The real estate industry has been at the heart of WBJ’s coverage for years. If you know who is buying, selling, leasing, building, closing, and demolishing in Central Massachusetts, you have a strong understanding of the region’s economy and the direction it’s headed.
As part of our ongoing coverage, we’ve had a front-row seat to the constant battles where real estate professionals must emerge victorious in order to accomplish anything: financing, zoning, environmental contamination, difficult buyers, difficult sellers, sudden changes in office trends, pandemics, state regulations, local regulations, construction worker shortages, sudden bankruptcies of subcontractors, etc., etc., etc.
It’s a miracle anything gets built.
To honor these miracle workers, WBJ is launching a new Real Estate Awards, as part of the inaugural Central Mass. Real Estate Forum on Sept. 29. The selection process for awards is always difficult, because so many people and companies are worthy of consideration. For this inaugural class, though, the best of best rose to the top.
First is Craig Blais, winner of the lifetime achievement award. No single person is more responsible for the transformation in and around Worcester over the past three decades, but Blais prefers to work behind the scenes and defer credit to others. In fact, when I called him to notify him of the award, Blais immediately listed all the people that made his many projects possible, saying they were just as worthy of the award. Classic Craig.
For the two project-specific awards, the largest office-to-housing conversion in Massachusetts was an easy choice: Synergy’s work on the former Fallon Health headquarters is setting an example for the state and the nation to follow. On the community front, the region’s largest provider of affordable housing – the Worcester Housing Authority – partnered with Boston developer Trinity Financial to expand and upgrade old public housing to places where anyone would be proud to live.
Welcome to the first of many WBJ Real Estate Awards.
– Brad Kane, editor
Inaugural winners of the Real Estate Awards
Lifetime Real Estate Leadership Award: Craig Blais, president of Worcester Business Development Corp.
Innovative Project of the Year: Altitude Worcester (Synergy)
Community Impact Project of the Year: The Phoenix at Curtis Apartments (Worcester Housing Authority & Trinity Financial)
