All the attention this spring around the arrival of WooSox has been a win for Worcester. That victory, though, was set up by a long line of brave innovators who took a chance and reinvented the Canal District into one of the hottest development zones around.
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In 2007, Dino Lorusso – a plumber by trade – decided to buy and renovate the abandoned Crompton Loom Works building into a retail center in one of Worcester’s poorer neighborhoods. Lorusso’s decision on the cusp on the Great Recession turned out to be a pivotal one in the history of the Canal District.
Fast forward 14 years to May 11, 2021 and the Worcester Red Sox played their first game at the $160-million Polar Park, the culmination of three years of work by city, team, and construction officials. Worcester has received a great deal of buzz from media outles like the Boston Globe, Boston’s TV stations and even the New York Times about the team. Was the arrival of the Boston Red Sox top minor league affiliate the signal Worcester had fulfilled its destiny as New England's second largest city? Perhaps, but a lot led up to this moment.
That Worcester buzz was building well before the WooSox arrived on the scene, built brick by brick by Lorusso and others who took their own chances, and those investments and entrepreneurial energy transformed a neighborhood.
The first people to tell you that Worcester’s buzz was tangible before they arrived on the scene are the WooSox officials themselves. Dan Rea, executive vice president for the team, often says when the team was considering leaving Pawtucket, R.I., officials wanted to join momentum in a city already on the upswing. People like Rea and WooSox Chairman Larry Lucchino didn’t want to transform a downtrodden community, but wanted to join a wave already in motion.
Lorusso’s creation of the Crompton Place retail complex led to local entrepreneur Amy Lynn Chase opening up her unique boutique Crompton Collective, and she was joined over time by locally owned businesses like BirchTree Bread Co. and Seed to Stem. Well before the Canal District was as polished as it is today, going to Chase’s store meant parking in the dirt (and often muddy) lot next to Crompton Place, adding a sense of adventure to the already authentic feeling of shopping someplace local and truly unique.
Then local resident-turned-developer Allen Fletcher would turn that empty dirt lot into the Worcester Public Market and Kelley Square Lofts, a $21-million new construction project in a neighborhood filled with historic (and often deteriorating) buildings. Fletcher embraced Worcester’s flavor, filling up the public market with uniquely local vendors. The 48 apartments built over the market sold out quickly, proving there was demand for both retail and residential development. Fletcher’s building opened at the start of 2020, and along with the planned stadium, set the stage for yet another round of new development, which includes big residential/mixed-use plans for the existing Table Talk Pies manufacturing facility and The Cove Music Hall.
All the attention this spring around the arrival of WooSox has been a win for Worcester. That victory, though, was set up by a long line of brave innovators who took a chance and reinvented the Canal District into one of the hottest development zones around.
