Taking Center Stage | WBDC bets on a revitalized downtown Worcester
Photo/Edd Cote
ARTISTIC LIBERTIES: Troy Siebels, executive director of the Hanover Theatre, says a new effort to focus economic development around the arts in downtown is a risk worth taking for Worcester.
When $31 million worth of work was poured into the 2008 opening of the Hanover Theatre in downtown Worcester, Troy Siebels, executive director of the 2,300-seat venue, said it took a little bit of faith to get the project done.
There were projections about how popular the theater would be, how many shows it would have and how many people it would attract. But nobody knew for sure. It took the hundreds of individuals and donors who contributed to and believed in the project for the theater to beat those projections, Siebels said.
Next Steps
Now, the Worcester Business Development Corp. has launched a new plan to build off of the success of the Hanover Theatre by focusing its next major redevelopment project on the city’s downtown Theatre District. And Siebels said if a project like that is going to succeed, it too will need a little bit of faith.
“It’s going to take some people who are willing to take some risks,” said Siebels. “But they could pay off.”
At the WBDC’s annual meeting earlier this month, the nonprofit economic development agency announced a plan to focus the organization’s major efforts and investments on revitalizing the downtown area that surrounds the Hanover Theatre.
The Theatre District, as defined by the WBDC, is a 30-acre parcel bordered by High, Franklin and Myrtle Streets as well as Francis McGrath Boulevard.
The WBDC hopes to invest more than $250,000 in planning and pre-development studies. Heading up those efforts will be Cambridge-based planning and architecture firm Chan Krieger NJJB, which has done work in the past in Worcester (see sidebar).
The WBDC’s work in the Theatre District does not need city council approval, according to Tim McGourthy, the city’s chief development officer. The council will, however, be kept informed of the project’s progress.
The first step, Forsberg said, is to conduct a market study of the area and create a master plan, which Chan Krieger will help with.
Then, the WBDC is willing to do its share of the heavy lifting, Forsberg said.
During the past few years, the WBDC has sold off some of its assets to recapitalize, which means the organization is in a position to invest.
For example, last March Worcester Polytechnic Institute bought out the WBDC’s stake in Gateway Park, the biotechnology development project sponsored by the school. The WBDC also sold CenTech Park East in Shrewsbury to Westborough-based developer Bob Moss for $3 million. Earlier this year, the University of Massachusetts Medical School purchased a patch of land on Plantation Street from the WBDC for $1 million. That parcel will house a new parking facility.
While Forsberg would not discuss how much money the organization would be willing to pour into the area, the nonprofit’s 2009 tax filing shows that it held slightly more than $8.1 million in net assets. Forsberg said the organization has enough capital and debt capacity to possibly purchase and oversee the redevelopment of a couple of buildings in the district.
Which buildings those will be and what exactly will become of them are still up in the air. One thing in Forsberg’s mind is clear: The single biggest need in the area is more people.
The Hanover Theatre already attracts about 170,000 patrons a year and more than 380,000 since it opened. But Siebels said there needs to be a critical mass of activities in order for patrons to spend more than just a few minutes before and after a Hanover show walking to and from their cars.
To get people to stay downtown there needs to be more restaurants, bars and more performing arts centers, Siebels said. There is a big hole in off-Broadway production theater venues for smaller shows ever since the Foothills Theater closed in downtown Worcester, he added.
The streets need to be cleaned up and there should be more areas to window shop. Those are the things that will attract people to a neighborhood and keep them there for an extended period of time, Siebels said.
Forsberg agrees, but he doesn’t want to limit the focus of investments in the neighborhood to arts. A mix of uses is what’s best for the area, he said, including housing, retail, office space and recreational activities.
Forsberg said he’s impressed by the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy’s investments in the downtown area which have helped to establish a presence of young people in the city. He’d like to see more academic institutions located downtown.
Trail Blazers
Those in the area of the Hanover see potential for the neighborhood.
Wyatt Wade, who is president of Davis Publications and owns 44 Portland St. (also known as the Printer’s Building), said he’s more optimistic about the area now than he’s ever been.
The approximately 95,000-square-foot seven-story building is home to an art gallery, a movie and music studio, as well as WICN radio.
But Wade isn’t just confident about the area because of the WBDC’s plans to focus economic development efforts there. CitySquare is just outside the Theatre District and is expected to be the home of a newly-constructed regional headquarters for Unum, as well as a cancer center for Saint Vincent Hospital.
“This is a natural evolution of this area,” said Wade.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated which organization purchased a plot of land on Plantation Street in Worcester from the Worcester Business Development Corp. It was the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
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