Worcester Infill and Developments

6-Story Mixed-Use Project Planned Near Polar Park​

“Polar Views LLC has filed plans for the redevelopment of 39 Lamartine Street in Worcester. The property last contained a warehouse and office building that was unoccupied for years and was recently razed and removed. Plans call for a 6-story building with 2 two levels of parking, residential amenities, nearly 1500 square feet of commercial retail space, and 36 residential units….”

39 lamartine


https://www.bldup.com/posts/6-story-mixed-use-project-planned-near-polar-park
 
How many of those parking lots are due to urban renewal, or decay elimination (a la Detroit)?
 
RandomWalk said:
How many of those parking lots are due to urban renewal, or decay elimination (a la Detroit)?
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Most of that is due to Wyman Gordon(sp?) Moving to grafton. They owned the Madison Properties lot and they still own many of the vacant lots along Lamartine
 
Worcester is such a nice city, and it has so much potential. If I were 30 years younger, I would move there. Train access to Boston, good restaurants, somewhat reasonable housing, 1 gay bar. LOL
 
My alma mater is stirring things up - WPI wants to buy the two hotels in Gateway Park to convert them to student housing, and the local leadership isn't too happy about that: https://www.telegram.com/story/business/2024/08/19/wpi-hotels-student-housing/74859058007/

They question why WPI didn't buy or lease some of the former Becker properties to use, which are about the same distance from the central campus. The answer is fairly obvious but unspoken - Gateway Park is a gleaming new-ish construction in an area somewhat isolated from the rest of the city, whereas Becker was right in the heart of a neighborhood with something of a reputation. I think I stand with the city here, especially considering how comparatively few hotels there are near downtown. But, then again, I also think WPI has kind of ruined what I loved about it in expanding so much. There's more than double the undergrads now compared to my freshman year in 2003, when the small size was part of what made it so attractive.
 
Arenacale said:
My alma mater is stirring things up - WPI wants to buy the two hotels in Gateway Park to convert them to student housing, and the local leadership isn't too happy about that: https://www.telegram.com/story/business/2024/08/19/wpi-hotels-student-housing/74859058007/

They question why WPI didn't buy or lease some of the former Becker properties to use, which are about the same distance from the central campus. The answer is fairly obvious but unspoken - Gateway Park is a gleaming new-ish construction in an area somewhat isolated from the rest of the city, whereas Becker was right in the heart of a neighborhood with something of a reputation. I think I stand with the city here, especially considering how comparatively few hotels there are near downtown. But, then again, I also think WPI has kind of ruined what I loved about it in expanding so much. There's more than double the undergrads now compared to my freshman year in 2003, when the small size was part of what made it so attractive.
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Losing the tax base from a commercial hotel seems to be the sticky point. Can't city council(?) request a change in city tax law or add a special assessment to make up for the loss? Or request the school to pay taxes? It's strange that this issue of taxes hasn't been brought up with Northeastern taking over the Sheraton and Midtown hotels for dormitories.
 
dhawkins said:
Losing the tax base from a commercial hotel seems to be the sticky point. Can't city council(?) request a change in city tax law or add a special assessment to make up for the loss? Or request the school to pay taxes? It's strange that this issue of taxes hasn't been brought up with Northeastern taking over the Sheraton and Midtown hotels for dormitories.
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Yeah good luck with that proposal
 
I
dhawkins said:
Losing the tax base from a commercial hotel seems to be the sticky point. Can't city council(?) request a change in city tax law or add a special assessment to make up for the loss? Or request the school to pay taxes? It's strange that this issue of taxes hasn't been brought up with Northeastern taking over the Sheraton and Midtown hotels for dormitories.
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I forgot to mention it's state tax law, Worcester can't charge them
 
Pretty good indication that business in these hotels wasn’t booming, otherwise why would they look to sell?
 
WPI rented ten former Becker properties with nine being used for housing.

WPI has doubled in size in recent decades. It just welcomed 1300 new freshmen to campus this past weekend. It very much needs more housing to accommodate its undergrad enrollment that now exceeds 5k. The location of the two hotels is right in between already existing academic buildings and a dorm for the school as the campus has been expanding there for some time. WPI development reinvigorated this area.

It is rather odd that there was little local outrage when MCPHS bought up the former hotel at Lincoln Square and numerous other buildings around downtown.
 
New England Born & Raised said:
It is rather odd that there was little local outrage when MCPHS bought up the former hotel at Lincoln Square and numerous other buildings around downtown.
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That's ancient history though... The Crown Plaza hotel was converted like what... 15 years ago? Maybe more? Worcester was in a very different place back then.
 
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