🔒Former Worcester Academy ballfields slated for 207-unit housing complex
A Connecticut-based firm is planning a 57-unit apartment building and 150 units spread across 26 townhouse buildings in Worcester. IMAGE COURTESY OF WORCESTER ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
A Connecticut-based real estate firm is proposing a 207-unit housing development on athletic fields owned by Worcester Academy, including 26 multi-unit townhouses and a 57-unit apartment building.232 Stafford LLC, an entity sharing an address and a manager with Fairfield-based CT Realty Trust, is proposing the project for the 36.6-acre site at 232 Stafford St.. The proposal calls for the construction of 150 units spread across the 26 townhouse buildings, with a 71,088-square-foot, four-story apartment building near the entrance of the site.The application filed with the Worcester Zoning Board of Appeals seeks a special permit allowing for parking layout requirements and variances to provide relief from the City’s maximum height requirements and minimum frontage requirements for the property.The project is not slated to include any affordable units, with developers instead planning on making a payment to the Worcester Affordable Housing Trust Fund. While still listed as an athletic facility on Worcester Academy’s website, the site is for sale, according to an online listing with Worcester-based real estate brokerage Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates. The property has a listing price of $4.5 million, with Will Kelleher and Drew Higgins serving as the listing brokers.Worcester Academy opened New Balance Performance Park, an athletic complex on its main campus, in October 2025.The proposed development (left) compared to the site as it currently sits. IMAGES COURTESY OF WORCESTER ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS, GOOGLE EARTHPlans call for the construction of 152 parking spaces, new internal driveways, a pool, and other site improvements. Currently owned by the nonprofit Trustees of Worcester Academy, a sale to a private entity would bring the property back onto the city’s tax rolls. CT Realty Trust was founded in 2009 by Bard and Robert Kligerman, with the goal of acquiring distressed multifamily assets in the wake of the financial crisis, according to the firm’s website. The company has since expanded into other investments, including ground-up developments. Mark Borenstein, partner at the Worcester office of Boston-based law firm Prince Lobel Tye, is representing 232 Stafford for this project. The ZBA application is set to be heard at the board’s Aug. 10 meeting.Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
