Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 12, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 15 Vote for your favorite companies in over 40 categories that include best aer-work bar, best bank for business, best advertising agency, best place for a business dinner and more! e winners will be unveiled in the January 7, 2019 edition of the Worcester Business Journal, and honored at a special networking reception following the issue in late January. Voting closes on November 16, 2018 www.wbjournal.com/BOBAwards Who are the best business-to-business companies in Central Massachusetts? The Worcester Business Journal wants to know and is asking you to vote on the region's best B2B companies in our 6th annual Best of Business (BOB) online readers poll. Presenting Sponsor BOB A W A R D S B E S T O F B U S I N E S S VOTE NOW! LAST CALL FOR BEST OF BUSINESS VOTES! W I N N O V A T I V E W O R K S P A C E S F O C U S ering, and officials think it provides a unique opportunity to attract entrepre- neurs to the spaces in and around the building. "We've long wanted to get some state offices in the city," Traynor said. e CCC "is a good anchor tenant." With more than 1,000 pending busi- ness licenses before the state's marijuana industry regulating agency, Union Sta- tion is primed to expose more Massa- chusetts businesspeople to the city. Finding the right tenants What the right kind of tenants are for the rest of Union Station's vacant spaces is under discussion. WRA is awaiting a report from Worcester real estate firm Kelleher & Sadowsky on the best kind of uses, but Traynor seems focused on a sit- down restaurant use to drive foot traffic to the building and downtown area. Board members at a WRA meeting in October held off on any new leases until Kelleher's report is furnished. However, according to a 2017 report from the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, respondents to a survey indicated a desire for a Chipotle-type restaurant, bookstore or coffee shop. "ese recommendations would at- tract the college demographic, as well as the young working adult demographic, creating more foot traffic in the area and hopefully a more vibrant area," the 2017 report said. ere was demand for a small food market, like a Trader Joe's, in one of the spaces facing Franklin Street. Union Station already has a small coffee shop and convenience store in the terminal, but the chamber's report indi- cated a strong desire for another coffee shop able to meet commuter demands. e chamber singles out Luciano's Restaurant, which is operated by Max- well Silverman's Banquet and Confer- ence Center. Maxwell Silverman's hosts about one or two events per weekend in the building's massive Grand Hall, while Luciano's is only open for dinner Tues- day through Saturday. at's not good value, the chamber said. "Kiosks such as the ones that can be found in South Station could be a potential way to most effectively utilize the space and create a desired economic impact," the report said. Breweries & restaurants One of the city's newest breweries – Greater Good Imperial Brewing Com- pany – is among the parties interested in vacant space on the ground floor of the garage along Franklin Street. e space was even among the first the brewery ever considered when it looked into moving to Worcester from Williamsburg in 2017. Eventually, Great- er Good settled on its current Millbrook Street facility, but the company has sent a letter to the city with plans to find a permanent home for a line of lighter beers called Soul Purpose. Also expressing interest in the space is e Quarters, a Hadley-based bar and arcade, and the former owner of the County Music Ranch & Saloon, formerly located on James Street. e Quarters would open in space along Franklin Street. at business was already interested in the space before the Pawtucket Red Sox said they were coming to town and before the city said it would commit funds to help business- es with the build out of the space. e country music restaurant and bar would look to open in the space formerly occupied by Lava Lounge, which was evicted from its home in the Grand Hall last year. e club's lease was terminated for not operating more than just a few days a week. Further, the establishment didn't operate as a full-service restaurant. WRA never wanted that kind of use, members said at a June 2017 meeting. "It doesn't fit with what we're trying to do with Union Station," WRA Member Jennifer Gaskin said last year. Neither e Quarters, Maxwell Silver- man's or Country Music Ranch & Saloon provided comment for this story. South Station West Comparing Union Station to South Station, the eastern terminus of the Commuter Rail, wouldn't make a whole lot of sense given the population differ- ence between Boston and Worcester. According to the Worcester chamber's report, the city's daytime population in 2014 was about 209,000 compared to Boston's 1.2 million. According to Amtrak ridership data, ridership in South Station in 2017 was more than 1.5 million. Union Station's was 6,665. Despite the difference, the chamber did compare the two several times, and even listed the 23 retail and restaurant entities in the state's busiest train and bus terminal. ey include sit-down restaurant and bars, fast-service restaurants and con- venience stores like CVS. In Worcester, a convenience store was interested in a Franklin Street space, but that never materialized, Traynor said. Retail shouldn't be the lead use for the building, Traynor said, adding a plat- form expansion project at Union Station expected to increase trips to and from Worcester and increase foot traffic in the area could eventually support retail use in the building. "I don't think we have the numbers right now," he said.

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