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22 2019 Economic Forecast • Worcester Business Journal • www.wbjournal.com Reserve your advertising space today and get your company's message in front of the region's business leaders! Contact: Mark Murray, Associate Publisher 508.755.8004 x227 • mmurray@wbjournal.com Your business deserves a powerful presence in Central Mass. www.wbjournal.com UPCOMING ISSUES January 7 Best of Business Awards January 21 Commercial Real Estate February 4 Banking & Finance February 18 The Women's Issue March 4 Business Leaders of the Year/ Hall of Fame March 18 Meetings Guide & Golf Directory Worcester Business Journal WBJ R e a l E s t a t e density commercial uses would become a dense neighborhood with apartments above restaurants and retail storefronts. That's not the type of development sur- rounding the longtime Pawtucket Red Sox home of McCoy Stadium, and sports economists have expressed doubt the project will unfold like city and team officials say it will. But City Manager Edward Augustus has said the city will reap so much new tax revenue from new development around the ballpark it'll pay back the city's borrowing for the stadium and then some. Construction of both the stadium and the first phase of the related develop- ment is expected to start in mid-2019, with both aspects opening by April 2021. >> A new major landlord in downtown Worcester As a Washington, D.C., area develop- er, the Menkiti Group would seem to be an unlikely fit as a major property owner in downtown Worcester. But the firm, through Ifeanyi Menkiti, a former Wellesley College faculty member, has made a significant play in the neighbor- hood. The first purchase came quietly in January 2017 when Menkiti paid $1.25 million for the longtime home of the Shacks men's store at 405 Main St. This year, the firm – run by Menkiti's son Bo Menkiti – made several more moves, buying an office building at 554 Main St. in July for $2.9 million, then paid $860,000 for 204 Main St. in August. In October, the company made another move, buying the home of the restaurant and bar The Muse at 526- 538 Main St. Few details are known yet about the company's plans for Worcester. The for- mer Shacks building is being eyed as a cultural center, while the company hopes to strip the brick building of modern facade additions and restore it to its historic look. Menkiti has worked to establish more of a foothold in the city by hiring a for- mer development official from City Hall in Paul Morano, who is now the compa- ny's director of real estate for New England. Menkiti's purchases were among a handful that put several new notable office buildings downtown into new hands. A vacant Chestnut Street office build- ing formerly occupied by Unum was bought in October by the Krock family, which owns the adjacent Commerce Building at 340 Main St. and the Central Building at 332 Main St. That deal comes only about two years after anoth- er large office building, the longtime home of the law firm Bowditch & Dewey at 311 Main St., was bought by Worcester Railers owner Cliff Rucker. The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce moved into that building in September. >> Framingham moving beyond office, retail hub Forgive anyone whose thoughts of Framingham don't go far beyond the city's home as the headquarters of Staples, Bose or TJX, or Shoppers World and other retail destinations along Route 9. Those types of developments are still growing. King Street Properties, a Cambridge life science development, purchased the 90,000-square-foot former MetroWest Daily News office and printing facility Ifeanyi Menkiti and his son have purchased three downtown Worcester properties. Continued from Page 21