State to aid with Worcester, Fitchburg development

Photo/Grant Welker The Main South area of Worcester, anchored by Clark University, will receive state help in redevelopment efforts.

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By Grant Welker

Massachusetts has chosen Worcester and Fitchburg among 10 cities to receive help in downtown redevelopment initiatives.

In Worcester, the city is looking to find new and better uses for the Main South area, which is anchored by Clark University but otherwise has properties on or around Main Street that haven't seen the type of new investment as in other areas of the city.

In Fitchburg, the city has plans for an Arts & Culture District downtown it hopes will become a regional destination.

In both cases, the state will provide technical assistance through its Transformative Development Initiative, the Baker Administration announced Tuesday. Dollar amounts are not given to particular aid recipients.

Worcester previously received aid through TDI, as the program is called, for improvements farther up Main Street in the area surrounding the Hanover Theatre. As part of that initiative, the state agency MassDevelopment bought a retail building at 526 Main St. last summer for $800,000 and has sought bids from developers to remake the historically underutilized property.

The state's aid for Worcester will include a full-time worker who will lead small business engagement and advocacy, vacant and underutilized site inventory and reuse strategies, strategic planning for the area, and data collection and evaluation. The initiative will focus on a two-thirds of a mile stretch of Main Street roughly from Madison and Chandler streets close to downtown to May Street, closer to Clark University.

Fitchburg's redevelopment district includes a stretch of downtown where Fitchburg State University is redeveloping the long-vacant Theater Block building with classroom, community and incubator space, and, eventually, a reborn performance theater. The vacant former B.F. Brown School just a block away on Academy Street is proposed to become 50 to 60 residential units.

Fitchburg said its state aid will include a real estate professional who will work exclusively on achieving the vision for the district.

Other cities named to the program Tuesday were Brockton, Chelsea, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lynn, New Bedford, Pittsfield and Springfield.