‘Still the best thing in Worcester’: A decade of growth transformed the Canal District; Plans for 2021, beyond build off that momentum
By Michael Bonner | mbonner@masslive.com
A decade isn’t long in a city like Worcester, which began its history under British rule.
But within a few square blocks of the Canal District, the last decade created a lifetime of change.
Turn back the clock to 2011 and the landscape of the city’s most bustling neighborhoods is unrecognizable.
Kelley Square - without a peanut - remains one of the state’s most dangerous intersections. A vacant dirt lot sits where the Worcester Public Market now welcomes hundreds of people daily. North, up Green Street, Crompton Collective, Birchtree Bread, Smokestack Urban Barbecue are yet calling the District home.
Worcester Canal District transformation
The transformation within the Canal District over the last decade included the addition of the Worcester Public Market.
The Pawtucket Red Sox remain happy in Rhode Island. A few blocks northeast, the Presmet/GKN Sinter Metals industrial complex is surrounded by a chain-linked fence and large tanks, years before the Fidelity Bank Ice Arena welcomed the youth hockey players.
Work had only started to transform a furniture store into the Canal Lofts.
A dental supply store occupies the space where igloos now light up outside Lock50.
Worcester Canal District transformation
The transformation within the Canal District included the addition of Lock50 on Harding Street.
Grease, oil and auto supplies filled the building now known for sweets and sprinkles at the Queen’s Cups. The examples are far from a comprehensive list documenting the evolution from an industrial neighborhood to one that rivals any in New England.
The development isn’t complete, though.
Plans in 2021 include small updates like new vendors in the Worcester Public Market to monumental moments like opening Polar Park in April.
The blueprints for the District already extend into 2022 with candlepin bowling and housing. A neighborhood that’s experienced an overhaul during the last decade is actually just getting started.
“I was drawn to this neighborhood because it had potential to be a walkable shopping neighborhood, which Worcester was lacking then unlike Northampton, Portsmouth New Hampshire, The South End.,” said Amy Lynn Chase, who opened Crompton Collective in 2012. “I remember one of my main goals in 2012 when we opened was to someday have enough businesses to do a holiday stroll, which The Canal District has done for a few years now.”
A global pandemic hasn’t hindered the momentum. Even when restaurants were restricted to 25% capacity, couples waited outside for seating as temperatures flirted with dipping below freezing.
Parked cars lined the streets and filled the parking lots.
“I think we’re still the best thing in Worcester,” said Allen Fletcher, who developed the Worcester Public Market.
The reputation is only expected to grow in 2021 and beyond.
The last decade brought shops and restaurants. Another phase in transformation of the area will bring housing. Construction is already underway for housing in the vacant building next to the Canal Lofts. South of Madison Street and across from Polar Park, the first of two housing developments is expected to break ground soon. Plans also call for a hotel near the ballpark.
Transformation of Canal District in Worcester
The transformation over the last decade within the Canal District included the development of Polar Park.
The largest parcel in the District, Table Talk Pies’ bakery, begins its transition to housing in early 2022. Boston Capital Development has plans for at least one six-story, 80-unit affordable housing building.
“I think the developers are so attracted to this area because they see all the hard work that we have put in and how quickly it added value,” Chase said. “As long as these brands have Worcester’s best interest at heart I think it will only grow our culture down here of being a welcoming and unique destination for New England.”
The development by the multifamily housing investment company is only the first of a multiphase project. For perspective, Fletcher said the Table Talk Pies site is six times larger than the Worcester Public Market, which raises some fears for the development.
“If it is literally a housing project, it doesn’t help,” Fletcher said. “It supplies us with some people. Mazel tov. But look at the area around any housing tower in Worcester. Look at the area around them, what do they accomplish? Usually not much.”
Fletcher hopes the housing conglomerate will activate the street-level space - much like the Worcester Public Market - with retail space.
Boston Capital won’t be able to start the project until Table Talk Pies moves into its new home in the Main South neighborhood by the end of 2021. Plans are still somewhat fluid for the first phase of the project beyond the 80 housing units.
Managing Director for Boston Capital Develop Rich Mazzocchi told Masslive last month that the four-acre lot contains more retail opportunities to complement the Worcester Public Market and the Crompton Building.
“We think the Green Street location particularly in the existing building sets up really well for any number of retail uses,” Mazzocchi said. “Once we all bounce back and the vaccine rolls out, I think that’s when we’ll really focus on specific uses and tenants.”
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Despite appearing to be the new out-of-town kid on the block, Boston Capital has hired Dan Benoit, a Worcester native and architect, to design the $36 million first phase of the project.
Officials in Worcester connected Boston Capital with Table Talk Pies, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said.
“They’re big and they have a good reputation that precedes that. We knew that reputation,” Augustus said. “We knew we had a known entity that would listen to feedback from the city. We talked to them quite a bit that this can’t be a suburban kind of design building. This is going to be in one of the most conspicuous locations in the city and it needs to fit in with the area it’s in. It needs to be pleasing to the aesthetic sensibility of the Canal District.”
Augustus sees the Canal District further evolving into an urban hub where millions of people migrate to the neighborhood annually from other neighborhoods in the city but from surrounding towns as well.
Some of the population will be permanent with hundreds of units coming online within the next year or two.
Others will spend the day in the neighborhood grabbing a beer at Wachusett Brewing Co. or Bay State Brewing Co., taking in a ballgame at Polar Park or knocking down bowling pins. Visiting the neighborhood will be met with similar expectations as visits to Boston or other cities highlighting walkability rather than parking proximity.
“You go to Beacon Hill, you can’t just pull up to a townhouse and find a parking space,” Augustus said. “But there are other benefits to being there like there’s a lot to walk to. You don’t really need a car or need it as often.”
Worcester Canal District transformation
The transformation within the Canal District from 2011 to the current site of the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Arena.
Boston Capital has already announced, as part of its first-phase development, that it will resurrect Spruce Street as a connection from Green Street to Washington Street.
“That’s one thing we want to have happen at the Table Talk Pies site is to reestablish that walkability,” Fletcher said. “Instead of it being this big obtuse site that you can’t cross.”
The District’s proximity to downtown and Union Station breeds confidence within the city manager that cars will be seen as a luxury rather than a necessity within the neighborhood. The ecosystem from Green Street to Water Street allows for access to food, entertainment, transportation and work opportunities within a 10-minute walk
“I really do think if you’re talking two years or three years, you’re going to get people who don’t want cars or they’re going to use zip cars or shared cars,” Augustus said. “...That wouldn’t work in West Tatnuck. That wouldn’t work on James Street. It wouldn’t work everywhere in the city.”
The demand to live in the District has generated some of the highest rents in the city. According to Zumper, the median cost for rent of a one-bedroom apartment in Worcester in February is $1,300. The median cost of a two-bedroom is $1,450.
According to apartments.com, only a handful of units are available within the Canal District. Rent runs from about $1,600 for a one-bedroom to $2,000 for two bedrooms.
Those figures fall in line with median rent costs in Boston suburbs like Chelsea and Melrose, according to Zumper.
“When the city puts money into these projects, we are usually requiring an affordability component to it as a way to make sure that the market may be demanding $2,000, $2,200 in downtown Worcester, but we know there’s a lot of people who can’t afford that,” Augustus said.
Grass covers the outfield at Polar Park
The diamond at Polar Park looks like a baseball field with grass in the outfield, three bases, a pitchers mound and home plate.
A healthy community is not an exclusive community.
The future of the Canal District includes a candlepin bowling alley, housing, a professional baseball stadium, a hotel and more.
Unlike the previous 10 years, though, the growth over the next decade is meant to work with features already existing in the neighborhood from crepes to bubble tea, two breweries, a pair of arenas, a butcher’s shop and countless eateries.
Augustus, though, believes any growth should hinge on prospering diversity.
“You don’t want all people in one particular income group [in one section of the city]. You want that mix,” Augustus said. “That mix is really what makes that good, healthy, vibrant neighborhood. I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”