QCC's downtown expansion faces delays

PHOTO/MICHAEL NOVINSON Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty presents a proclamation to Quinsigamond Community College President Gail Carberry on Tuesday. The proclamation honors the school for its upcoming expansion to downtown.

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Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) is coming to downtown Worcester, but not as quickly as officials once expected.

Delays in renovating the 20 Franklin St. building mean QCC will only be able to move a portion of its slated programs downtown for the fall semester, with the rest relocating from the primary West Boylston Street campus to the former Telegram & Gazette building in the spring.

QCC President Gail Carberry said the school should know by the end of the week what health care and workforce development programs it can bring downtown for the fall semester, which begins Sept. 2.

“We’re hoping that a lot of it is ready,” Carberry said Tuesday at Worcester City Hall, where she received a proclamation from Mayor Joseph Petty honoring the school for its pending downtown move.

QCC’s downtown campus will span nearly 73,000 square feet across three floors of the Franklin Street building, Carberry said, and will eventually serve 2,000 students. She also said talks are underway to bring a restaurant into the site.

“This is bringing further vitality and life to our downtown,” City Manager Ed Augustus said.

QCC’s board of trustees voted to lease space in the building in January 2013, and retrofitting work began the next month. Carberry said it will eventually operate as a self-contained campus, with health care students able to take all of their science and humanities courses downtown.

The 135,000-square-foot building was purchased for $300,000 in 2011 by the Worcester Business Development Corp. It will also be home to an 11,000-square-foot technology incubator and accelerator anchored by ten24 Digital Solutions, which is relocating from its current offices in Northborough.