The property at 50 College St. will remain on the City’s tax rolls, said Holy Cross Director of Public Relations Nicoleta Jordan.
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The College of the Holy Cross has purchased a six-bedroom house across the street from its campus for $2.15 million, with the plan to convert the site to faculty transitional housing.
The colleges’ trustees purchased the property at 50 College St. in a deal finalized on Nov. 21 from Michael and Lisa Livsey, according to Worcester District Registry of Deeds records.
The 8,400-square-foot parcel contains what was originally a three-family house built in 1895, according to City of Worcester property records.
Holy Cross already owns the adjacent residential property at 52 College St., along with eight other parcels in the roughly-triangular space between College Street, Clay Street, and Boyden Street.
The property at 50 College St. will remain on the City’s tax rolls, said Holy Cross Director of Public Relations Nicoleta Jordan.
The 2024 purchase of two Worcester hotels by Worcester Polytechnic Institute amplified ongoing debates over the impact on the City’s tax income when higher educational institutions and other nonprofits expand with property purchases.
Nonprofits generally do not have to pay property taxes, although Worcester’s colleges have reached payment-in-lieu agreements for some properties they’ve purchased, including an eventual deal reached over the WPI hotel purchases.
This debate led to a non-binding question on November's municipal election ballot, asking voters if they supported requiring private colleges and universities to invest 0.5% of their endowments annually into a community impact fund. The question passed with a 74.8% of the vote, but the City would need support from the state legislature in order to make such a policy a reality.
The property has been used as off-campus student housing since the 1970s, Jordan wrote in an email to WBJ. The school will honor existing leases through next year, before converting the property for use as transitional housing for new faculty.
The owners of the property had approached the school with an offer to sell, with those conversations lasting three months before the eventual sale, Jordan wrote
“During the same three-month period, we also received inquiries from owners or agents for three additional properties in the area, which we declined,” Jordan wrote.
The property received a 2026 tax assessment value of $546,400, according to City property records.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
