greendale neighborhood, held and displayed John W. Higgins' armor collection and the company he led, Worcester Pressed Steel Co.

Syncstate works with clients - from government entities to small nanotech startups to large manufacturers seeking to protect intellectual property - to evaluate their network security as well as monitor threats posed by hackers.
Essentially, they spy on spies.

“The bottom line is that is what it comes down to,” Mr. Provost said.

The company, which currently operates from a strip mall in West Boylston, has about three full-time workers and seven part-time workers working remotely throughout the country, Mr. Provost said. But he noted the company is looking to expand and, after seeing a recent article in the Telegram & Gazette about the Higgins, he visited the former museum and signed a 1-year lease, planning to move in at the beginning of May.

Mr. Provost retired to Holden after a 20+ year career in the US Army took him to jobs with the National Security Agency, MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and Fort Devens. He said the company will rent roughly 850 square feet of office space on the first floor of the former museum with room for about five people, a sound studio and access to the museum’s auditorium for technical training.

“We were so excited when we met Joe, and we are pleased to have him for our first tenant,” said Jennifer Bachour, property manager of John W. Higgins Armory LLC, the company that owns and operates the armory building. “It is just fitting that he is here being a security company and all. We look forward to watching his business grow here at Higgins.”

The company will bring in telecommunications and Internet infrastructure, but uses cloud-based services and a network so does not need to install rooms and rooms of servers, Mr. Provost said. They also like to stay “distributed” throughout the nation, “so if someone is trying to look at who we are and how big we are, it keeps them guessing, so to say,” he noted.

FULL ARTICLE

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Fiber broadband network expanding in Worcester

The city of Worcester is in the process of completing an extension of its already vast data fiber network, with the goal of making it easier for businesses to access high-speed Internet connections.

An extension of the fiber network to more than 50 schools in the city is in progress, and a 1.2-mile construction of lines out to the airport is also underway, according to Lightower, the Boxborough fiber owner in charge of these projects.This extension of Worcester's already vast fiber network is designed to lead to cheaper and faster Internet connectivity, which will help the city attract businesses in its target industries like technology and manufacturing. The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce commissioned a study last year to outline these benefits and is pushing city officials to take advantage of their head start in digital infrastructure.

"This is part of the economic development infrastructure, the same way roads and water and sewer and electricity are. Every business needs this," said Timothy P. Murray, chamber president and CEO. "To the extent we can have fiber throughout the city, we can make the city more competitive."

Much of Worcester's already vast fiber network includes fiber loops laid in the area in the late 1990s by the company that is now Lightower, according to the chamber's report, and one of the challenges going forward will be providing fast Internet at prices small businesses can handle.

The cost of the installation of these fiber networks is borne entirely by the companies that will operate them, like Lightower and Spectrum Business.

The city of Worcester and other property owners simply partner with these providers to get the network infrastructure installed at these facilities.

Lightower spends $600-$700 million annually updating its fiber networks while Spectrum spends $2 billion a year.

FULL ARTICLE

As much as I enjoy my 60 down, 5 up, I would much rather have true fiber speeds (aka gigabit), so any fiber expansion is greatly appreciated.

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100-room Worcester hotel to open

Sam Bonacci

The 100-room Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton will officially open Friday, boosting Worcester's hotel room count while providing another re-use of land in the Gateway Park area of the city.

The new hotel at 65 Prescott St. features an indoor saltwater pool, shuttle service, and 651 square foot meeting room. Each guestroom and suite features efficient work space, mini-refrigerators and a 39-inch LED flat-screen TV. The new hotel was built by developer Colwen Management that is currently constructing a 4-star, 168-room Renaissance by Marriott at CitySquare in downtown Worcester.

FULL ARTICLE

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Restaurant group nabs Bull Mansion for $480K

The historic Bull Mansion at 55 Pearl St. in Worcester has been purchased for $480,000 with the owners planning to open a restaurant in the location close to downtown.

New England Dream Center sold the 14,600-square-foot property to the local firm Bull Mansion, LLC, whose ownership group includes Victoria Mariano, who owns and operates Electric Haze and Spiritual Haze hookah smoking lounges in Worcester.

The facility, which was originally built in 1876, last served as a restaurant before it closed in 2010 and was sold in a foreclosure auction. The new owners plan to open a new restaurant in the location, according to Worcester commercial real estate firm Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates, Inc. which represented the sellers.

FULL ARTICLE

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CitySquare developers seek to raze former Notre Dame Church in Worcester

By Mark Sullivan
Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER - The wrecking ball is primed to swing on the landmark Notre Dame des Canadiens Church, if and when the city gives permission.

Developers of the multi million-dollar CitySquare project said they would apply to the Worcester Building Department Friday for a permit to demolish the enormous empty edifice at 5 Salem Square that stands, deteriorating, in the footprint of their downtown development.

“It is with a great deal of reluctance that we find ourselves in this position,” said Donald W. Birch, executive vice president of Leggat McCall Properties, the Boston firm overseeing the CitySquare development.

“We’ve always said from the very beginning that our preference has been to find an appropriate adaptive reuse of the church. After five-plus years of trying, we don’t have a viable plan.”

Before a demolition permit can be issued, the city's Historical Commission must weigh in. The commission has the power to order a year’s delay, but the developers say they will seek a waiver allowing them to proceed with the teardown sooner rather than later.

The former Notre Dame des Canadiens Church, once the grandest of four French Catholic churches in Worcester, sits vacant on the edge of the $565 million CitySquare development that city officials hope will revitalize the urban center through an influx of 2 million square feet of commercial, retail, medical, residential and hotel space.

The church was closed in 2007 by the Diocese of Worcester, which three years later sold the building for $875,000 to an arm of the Hanover Insurance Group that is developing CitySquare.

The CitySquare project is in full swing. Foundation work is underway on a $90 million, 370-unit apartment complex developed by Roseland Property Co.

Construction is due to begin on a $36 million, 170-room Marriott hotel next to the church building. Landscaping is about to start above a new 550-space underground parking garage across Front Street.

“We have an active development going on around us, where we’ve got a residential project coming out of the ground (and) the hotel project due to start,” Mr. Birch said. “What we don’t want to do is become a burden to those projects.”

If the Notre Dame building is still standing when the apartments and hotel are finished it could prove a hardship, impairing their marketing, he said.

Both the hotel and apartments are slated to open by spring 2017. A rendering of CitySquare shows guest rooms on the south side of the Marriott would face directly into the side of the church, wedged awkwardly next door.

It long has been unclear what was to be done with a cathedral-size church occupying a footprint of 9,000 square feet on more than an acre in the development.

Mr. Birch said conversations were held with three different hotel developers, but each concluded that converting the building to hotel use was not financially viable.

He said three ideas for repurposing the building as a performing arts center also were studied, and likewise judged not feasible. The most ambitious, to convert the church building to a 500-seat theater, would have cost more than the $31 million spent to renovate the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in 2008, he said.

Simply to restore the church to a state in which it could be considered for reuse would be an expensive proposition, he said, since the building would need to be brought up to code structurally while requiring entirely new mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems and utilities. He estimated that work alone could run more than $8 million.

Mr. Birch was asked if any of the reuse alternatives included saving a portion of the church’s facade as an element in otherwise new construction. He said such an idea had not been considered. “To try to do something like that becomes very expensive in and of itself, depending on how much of a facade you’re trying to preserve,” he said.

“Now you’re conducting a surgical demolition procedure that is trying to preserve an element of the church. It creates a more expensive demolition process. And then the new structure that you build that would employ that salvaged component would be that much more expensive because of all the additional work involved.”

FULL ARTICLE

 

[WormtownNative]

Lastly, the 2 way redesign for Harding St. (aka the covering for the Blackstone Canal) is underway.

Two-way redesign for Harding Street gets support in Worcester's Canal District

By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
Telegram & Gazette Staff

WORCESTER - As the street that actually put the "canal" in the Canal District, Harding Street, with its one-way layout, has been criticized as an impediment to redevelopment that has caught on elsewhere in the Green Island neighborhood.

New plans for a two-way redesign of Harding Street from Winter Street to Kelley Square, along with streetscape improvements, received a warm reception at a public hearing Tuesday night at the offices of the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission offices at Union Station.

Brian Brosnan, a project manager with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, the firm working on the project for the city, gave an overview of the new design.

Originally, the plan was to make improvements to Harding Street while keeping it one-way from Winter Street to Kelley Square. But at a 2014 hearing, residents and business owners urged the city and the state to reconsider and open it up to two-way traffic.

Mr. Brosnan said the design calls for about 1,400 linear feet of Harding Street to be repaved and widened to accommodate bike lanes in both directions, accessible sidewalks, and metered, on-street parking. Street lighting would mimic the lighting installed in recent years elsewhere in the neighborhood, and instead of brick accents at the edge of the sidewalk, blue striping will signify the route of the old Blackstone Canal, which runs underneath Harding Street toward Millbury. Some blue post-type lights, similar to structures outside Mezcal Cantina on Major Taylor Boulevard, would be placed at various points along the stretch, Mr. Brosnan said.

He said the intersections at Harrison and Winter streets would become four-way stops, each with three crosswalks.

John Giangregorio, a Canal District business owner and member of the Canal District Alliance, praised the proposed redesign as a great example of state and federal dollars being used toward local revitalization efforts. State officials said the total estimated cost of the project is $1.6 million; the state was able to procure $750,000 for the project. Mr. Brosnan said once all the approvals and contracts are completed, the project could be completed by spring 2018.

Michael Kennedy of the Center for Living and Working uses a wheelchair and said the Harding Street improvements will be welcome. He said individuals with disabilities would be able to move around as well as they can in other parts of the district.

Most other speakers commended the two-way proposal, but took issue with some aspects, most notably the lack of street trees.

FULL ARTICLE

 

[found5dollar]

I really hope they don't tear down Notre Dame des Canadiens. I'm all for development but this building is significant for so many reasons in Worcester. Reuse of church spaces is always a challenge, but that is not an excuse for tearing this down.

 

[itchy]

It's also a bit of a sick joke that the CitySquare developer is claiming that Notre Dame des Canadiens is falling apart and, despite the developer's deep desire to save it, there's little to be done.

Total. Bull. S***.

Notre Dame has been out of service for all of 8 years. It appears to be in excellent condition. In cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, there are dozens of churches that have been out of service for decades and can be (and, occasionally, are) saved - a good case in point being St. Boniface in Chicago which was decommissioned in something like the mid-80s.

The fact is, developers are able to push around weak-willed politicians desperate for any investment in depressed cities like Worcester. They'll tear it down, put in a parking lot and a one-story Dollar Tree that looks like - pardon my French - total effing crap, is an insult to urbanity, and is objectively bad for the city. But low-brow politicians thirsty for any investment in an economically underperforming city tend to make horrible decisions that are recognized as such in the medium term, at least, if not at the time.

Is there much local concern/outcry? Seems in a normal, civically engaged place there should be; and it also seems like that's the only thing that would stop what the developer would obviously, for their own narrow, financial interests, love to do.

Hope Worcester's citizens get loud on this, and quickly; otherwise it's likely to be another case of "one entering the city like a god ... the other scuttling in like a rat." ... And the people of Worcester will have only themselves to blame.

 

[393b40]

It's also a bit of a sick joke that the CitySquare developer is claiming that Notre Dame des Canadiens is falling apart and, despite the developer's deep desire to save it, there's little to be done.

Total. Bull. S***.

Notre Dame has been out of service for all of 8 years. It appears to be in excellent condition. In cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, there are dozens of churches that have been out of service for decades and can be (and, occasionally, are) saved - a good case in point being St. Boniface in Chicago which was decommissioned in something like the mid-80s.

The fact is, developers are able to push around weak-willed politicians desperate for any investment in depressed cities like Worcester. They'll tear it down, put in a parking lot and a one-story Dollar Tree that looks like - pardon my French - total effing crap, is an insult to urbanity, and is objectively bad for the city. But low-brow politicians thirsty for any investment in an economically underperforming city tend to make horrible decisions that are recognized as such in the medium term, at least, if not at the time.

Is there much local concern/outcry? Seems in a normal, civically engaged place there should be; and it also seems like that's the only thing that would stop what the developer would obviously, for their own narrow, financial interests, love to do.

Hope Worcester's citizens get loud on this, and quickly; otherwise it's likely to be another case of "one entering the city like a god ... the other scuttling in like a rat." ... And the people of Worcester will have only themselves to blame.

While I agree with you that Worcester politicians are weak and don't any sense of vision or ability to execute on a well-defined plan I won't agree that the church should be saved.

It's in a terrible location from a land-utilization perspective and is a total dead zone street-interaction wise. There's already enough dead-zones in downtown Worcester that it doesn't need anymore (Don't get me started on the fucking street wall running alongside the new cancer research building).

 

[SlothofDespond]

It's also a bit of a sick joke that the CitySquare developer is claiming that Notre Dame des Canadiens is falling apart and, despite the developer's deep desire to save it, there's little to be done.

Total. Bull. S***.

Notre Dame has been out of service for all of 8 years. It appears to be in excellent condition. In cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, there are dozens of churches that have been out of service for decades and can be (and, occasionally, are) saved - a good case in point being St. Boniface in Chicago which was decommissioned in something like the mid-80s.

The fact is, developers are able to push around weak-willed politicians desperate for any investment in depressed cities like Worcester. They'll tear it down, put in a parking lot and a one-story Dollar Tree that looks like - pardon my French - total effing crap, is an insult to urbanity, and is objectively bad for the city. But low-brow politicians thirsty for any investment in an economically underperforming city tend to make horrible decisions that are recognized as such in the medium term, at least, if not at the time.

Is there much local concern/outcry? Seems in a normal, civically engaged place there should be; and it also seems like that's the only thing that would stop what the developer would obviously, for their own narrow, financial interests, love to do.

Hope Worcester's citizens get loud on this, and quickly; otherwise it's likely to be another case of "one entering the city like a god ... the other scuttling in like a rat." ... And the people of Worcester will have only themselves to blame.

Why would there be outrage? Only a few blocks away Mount Carmel is actually still in use (by a dwindling congregation), has its interior and windows intact, and is going to close and likely be torn down due to the rapidly deteriorating condition of the exterior. Few are chirping about it despite ample coverage in the T&G. Even former parishioners I know aren't willing to do more than shrug.

A special interest group like Preservation Worcester is going to have to make an effort to save Notre Dame des Canadiens. But with $8 million in repairs needed to bring it back to use as even just a church again efforts may be hopeless. I don't think it's in the best location for the city either--it's awkwardly buried behind 90 Front Street and with downtown heating up again (including the block across the street) it is absolutely creating a dead zone.

Saving something like the Union Congregation Church on Chestnut Street is one thing but that is a better structure by miles. I'm not sure I agree about the importance or value of this one.