Digging in on Worcester center
Officials break ground on long-delayed CitySquare project, hope to revive city's core
By Bob Clark - Globe Correspondent / September 14, 2010
WORCESTER - Gloomy skies could not chill the sense of triumph here yesterday, as public officials and local business leaders broke ground on the long-stalled CitySquare development project, once ballyhooed as the largest private development in Massachusetts history outside Boston.
"What begins today will reshape Worcester for decades to come," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy D. Murray in a speech to the crowd of hundreds of onlookers. Murray helped conceive the project, which occupies much of Worcester's downtown core, in 2004, when he was the city's mayor.
It was "an incredibly important day," added Governor Deval Patrick. "This is what happens when you blend optimism and effort, hope, and hard work." The highlight of the ceremony was when Murray threw a switch, and workers punched holes through a wall of one of the hulking parking garages along Foster Street.
The first phase of the multi-use project includes construction of an eight-story office building that will house the Worcester offices of insurer Unum Group. A portion of the existing garages and the glass-roofed concourse of the former Worcester Common Outlets Mall will be demolished. A new street, called Mercantile Street, will be built, linking Worcester's Foster and Front streets.
In the first phase of CitySquare, private investment will total $110 million. The state is chipping in $11 million to support public infrastructure improvements and demolition, in addition to an earlier $25 million grant. The city of Worcester is providing another $11 million in bond financing.
The mall, which opened amid great fanfare as the Worcester Center Galleria in the early 1970s, has been widely criticized by some here for contributing to the decay of the city's urban core. More than 20 acres of Worcester's commercial district were razed to make way for the mall, and its curved bank of parking garages cut off the city's downtown from its East Side working- and middle-class neighborhoods.
Worcester officials said the initial phase of the project will create 300 construction jobs and 50 permanent full-time jobs.
The original plans for CitySquare included more than 600 housing units and more than 1 million square feet of office and retail space, at a cost of $563 million. The developer was Young Park of Berkeley Investments, who more recently built the condo project known as FP3 in Boston's Fort Point Channel. Park said yesterday that as the economy soured, Berkeley was unable to attract investors, and it never broke ground on CitySquare.
In January, Hanover Insurance Group, which is based in Worcester, agreed to buy nearly 11 acres of the 21-acre CitySquare parcel, plus options for more, for $5 million. The sale was completed in June.
"We believe in the CitySquare project and we believe in the future of Worcester," said Frederick H. Eppinger, Hanover chief executive, during the ceremony yesterday. Hanover is investing $75 million in the first phase of the project, with much of the remainder being spent by Unum for the fit-out of its new building.
Hanover has hired Leggat McCall Properties of Boston as developer. Michael O'Brien, Worcester city manager, said yesterday that Leggat McCall and local officials are reevaluating plans for the next phase of the project, and should have some proposals by late fall. O'Brien said the original vision for CitySquare — a mix of housing, office, and retail space — remains intact.
Berkeley still owns the remainder of the original CitySquare site, and says it will recast and renovate some 250,000 square feet of office and retail space. "We're going to continue to be actively involved in the project," Park said yesterday. "We are very excited and glad that Hanover has stepped up."
Yesterday's event doubled as something of a campaign appearance for Patrick and Murray, who stressed how the public and private sectors have worked together to get CitySquare moving.