🔒WRA looking for tenant at Union Station’s Grand Hall to potentially replace Maxwell Luciano’s

Maxwell Luciano’s lease is set to expire after 18 years of operation in the Grand Hall at Union Station, with the Worcester Redevelopment Authority about to embark on a search for the next lease for the space. The WRA is planning an upcoming request for proposals and community meeting, with the intent of determining the best path forward for the large event venue and restaurant at the historic train station, according to a recording of the body’s Jan. 22 meeting.  The competitive bid will be opened later this month or in early March, following a community engagement meeting, which will be announced in the coming weeks.   WRA is looking for a minimum rent of at least $11,000-per-month, the current rate paid by Luciano’s.  Luciano’s lease was first signed in 2008 and expires at the end of June. The latest three-year extension for the 15,535-square-foot space was signed in 2023, with the WRA telling the Prohibition-era-themed Luciano’s at the time it would be their last extension. In a phone call on Thursday to WBJ, Luciano's Owner Robert “Gus” Giordano, insisted Luciano's will not close, despite the lease expiring in June. He said he plans to rebid for the site and has events booked past June. "We intend to bid on the lease," he told WBJ. "We're committed to bid." In a Thursday phone call, WRA Chair Michael Angelini clarified the WRA would be open for a bid from Luciano's, saying they would go with whatever proposal maximizes the use of the space, even as the WRA has previously discussed bringing in a new operator. "We are looking to get this procurement out so that we can try to have as smooth of a transition as possible between the remaining six months that [Luciano's] have and getting our next operator ready to go to take over," Worcester’s Chief Development Officer and WRA CEO Peter Dunn said in December. The bid process will prioritize proposals which demonstrate viable uses of the Grand Hall space, involve a bidder with at least five years of experience managing a similar space, and which have a financial plan demonstrating enough resources to support operations and meet the obligations of the lease, according to a draft document shared during the January meeting.  The WRA is interested in bids that would involve renovating the existing restaurant space, Worcester’s Dunn said during the January meeting.  Luciano’s was hosting 70-90 events annually, but Dunn would like bidders to aim for at least 100 events. The bid will require at least a five-year commitment, but Dunn expects most applicants to prefer closer to a ten-year lease, in order to justify costs of any improvements made to the space. Bidders will be required to submit startup cost projections, a renovation budget, and an operation plan. “This is really an important opportunity for us,” Angelini said during the January meeting. “It’s a one‑time opportunity for increasing the use of this wonderful hall, and we need to create some excitement about this.”

The RFP was first approved at WRA’s December meeting. Dunn said the search for a potential new tenant comes after longer discussions about maximizing the potential of the 114-year-old transit hub, which was saved from decay by a major renovation completed in 2000. “One thing that we're considering as we were talking about this with Luciano’s over the last few years has just been our belief as a staff and a board that the Grand Hall is really a signature space for us at the station, and we were questioning if it was being utilized to its full potential,” he said in December.  As early as 2018, questions were being raised if Luciano’s was the right fit for the space by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce; Its 2018 report “Union Station 2.0,” which sought to continue momentum from its reopening 18 years earlier, cited limited activation of Luciano’s space during weekdays. Luciano’s is open as a restaurant from Tuesday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday to Saturday 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., and closed Sunday and Monday, according to its website. It has hosted weddings and other large banquet-style events in the Grand Hall space, utilizing adjacent space for its restaurant, which also includes an outdoor patio.  Luciano’s is the brainchild of Giordano, owner of the now-closed Maxwell Silverman’s Tool House Restaurant, which operated for 42 years on Union Street before shuttering in 2018, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. The banquet hall operated by Maxwell Luciano’s has a capacity of about 1,000, making it the third-largest meeting venue in Central Massachusetts, according to the WBJ Research Department. It trails Wachusett Mountain Ski Area, with a banquet capacity of 3,000, and Worcester’s DCU Center, which has a banquet capacity of 2,520. Union Station is the western terminus of the MBTA Commuter Rail Worcester/Framingham line and is a stop for Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited, a train connecting Boston with Chicago.   It is home to an intercity bus terminal, featuring bus lines like Greyhound and Peter Pan Bus Lines, with destinations including Springfield, Hartford, and New York City, and is adjacent to the main bus hub for the Worcester Regional Transit Authority. The building is attached to a 500-car garage. In addition to transit, the building holds the headquarters for the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, and is home of the Worcester Regional Food Hub, a $5-million, five-kitchen incubator for food startups which relocated there in 2025, according to GBH.  CORRECTION: This article has been updated to include a quote from Luciano's owner Robert “Gus” Giordanom, who does not intend to close the restaurant, planning to rebid for the lease. An earlier version of this article stated definitively that Luciano's would be replaced. Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.