Editorial: The WPI-Worcester detente
Shortly before Thanksgiving, it was nice to see Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the City of Worcester sign a peace deal over WPI’s purchase of two Gateway Park hotels in September, in a way where WPI acknowledges the negative impact the deal will have on the City’s tax rolls and reaffirms its position as a positive contributor to the city/regional community.
The deal makes us wonder if the fire & fury brought down on WPI by government and business leaders was a necessary part of arriving at that compromise, or a deterrent that made the negotiations longer and more contentious.
In August, after WPI’s plans to buy the Hampton Inn & Suites and the Courtyard by Marriott and eventually convert them into student housing became public, the Economic Development Coordinating Council issued a rare public rebuke of the school. The land the hotels sit on is a formerly blighted area where significant public money was invested to return it to active use. The EDCC members were concerned not only about losing property and hotel tax revenue once they became exempt under WPI’s nonprofit status, but also a significant number of Worcester’s hotel rooms.
Temperatures ran high as officials expressed their frustration in media interviews, and the Worcester City Council discussed ways to potentially tax nonprofit property. Maybe all this noise was necessary to bring WPI to the bargaining table, but the way it played out in public certainly went against the region’s reputation for being a low-conflict, collaborative business community.
The agreement calls for WPI to make payments to the City to partially offset lost tax revenue, keep hotel workers employed, collaborate with the City on four projects per academic year, and discuss future plans for its other Gateway Park properties with the City. All this shows the adults in the room did their job striking a fair compromise.
This editorial is the opinion of the WBJ Editorial Board.
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