Worcester's 'American Hustle' building getting $26M revitalization

Grant Welker The Central Building in Worcester will be redeveloped to include 55 residential units and ground floor retail.

Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito announced the project.

A view of the inside of the Central Building.

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By Grant Welker

In recent years, the Central Building on Worcester's Main Street has been vacant blight just across from Mechanics Hall.

The Worcester District Attorney's Office moved out, and the only remaining few retail tenants were evicted to that the building could be mothballed.

Now, a $26-million redevelopment announced Wednesday will fill the building with 55 residential units and ground-floor retail, with funding help from the city and multiple state agencies. The project will be built by Central Building Development Group of Worcester. The developer includes Aaron and Kathryn Krock, whose parents, Janet and Barry Krock, bought the Central Building about four decades ago, and Kathryn Krock's husband, Kevin Parvin.

The project at 332 Main St. will join another project just announced Monday: 126 residential units at the former Worcester County Courthouse at Lincoln Square, a $53-million development expected to open by the summer of 2020. That stretch of Main Street itself will also be overhauled later this year in an $11-million project that will include new paving and sidewalks, additional trees and other recreational and art spaces.

The road project, which will take two years, is meant to make the stretch of downtown safer and more inviting.

The Central Building — where part of the movie "American Hustle" was filmed — is also seen as a major boon for downtown at a time when officials want to create more density and a lively streetscape.

"This has been a project that's always been on our radar," City Manager Edward Augustus said.

The city is pitching in $1.3 million in what are called HOME funds, money which the city gets from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for affordable housing and other efforts. The state is contributing the remainder of $19.8 million in public aid, including low-income tax credits, Department of Housing and Community Development funds and MassHousing loans.

The Central Building, a seven-story structure with 85,000 square feet, was built in 1926. Kathryn Krock, whose family owns the building at the adjacent Commerce Building at 340 Main St., said housing has been the missing ingredient for a thriving downtown. Her parents bought the building when the neighborhood was crowded throughout the day, she said, and the family wants to help return those days to downtown Worcester.

The building has been vacant for about five years, with signs still hanging for a former jewelry store, photo store and night club. Planners have found the original blueprints to guide a renovation that will remake the building inside and out, Krock said.

Work is expected to begin by October and take about a year. Of the building's 55 planned residential units, 36 units will include affordability restrictions, and another 14 will be set aside as workforce units for those who don't qualify for affordable housing but can't afford market-rate units. The remaining five units will be market-rate.