'American Hustle' building to begin leasing 55 apartments
Photo | Grant Welker
The Central Building in Worcester is being turned into 55 new apartments.
Construction crews are racing to finish new apartments at the Central Building in downtown Worcester so they can be leased starting June 15.
The long-underutilized building at 332 Main St. is being reborn with 55 new apartments and plans for a string of new storefronts.
The Central Building — known for where a few scenes of “American Hustle” were filmed — will have a mix of apartments set to market rates and those set aside under income restrictions.
The development of the 92-year-old building, a $26-million project two years in the making, includes studios through three-bedroom apartments, with prices starting at $1,279.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Thursday.
Among the amenities are a resident lounge, a game room, shared work space, a fitness room, a yoga studio and a dog spa, a room with oversized sinks where residents can rinse off their pets.
Out on Main Street, storefronts are being completed, with at least one tenant lined up. Strawberries Early Learning Center will move in, with other space suited for a restaurant, said Kathryn Krock, a principal with Central Building Development Group of Worcester.
Most units at 332 Main will be restricted to residents who qualify under affordability guidelines, including some for households at or below 50% of the area median income. Roughly half will be affordable for those at or below 60% of the area median income. Five units will be rented at market rates.
Most of the development costs have been covered by public subsidies. The state agency MassHousing and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development contributed funding and loans totaling around $18 million, and the city gave $1.3 million in what are called HOME funds, money which the city gets from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for affordable housing and other efforts.
These new apartments will add to a number of residential projects to hit the market in recent years.
The development 145 Front at City Square opened last year with market-rate 365 units on part of the former Galleria mall site. Construction began this spring on a 117-unit development at the former Worcester County Courthouse. All but six of those units will be income-restricted, with state subsidies covering $36 million of the $53-million project.
Just outside downtown, 225 market-rate units are envisioned as part of a new mixed-use development next to a ballpark for the Pawtucket Red Sox on Madison Street that is expected to open in 2021. About a block away, 48 market-rate units are being built at Kelley Square Lofts, a project that will include a ground-floor public market. Kelley Square Lofts is advertising occupancy beginning Aug. 1.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments