Photo | Grant Welker
Construction is underway on a new facility for WuXi Biologics on Belmont Street in Worcester.
October 2, 2020
Worcester Historical Commission allows for demolition of Hale Building
Photo | Grant Welker
The long-vacant Hale Building off Belmont Street in Worcester
By Grant Welker
Redevelopment of the former Worcester State Hospital is taking major steps forward with site work for two new life sciences buildings.
The new development, though, won't include the century-old Hale Building, a last remnant of the old state hospital off Belmont Street.
The Worcester Historical Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to allow a demolition delay to expire, allowing the site's owner, the Worcester Business Development Corp., to move ahead with knocking the building down. The WBDC hoped a tenant may be interested in fixing up and moving into the old stone building that once hosted a nurses' home but found the building was instead standing in the way of a new and more efficient use of the site.
The WBDC said it is in negotiations with a developer to potentially build a 70,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility where the Hale Building stands.
The commission's vote said it found no reasonable likelihood someone could rehabilitate or restore the building. The WBDC, it said, had shown bringing the building up to code and for modern use would not have been feasible.
The Hale Building, because of its age, was given a one-year delay before it could be demolished, a procedural restriction meant to spur a site owner to find a way to avoid knocking down an old structure. That delay was set to expire in March 2021 before the commission voted to waive it.
Smaller buildings that stood near the Hale Building have already been knocked down as the 46-acre site gears up for a new era as a life sciences campus known as The Reactory.
WuXi Biologics started site work this summer on a $60-million, 107,000-square-foot, two-story facility employing 150 people. It will be the first such facility in the United States for the Chinese company.
A ceremonial groundbreaking was held this week by Webster developer Galaxy Life Sciences for a $50-million biomanufacturing facility next to AbbVie's pharmaceutical production and office building.
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