The White Room, an event venue in Worcester’s Canal District, has been sold to Birgit Straehle and Luis Antonio Fraire, two prominent members of the arts community in Worcester.
The venue was formerly owned by Amy Lynn Chase, who also runs Crompton Collective in Worcester and The Haberdash, with locations in Worcester, Hudson, and Harwich Port. Chase told Worcester Business Journal she sold The White Room to focus more on her other retail business operations.
“In 2020, the event industry was at a standstill due to the shutdown, leaving me lots of time to grow my retail brand,” said Chase. “I opened my third Haberdash clothing boutique on Cape Cod in spring 2021. That store quickly grew and needs more of my personal attention on Cape Cod during the summer months.”
Ownership of the venue officially changed hands in May, with neither party disclosing how much it was sold for. The building where The White Room is located, Crompton Place, remains under the ownership of Dino Lorusso.
Straehle and Fraire ran the Sprinkler Factory Art Gallery on Harlow Street in Worcester before it was forced to close due to the building not being kept up to code by the landlord. Fraire said the duo would look to use The White Room venue to boost art exhibitions in the city.
“When Birgit and I first heard about the opportunity to resume events in The White Room, we were immediately curious about the possibilities of expanding its focus to include the arts,” Fraire said. “The potential of having an event space that doubled as an art gallery became evident right away, especially considering the overall range of offerings in the Canal District.”
He said plans include a new art bar at the venue early next year, which would be a wine bar to serve guests at the venue. And although the duo plans to introduce more artistic exhibitions to the venue, Fraire said the changes would be incremental over time, and that it would still host other events as it has in the past.
“Certainly the look and feel will change with the introduction of regular arts programming, but the change will be gradual,” he said. “The focus is on event rentals, built on the successful model Amy left for us. Long term, we hope The White Room will continue to grow and change and be known as an especially creative space.”
