Photo | Grant Welker
The former Shack's clothing store building on Main Street in Worcester is planned for a cultural institution.
July 17, 2019
Menkiti family plans to carry on father’s legacy and cultural institute
Photo | Courtesy
Ifeanyi Menkiti had hopes for a global studies institute in Worcester. After his death, his family is working to carry on those plans as well as other developments across downtown Worcester.
By Zachary Comeau
Ifeanyi Menkiti wanted the world to coexist and he wanted those voices that had historically been second fiddle to get their shot at being heard.
He began to form the Emgeni Institute for Comparative Global Studies, a cultural organization seeking to give power to those voices and bring communities of different backgrounds together. For that institute’s location, he chose Worcester.
With Worcester gaining cultural and economic momentum, it seemed the most obvious location for the Wellesley college philosophy professor and poet to base the organization, said his son, Bo Menkiti.
“My dad had this deep affinity and belief that there were voices, places and communities that deserve to be part of a conversation,” said Bo Menkiti, founder and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based property investment firm Menkiti Group. “In many ways, he related to Worcester, which has always been second place behind Boston.”
The institute’s goal is inherent in the organizations name. Emengini is a term in Igbo, the native language of Nigeria, essentially asking the question, “Who am I that you have not invited me to be part of the conversation?”
However, work on the institute had stalled with Ifeanyi suffering a stroke earlier this year. On Father’s Day, the poet known for his poetry-only Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, died in his sleep.
Menkiti, who had recently become active in downtown Worcester real estate and owns several properties his son will soon take over, chose the former Shack’s Clothing building on Main Street for the institute and bought it in January 2017 for $1.25 million.
He also had plans for 204 Main St., a building across from the Worcester Superior Court he acquired last September for $860,000.
Photo | Grant Welker
Menkiti bought 204 Main St., across from Worcester County Courthouse, for $860,000.
Bo Menkiti, with an established real estate firm and business partners, will take over those projects and his father’s other holdings in Worcester, which include a variety of mixed-use and residential properties in the city.
Bo Menkiti’s firm itself has several projects in the works in Worcester, including a planned $9-million residential project at the former Performing Arts School of Worcester on Chatham Street.
The firm purchased Worcester businessman Frank Carroll’s Main Street building for $2.8 million last year and was selected by MassDevelopment to renovate the former pawn shop building at 526-538 Main St.
Worcester, in many ways, was a natural fit for Ifeanyi’s ambitions. Over time, Worcester is becoming more of a cultural melting pot and is slowly losing its reputation as a struggling post-industrial city.
Photo | Grant Welker
The Menkiti Group bought Worcester businessman Frank Carroll’s Main Street building for $2.8 million last year
“He loved the realness of Worcester,” said his son. “He loved the grittiness and that human component.”
Much of his poetry called for people of different backgrounds to immerse themselves in the culture and traditions of others.
“He had this idea that people of different places and backgrounds around the world could sort of come together because we have a shared sense of humanity,” Bo Menkiti said. “Worcester, in many ways, represented that melting pot and that place that was real and without pretension.”
To help carry on his father’s work, the Menkiti family is forming a foundation in Ifeanyi’s legacy to support the Emengini Institute, which will also be supported by the book store.
Photo | Grant Welker
The Menkiti Group has proposed renovating a Chatham Street building into new housing.
Although Bo Menkiti chose a different career path, it seems as if his father’s teachings had rubbed off on him, as the Menkiti Group specializes in urban redevelopment projects.
Worcester, along with the D.C. area, are the company’s main targets. In some ways, he and his father are different. Bo Menkiti is a businessman while his father could sometimes lose people with his broad philosophies and musings.
However, both men agreed Worcester’s melting pot of culture will help support the family’s work .
“For Worcester, there’s an opportunity that arts, culture and community to lead the way as a critical component for economic development,” Bo Menkiti said.
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