More hotel rooms lift Worcester's downtown area hopes
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With three new hotels under development in and around downtown, Worcester is on track to boost its hotel room capacity about 50 percent by 2017.
The projects will diversify the city's hotel offerings, giving Worcester its first 4-star hotel since 2010, as well as a long-term-stay facility that will serve Central Massachusetts companies doing business globally.
Taken together, these hotels will add about 360 rooms, boosting the numbers to the level Worcester had before it lost the downtown Crowne Plaza in 2010. While Worcester would still be far behind nearby cities Providence, Hartford and Springfield, the projects will help the city close the gap.
The added rooms will also open up the city to more events whose organizers had dismissed Worcester due to a lack of hotel rooms, according to Sandy Dunn, general manager of the DCU Center.
“We are selling not only a venue or a facility, but room blocks and room nights,” added Christina Andreoli, executive director of Destination Worcester, which helps promote tourism in and around the city. “A lot of our conventions and meetings we bring in are upwards of 2,500 people … the addition of new hotels would be a boon.”
Events that do come to the area are often forced to seek additional rooms in surrounding communities, said Dunn, who calls these missed opportunities. Each person attending an event in the city spends, on average, $96, according to a study by Holy Cross Professor Victor Matheson that was commissioned by Destination Worcester, while the same person who stays overnight spends, on average, $215.
Developer Colwen Management is working on two of the projects: a 100-room Hampton Inn at Gateway Park and a 150-room Renaissance by Marriot at CitySquare, the 4-star hotel. Construction on the Hampton Inn experienced delays due to an unexpected electrical line running through the site, according to Worcester's chief development officer, Michael Traynor. But the project is still on schedule for completion in the late winter of 2016, he added.
Construction of an underground parking garage that will serve as the foundation of the Renaissance by Marriot is expected to be completed in October. Hotel construction should begin in January with a spring 2017 opening, according to Traynor. This hotel will raise the level of amenities available in the city, making it more attractive to a higher echelon of businesses and conventions, Dunn said.
Washington Square target: Sept. construction start
Meanwhile, construction of the long-term-stay hotel in Washington Square, announced in November by developer First Bristol Corp., should begin before September, according to Dennis Murphy, a spokesman for First Bristol. The hotel will have at least 110 rooms and target contractors and executives who work at companies throughout Central Massachusetts, according to Tim Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Final plans for the hotel have been submitted to the city, Traynor said. The design meets the city's expectations, with an “urban” architecture that will blend the new, nearby developments downtown with the iconic Union Station on the other side of the square.
“It's exactly what we asked them to do,” Traynor said. “It was very important to make sure we had something that was compatible with Union Station but also tied into the development at CitySquare.”
New buildings are also a visible reminder of Worcester's economic momentum, which is what draws developers such as First Bristol to the area, Murray said.
“The city's projected economic growth over the decade ahead will make it one of the commonwealth's most attractive destinations for business, tourism, higher education and residents alike,” Murphy said.
Interest in the city continues to grow, said Traynor, who said he has been fielding more calls from developers looking at various projects throughout the city.
Worcester recently cleared the way for 84 units of student housing in the Osgood Bradley building behind Union Station, and earlier this month announced an agreement to sell the former courthouse in Lincoln Square for $1.2 million. The intended developer, Brady Sullivan Properties, plans to turn the historic structure into 115 apartments and 3,000 square feet of retail space.
An increase in downtown housing and hotels, as well as in surrounding areas, will lead to a more spread-out, walkable city center, Traynor said. And the added foot traffic will help businesses such as restaurants and shops grow organically, he noted.
“Downtown doesn't just mean Main Street to the DCU Center,” Traynor said. “It really becomes very accessible once you see all this development building.”
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