Are more skyscrapers coming to Worcester?

Peter Dunn, Worcester’s chief development officer, said people are often surprised to learn that Worcester is the second-largest city in New England. “It’s because we don’t have a lot of towers,” he said. “Providence has some. Worcester’s more spread out, low rise.” With housing a top-of-mind concern in urban areas today, developers and city leaders are looking to tall apartment buildings as part of the solution. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, for example, has proposed allowing buildings up to 700 feet tall, or about 70 stories, in parts of Boston’s downtown, largely to provide more housing in the high-cost-of-living city. Of course, Worcester does have some tall buildings. But of the 19 buildings rising 10 stories or more, the newest were built at the start of the 1990s and most date to the 1970s or earlier. “As time went on with some of the issues around costs just kept going up and all of that, it just became less feasible,” Dunn said. One of Worcester’s newest large apartment buildings, The Cove at 85 Green St. overlooking the Polar Park baseball stadium, was originally planned for 13 stories and 300 units. It was ultimately downsized to seven floors and 173 apartments before its 2024 opening, with an American Flatbread candlepin bowling and pizza place on the ground floor. The change was partly a result of timing, said Thomas Keane, a partner with The Cove’s Boston-based developer Churchill James. “Construction prices were rising pretty rapidly when we were going out to bid,” he said. Similarly, The Menkiti Group has pared down plans for a mixed-use complex replacing the Denholm Building at 484-500 Main St., said Mark Rengel, vice president of development at the Washington, D.C. company. Initially proposed in 2023 as two connected 10- and 11-story buildings, the project is now more likely to rise just seven stories, holding about 190 units. The calculus for building a financially successful project is always tricky. Along with investigating construction costs and financing options, Menkiti is seeking subsidies at various levels of government to allow it to meet Worcester’s inclusive zoning requirements for affordable housing and mitigate the environmental impacts of demolishing the Denholm Building. Menkiti, which is working on other residential projects downtown, wants to be part of restoring vibrancy to the area, Rengel said. “One hundred years ago, there was much more residential density in downtown Worcester,” he said. “Everyone that lived downtown supported the restaurants, service industries, offices.” High-rise buildings in city centers are a good way to create needed housing without disturbing wetlands and other natural areas, particularly in an area where land is especially precious, said Dunn. “New England is one of the most densely populated areas in the country,” he said. Taller buildings on the horizon Taller buildings may be increasingly viable. Michael Jacobs, a principal with Worcester brokerage firm NAI Glickman Kovago & Jacobs, said he’s working with three developers who haven’t built in Worcester before but are considering raising towers in the city. They’re still in early stages of investigating possibilities and details remain confidential, but Jacobs said the rate other new developments are leasing up is a hopeful sign the city is an increasingly viable place for that type of project. “It’s everything that’s gone on in Worcester over the past five years,” he said. One concern some developers have is the costs involved in reaching the city’s stretch code for energy efficiency, Jacobs said, but, in general, City officials have been helpful in moving construction forward. “The City’s actually been very bullish on most of the projects I’ve seen go through the permitting process,” he said. The City’s BG-6 zoning, which covers the downtown center and part of the Canal District, allows for square footage six times a parcel’s total area. Hitting that limit would generally mean building a high-rise tower. For developers, the constraint isn’t zoning but the financial difficulties of taller buildings, Dunn said. It’s no coincidence that many modern apartment buildings max out at seven stories. This style, known as 5-over-2, involves five wood-frame stories, typically used for housing, built atop a two-story steel-and-concrete podium structure holding commercial space or a lobby. Going taller requires different construction techniques, usually meaning much more steel is required, as well as more stringent fire safety measures. “That construction is more expensive, and because of that you start to see diminishing returns,” Keane said. Rising rents for luxury apartments like the ones at the Cove could improve incentives for building taller, he said. “I don’t know if that’s tomorrow. I don’t know if that’s 10 years from now,” he said. Bringing down the costs of building up Technical improvements may help with construction of taller buildings. One option is modular construction, in which sections of the building are prefabricated and then assembled on site. That’s the plan for an 11-story mixed-use building with 139 apartments in the works for 17 Pearl St, known as The Pearl. Modular construction represents a way to squeeze a dense development into a small parcel, said Rishi Patel, manager of HHM Cube Properties of Springfield, which is developing The Pearl. An added bonus is the speed of construction. “It allows you to do site work while building boxes at the factory,” he said. “You’re doing more work in parallel rather than series, which allows us to deliver these units much faster to market.” Once the site work is complete and the foundation laid, the developer can simply use cranes to stack the boxes on the site. That reduces the noise and disruption to traffic of the construction process. City officials have been helpful in moving forward with plans for The Pearl, which is tentatively scheduled to break ground in early 2026, said Patel. “It’s exciting to see a municipality that’s welcoming new development,” he said. “Lots of cities say they want development but their actions say something different.” Another factor in siting tall residential buildings is, even though buildings in the BG-6 zone aren’t required to include parking, most potential residents expect to be able to park a car. “That usually is going to necessitate a structured parking garage, which adds a lot of costs,” Dunn said. The Pearl will avoid that issue because it will be located across the street from the renovated Pearl Elm municipal parking garage. HHM will install a lighted crosswalk to make it easier for residents to park there. Menkiti’s new Main Street building will have below-grade parking on site for about a third of the units, plus an adjacent parcel with about 120 spaces, Rengel said. The hope is that many residents will walk to work, recreational opportunities, and public transit. “At the same time,” he added, “We recognize some of the challenges of living in Worcester, with winters and snow.” Still, like other developers, Rengel said the city is rapidly improving its attractiveness and walkability in ways that are likely to make denser living, and taller buildings, more feasible. “We’re at the infancy,” he said.