Bring on the residential units
Two downtown residential projects making news this month in Worcester – one from a Boston-based developer, the other from a New York City firm – are at near opposite ends of the development spectrum, but show how the future of real estate in the city is taking shape.
Trinity Financial is nearly complete on its $53-million redevelopment of the former Worcester County Courthouse into 117 residential units, including all but six being set aside for affordable housing. The construction of the ambitious project called Courthouse Lofts started in 2019 and is looking to open in phases this fall after only a few minor delays from its original June target date, which is a monumental achievement given the pandemic, as well as the unpredictable nature of major renovation work in historic spaces.
The second is the proposed $54-million conversion of 340 Main St. into 312 apartments by New York City-based SilverBrick Group. This project is very much still in the concept phase, as SilverBrick has yet to close on the property which it is purchasing from Commerce Associates. The project is in the process of seeking a $3.4-million tax break needing the approval of Worcester’s City Council.
Any thriving commercial district is going to need a healthy mix of office, retail, entertainment and residential space and while some sectors are experiencing a real slow down, these two projects illustrate the momentum is clearly still strong for new residential units. Trinity’s project is taking over a long-vacant former government-owned space while the SilverBrick SkyHouse project represents a major investment in an underused commercial property.
Worcester remains in desperate need of more housing, particularly affordable housing. A 2019 study commissioned by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce found Worcester to be short by about 1,900 housing units each year when compared to demand. The lack of supply on the market the last several years has caused rents to rise precipitously throughout the city, which puts a real squeeze on vulnerable populations. These two projects make a nice dent by adding a substantial number of housing units to the city’s inventory. The market for office space – while important – isn’t quite as strong, with the downtown vacancy rate hovering around 12%, according to the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. The coronavirus pandemic is also causing some companies to rethink how they utilize their workspaces and how much office space they really need.
Getting some of the older office stock off the market in favor of newer residential units, such as The SilverBrick project, not only removes harder-to-market office space from the commercial inventory, but breathes new life into an older property and brings more people to live in the downtown district. When revitalizing a city, the mantra is often people first – and with more density of residents, further growth in entertainment and retail will follow naturally. Some of that will not happen until we’re post-pandemic – so it's encouraging to see this kind of development happening now.
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