Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | December 10, 2018 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F Worcester scales back WooSox district development plans BY ZACHARY COMEAU Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer V E R BAT I M Dream job "We want to make it feel like you're part of a family as opposed to part of a company. Whenever anyone says, 'I love working for this company,' we always look at them and say, 'You work in a brewery. Get rid of that language. This is a brewery.'" Wormtown Brewery Managing Partner David Fields, on employment at the Worcester brewery Marijuana rollout "The one message I heard over and over again from folks in Washington and Colorado was you only get one shot at this when you roll it out … so I think the approach the commission took was the right one." Gov. Charlie Baker, on the Cannabis Control Commission's deliberately paced rollout of the state's recreational cannabis industry Opioid warnings "One source of opioids – used for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes – is medical profes- sionals, who have an obligation always to act in patients' best interests. In the midst of an opioid epidemic, that obligation is more important than ever before." U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling, on mailing a warning to doctors to prescribe opioids conservatively W orcester is amending the size of an urban renewal plan mod- ification to include only those properties essential to a $101-million ballpark development for the Pawtucket Red Sox aer concern other properties originally listed could be acquired or demolished. e original amendment, unveiled last month as part of a Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act filing, includ- ed 33 additional parcels and slated 18 additional buildings for demolition not part of the original urban renewal plan approved for the area in 2016. In a Nov. 29 press release from the city, now only seven properties related to the stadium are slated for acquisition: 50 Washington St., 90 Washington St., 62 Washington St., 69 Washington St., 127 Washington St., 134 Madison St. and 2 Plymouth St. e city said three more – 5, 7, and 6 Gold St. – would be listed for the possi- bility of future action. e Gold Street parcels are vacant lots, while the others include the vacant Wyman-Gordon property, a city-owned parking lot and a handful of small businesses. e city said the expedited process of expanding the urban renewal plan to meet project schedules included those required for the ballpark as well as other properties in the area to highlight their highest and best uses to prompt further investment, which it said is a strategy in line with the 2016 urban renewal plan. "It's unfortunate that the MEPA filing did not allow adequate time for the the city to engage the public in this process and did not afford our residents and business owners an opportunity to re- view and respond to the amendment," City Manager Edward Augustus said in a statement. e Worcester Redevelopment Au- thority approved the plan expansion on Dec. 4, with the caveat that only the seven aforementioned parcels will be subject to possible acquisition at this time. "Our total focus now is assembling (properties for) the ballpark," Chief Development Officer Michael Traynor said at the meeting. Businesses with land in those acqui- sition crosshairs will be made whole, Traynor pledged. At a Nov. 27 City Council meeting, Augustus said the original proposed Urban Renewal Plan expansion included an additional 21 acres and 33 properties. A total of 21 buildings – 18 more than originally thought – were slated for possible demolition or renovation. e original plan stopped along the vacant Wyman-Gordon site, which is the primary property on which the project is planned. e amendment stretches that boundary about a block to the east from Washington Street to Green Street and Kelley Square and nearly 10 parcels of the southern side of Lamartine Street. Augstus' office announced the scaled back plan two days aer that meeting, when councillors questioned the trans- parency of the process and possible displacement of residents. e City Council is expected to hold a public hearing on the amendment at its Dec. 18 meeting. Worcester has high ambitions for the area around the proposed $101-million Worcester Red Sox stadium, starting with the $240-million hotel, retail and apartment development planned as part of the WooSox deal. W

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