Worcester Infill and Developments

[Tallguy]

So it's been confirmed, nothing noteworthy. It always used to amaze me that Worcester was somehow New England's "2nd biggest" city. Then I compared the square miles against some of the cities behind it and it all made sense.

I don't think I'd put Worcester in my Top 10 New England cities. If I included all of Boston' inner suburbs separately, I'm not sure it would be a Top 10 Massachusetts city. My closest comparison is Durham, North Carolina. There's no reason to ever set foot in either place again.

That must be why the population grew 15% in the 10 years

 

[Tallguy]

Disagrees in what way? What are you talking about? Did Worcester build a bunch of interesting things I have missed in the last 20 years, or did they build a bunch of crap while managing to retain a few of the buildings that were worth saving? So your big argument becomes they didn't tear down everything, so that's good enough?

Again, if you are still stuck in the rehab phase because half the stock in your city is falling apart, that's all well and good for revitalization. It also puts you in your place, a city that just isn't "there" yet and may never be. If not for Springfield, Lawrence, Fall River, and Brockton you'd be like the Flint of Massachusetts. At least in your favor, your city is a solid step up from Lawrence, Fall River, Brockton, and possibly Springfield. Massachusetts scrapes the bottom of the barrel in enough places that Worcester gets to look better by comparison.



Just took a look at this. Seems like a very small area to be honest. Like once around the block and that's the whole Canal District as far as I can tell.

This brings me to another thing I noticed about Worcester, is that it has small pockets of cool stuff but they end very quickly. If it was all consolidated it would be a somewhat solid urban area. Instead it's so fractured that the whole does not add up to the sum of its parts.

Where I am, I could probably walk down 500 miles of safe/different interconnected streets for an essentially infinite amount of unique walks. The downtown areas and local squares flow into each other, rather than feeling totally separated like in Worcester. Worcester's downtown has fairly clear boundaries where it just doesn't run directly into the next urban area. I could maybe get 2 good miles in before I saw everything there was to see. For the peripheral areas discussed, how long does it take to walk the entirety of them, 5-10 minutes? That's just so boring. It reminds me of the southern cities the way they abruptly die 1 street beyond downtown.

I'm sure I'll be back in Worcester at some point within the next few years, just because I really enjoy driving out into the hinterlands once in a while. It seems like downtown will offer the same blah experience it always has, so I'll have to take those extra 5 minutes to check out the other areas being touted. But again, the whole point goes back to downtown. It's stale, nothing large is going up to visually alter the balance in any way, and it's slowly but surely losing some really nice churches. It's not vibrant, and it's not visually growing even if improvements are being made to existing stock.

So stay in Boston. We don't need your validation. Typical Bostonian snobbery

 

[SlothofDespond]

The OMG WORCESTER IS SO AWFUL stuff feels straight out of 1999. What an exciting throwback.

For the longest time it was sort of a running joke how Worcester was just about to change for the better. It's become a different and better place over the past decade though. There's always Boston for people who want that too.

In any event, back on track: the whole downtown, canal district, and upper Shrewsbury St. area are already signficantly different than a decade ago. When some of the new housing opens it over the next couple years it's going to be particularly transformative for those areas. More people, more street presence, more living urban vibe. They already feel busier.

 

[ctsketch]

The OMG WORCESTER IS SO AWFUL stuff feels straight out of 1999. What an exciting throwback.

For the longest time it was sort of a running joke how Worcester was just about to change for the better. It's become a different and better place over the past decade though. There's always Boston for people who want that too.

In any event, back on track: the whole downtown, canal district, and upper Shrewsbury St. area are already signficantly different than a decade ago. When some of the new housing opens it over the next couple years it's going to be particularly transformative for those areas. More people, more street presence, more living urban vibe. They already feel busier.

I only moved here in 2017 and its already busier and significantly different than then

 

[DZH22]

So stay in Boston. We don't need your validation. Typical Bostonian snobbery

Awww booo hoo, you're so butthurt you had to chime in 2 weeks after the initial conversation ended! It's a good thing you don't need my validation because you'd probably be waiting for the rest of your life. Imagine resurrecting a comment 2 weeks later just to pretend it didn't bother you?

Forget Boston. I was in Portland this weekend and saw more people downtown in one day than I have probably seen in every trip I have ever taken to Worcester combined. 1/3 the size but with 30x the vitality.

 

[Tallguy]

The OMG WORCESTER IS SO AWFUL stuff feels straight out of 1999. What an exciting throwback.

For the longest time it was sort of a running joke how Worcester was just about to change for the better. It's become a different and better place over the past decade though. There's always Boston for people who want that too.

In any event, back on track: the whole downtown, canal district, and upper Shrewsbury St. area are already signficantly different than a decade ago. When some of the new housing opens it over the next couple years it's going to be particularly transformative for those areas. More people, more street presence, more living urban vibe. They already feel busier.

Worcester....the Paris of the Eighties!

 

[Tallguy]

Awww booo hoo, you're so butthurt you had to chime in 2 weeks after the initial conversation ended! It's a good thing you don't need my validation because you'd probably be waiting for the rest of your life. Imagine resurrecting a comment 2 weeks later just to pretend it didn't bother you?

Forget Boston. I was in Portland this weekend and saw more people downtown in one day than I have probably seen in every trip I have ever taken to Worcester combined. 1/3 the size but with 30x the vitality.

Gnats bother me the same way you do. I can get great food for decent prices without paying a fortune for parking. My kid can afford to buy a house. And I can take a train to Boston for 12 bucks. And we have Turtle Boy.

 

[Tallguy]

Gnats bother me the same way you do. I can get great food for decent prices without paying a fortune for parking. My kid can afford to buy a house. And I can take a train to Boston for 12 bucks. And we have Turtle Boy.

And keep going to Portland and bother them

 

[DZH22]

Gnats bother me the same way you do. I can get great food for decent prices without paying a fortune for parking. My kid can afford to buy a house. And I can take a train to Boston for 12 bucks. And we have Turtle Boy.

I enjoy Boston (Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline) 4-5 times a week and almost never pay for parking. I might pay $2-3 every few months. You pay as much or more to take the train once as I pay to park there all year. I'm doing fine. Buy your house, there's a pretty clear reason it's a lot more affordable. Also, I will keep going to Portland and spending a ton of $$$ while I am there. That city is actually worthy of the repeat visits.

 

[Tallguy]

I enjoy Boston (Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline) 4-5 times a week and almost never pay for parking. I might pay $2-3 every few months. You pay as much or more to take the train once as I pay to park there all year. I'm doing fine. Buy your house, there's a pretty clear reason it's a lot more affordable. Also, I will keep going to Portland and spending a ton of $$$ while I am there. That city is actually worthy of the repeat visits.

I lived in Boston for 10+ yrs. If you never pay for parking, I want some of what you are smoking. Worcester is Boston before it got so full of itself.

 

[DZH22]

If you never pay for parking, I want some of what you are smoking.

Only the best will do. See all the pictures I post here? I. Never. Pay. For. Parking.

 

[ctsketch]

Only the best will do. See all the pictures I post here? I. Never. Pay. For. Parking.

I only get away with that on Sundays

 

[Seanflynn78]

How can anyone afford to live in Boston? I lived in Woburn, MA for 5 years- 2005-2010 and I had affordable rent for the time ($500 a month), but had two roomates. This was a deal at the time for rent and I couldn't get any closer to Boston without paying nearly double for rent. Yes I get it, Woburn is only 10 miles from Downtown crossing so in other cities, Woburn would actually be a section of Boston. Wormtown is a great city, warts and all. In general, Worcester is more affordable and has reliable public transportation to Boston. I just wish they would hurry up and fix 290 so it doesn't bottle neck once you hit the Worcester line when you are heading towards south/west.

 

[ctsketch]

How can anyone afford to live in Boston? I lived in Woburn, MA for 5 years- 2005-2010 and I had affordable rent for the time ($500 a month), but had two roomates. This was a deal at the time for rent and I couldn't get any closer to Boston without paying nearly double for rent. Yes I get it, Woburn is only 10 miles from Downtown crossing so in other cities, Woburn would actually be a section of Boston. Wormtown is a great city, warts and all. In general, Worcester is more affordable and has reliable public transportation to Boston. I just wish they would hurry up and fix 290 so it doesn't bottle neck once you hit the Worcester line when you are heading towards south/west.

DZH22 doesn't care about affordability.

 

[DZH22]

DZH22 doesn't care about affordability.

Dumb thing to say. I also currently live in Woburn because I can't afford to live in downtown Boston. But again, there's a reason it costs less over there. You have to live in Worcester!

I can go to over 40 different skyline views of Boston, but would run out of ones of Worcester by what, the 3rd or 4th view? (most people don't care but on this site, more of us do) I can park and walk for miles on end in all sorts of different neighborhoods across Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline, and like I said before we're talking 5 times a week and always parking for free. I get better walks out of Somerville side streets than I have ever had attempting to explore the entirety of downtown Worcester. Since urban walks are essentially the key ingredient in my favorite hobby I need a lot more than "affordable Worcester" has to offer.

 

[cubalibre]

That’s great. Here are two small developments in Worcester:

Mission Chapel approved for $4.4M apartment complex project

The Worcester Planning Board on Wednesday approved the renovation of the historic Mission Chapel on Summer Street, which will consist of the former church’s conversion into a seven-unit apartment complex.

www.wbjournal.com

1. Mission Chapel construction has started

Source: myself

Interior:

Source: T&G

 

[cubalibre]

34 Washington Square is slated to become a Home2 Suites by Hilton, from the same developer that built the Homewood Suites across the street. I can’t find any recent news or renderings about this project, but they have delivered additional construction materials.

 

[393b40]

34 Washington Square is slated to become a Home2 Suites by Hilton, from the same developer that built the Homewood Suites across the street. I can’t find any recent news or renderings about this project, but they have delivered additional construction materials.

Okay if we want to talk about mediocre architecture and Worcester, the Homewood Suites right across from the beautiful train station and pretty cool Bradley-Osgood/EGE building is a crime and giving this developer another go is... bad.

This is one of the pinnacle intersections/circles in the city and deserved better from an architecture standpoint.

 

[ctsketch]

Okay if we want to talk about mediocre architecture and Worcester, the Homewood Suites right across from the beautiful train station and pretty cool Bradley-Osgood/EGE building is a crime and giving this developer another go is... bad.

This is one of the pinnacle intersections/circles in the city and deserved better from an architecture standpoint.

yes I hope they got with a home 2 suites design that actually fits the curve of the square and has some good material like these

and not a bland box like

 

[393b40]

yes I hope they got with a home 2 suites design that actually fits the curve of the square and has some good material like these

First would be perfect. I do wish Worcester pushed back more or design especially in its main core areas.