Worcester’s highest-profile development will need to hit some major milestones in 2020 in order to stay its course.
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Although the plans for the Worcester Red Sox to move into the Polar Park development won’t come to fruition until April 2021, Worcester’s highest-profile development will need to hit some major milestones in 2020 in order to stay its course.
After the team moves in, its ticket sales and appeal to fans could get a boost from a controversial plan unveiled this year by Major League Baseball.
The tight timeline will become a focal point
Even smaller projects can run behind schedule. So what about a $101-million Polar Park ballpark at a site with a roughly 18-foot slope from what will be the field’s infield to its outfield? Or where one office building on the site still remains to be demolished? Some other recently built minor league parks have been built in as short as 14 or 15 months, but they’ve been in warmer climates – several ballpark delays were blamed on weather – with often simpler sites. Others have taken longer, like Hartford, where Dunkin’ Donuts Park opened a year behind schedule, and the ballpark in Omaha, Neb., which took 27 months to build.
A major bet on new demand
The Worcester Red Sox will pay back just over one-third the $101-million cost of the ballpark to city in the form of upfront payments and annual leases. But that’s not where the city expects to recoup its costs, or why it thinks the project is worth it. That value will come from planned ancillary developments like the one across Madison Street, with a vision calling for two hotels, 224 apartments and office and retail space. There’s another soon-to-open neighborhood project preceding the stadium but would also be a stark departure for the Canal District: the Worcester Public Market. Projected to open early in 2020, the market on Kelley Square will include a Wachusett Brewing Co., Worcester Wares and a range of food options. The market will be the first of its kind in Worcester and add to a national trend among cities – but also a risky move in a neighborhood with few workers or residents.
A potential boost from minor league contraction
Major League Baseball has put forth a plan to eliminate some minor league teams’ affiliation with their big-league club. That list includes the Lowell Spinners, who are affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, and the Norwich Sea Unicorns, who are part of the Detroit Tigers system. The plan has caught the ire of public officials and local baseball fans, who’ve criticized the potential economic and cultural impact and said the lack of an affiliation would doom the teams. Lowell is less than an hour from Worcester and Norwich around an hour, eliminating some competition for fans’ attention and giving the WooSox a potential boost if the plan were to be adopted, especially if those teams were to eventually fold.
