Developers promise no empty promises
Worcester Business Center owners say plans for rehab should be finalized this month
Add one more site to the list of development projects going on in Worcester. Construction and renovation plans will move forward on the Worcester Business Center located at 67 Millbrook St. once development plans are finalized this month.
Property owner Worcester Business Center LLC and managing partners Franklin Realty Advisors and Suffolk Ventures, both of Boston, have been working with architecture firm Spagnolo Gisness & Associates, also of Boston, since they closed on the property at the beginning of April. With architectural designs for the site completed, developers are negotiating a budget and accepting bids on the project, according to Jim Umphrey of Kelleher and Sadowsky, who represented both buyer and seller in the purchase of the office park.
The project is on schedule and is moving along as expected, said Franklin Realty Advisors' Chip Norton. A comprehensive development plan will be determined within two to three weeks, he said.
The Worcester Business Center is awaiting transformation by current owners.Transformative plans
Worcester Business Center LLC financed its $10.4 million purchase of the 260,000-square-foot office park from former owner, Concord-based Worcester Millbrook LLC, with a $16.9 million mortgage from Capmark Bank of Utah.
Renovations at the Worcester Business Center will include replacing the building's entire exterior, constructing a new entrance and lobby in the north wing, gutting and finishing 75,000 square feet of unused space for new tenants, adding a new parking lot and landscaping. The total investment amounts to approximately $7million.
The building is currently 67 percent leased by more than 45 tenants. Representatives from Worcester Business Center LLC were not willing to comment on what the project will bring to the city or what it means for existing tenants at this time.
Laws of attraction
On projects like this one big promises are made and then they often fall short or never happen, said Umphrey. "That is not what is going to happen here. The owners want to be in a position to deliver and make [the property] affordable given the market," he said.
Attracting tenants, though, shouldn't be too difficult given the current temperature of the office market.
"There has been a demand epidemic [for office space], which has greatly affected the vacancy rates in areas all around Boston, and it's moving west," said Brendan Carroll, vice president of research with Richards, Barry, and Joyce real estate.
The private investment by development firms like FRA in Worcester only adds to $1.3 billion in private and public investment made in recent years.
The continuing CitySquare plans alone total $563 million, $470 million privately invested. City officials also list Gateway Park, the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, the Galleria and the proposed Canal District renovation as important means to economic stimulation.
"A number of institutions have already come to Worcester and are being transformative in their nature," said Timothy McGourthy, director of economic development.
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