Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 13, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 7 Whether you're inventing a new industry, or reinventing your organization, rely on a team of attorneys who see the world your way. At Bowditch, we'll help you cra your business and legal strategy and manage the essential details so you can stay focused on your long-term vision. Worcester Framingham Boston BOWDITCH.COM BREAKING | BARRIERS BREAK THROUGH WITH BOWDITCH To Boston, Woburn & back Dowdle moved to Boston in the 1980s, working for the news station Channel 56 before shiing into a career in real estate in the early 1990s. Much of his time since has been as an investor, including two centers he has since sold: the Walmart-anchored North Reading Plaza and the Market Basket-an- chored Woburn Mall, which has become dated and nearly empty but is now seek- ing a major mixed-use overhaul under new owners. In 2006, Dowdle bought a small parcel of less than an acre in Boston's Seaport neighborhood, then surrounded by little besides parking lots and the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center a few blocks away. Dowdle proposed a hotel on the parcel but found it to be unfeasible in the short term. He ultimately sold the site in 2016 to national developer Crescent Heights for $36 million, or more than six times what he paid for it. e development, called NEMA Boston, is now nearing completion as a 21-story, 414-unit apart- ment building. More recently, Dowdle has spent much of his time redeveloping a former contaminated parcel in Woburn just off where I-93 and I-128 meet. e site, formerly owned by chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. site, was cleaned up before Dowdle bought the property in 2014. e project, now called Woburn Landing, includes a 110 Grill, Red Rob- in and Chick-fil-A, with the first phase opening two years aer Dowdle bought the site. A Hampton Inn and a Home- wood Suites is slated to open in a single building aer Labor Day. "All in all, it's turned out to be a very good project," Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin said. "He's a hard working guy. He sticks with it." About two years ago, Dowdle was at a Boston event when he ran into the man who was Worcester's mayor at the time of the Worcester Crossing project: Tim- othy Murray. Murray, now the president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, implored Dowdle to head back to downtown Worcester to see all that had changed since he was last in the city. Dowdle checked back in at the Wyman-Gordon site, where the long- time manufacturer had demolished buildings more than 15 years ago and cleaned up much of the property. He initially envisioned something more like Worcester Crossing, to be built over a longer period. Dowdle signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with Wyman-Gordon in May 2018, three months before the PawSox said they will move to Worcester. Dowdle's plans then shied to a denser mixed-use development he's planning in parnership with the Paw- Sox and the city to help remake the neighborhood. Project falling behind schedule From the city's perspective, there's little time to waste. e first phase of the development is to open by Jan. 1, 2021 in an agreement last year between the city and Dowdle. Dowdle now says the first phase will open likely in mid-2021. No timeline has yet been set for construction to start. Dowdle is getting significant help from the city and state in building the Canal District project. e state is paying $23 million for a parking garage on the site to accommodate the project's own tenants and visitors, along with those for the ballpark and surrounding businesses. Another $12 million will subsidize market-rate housing for Dowdle's apartments, of which preliminary plans call for at least 225 units. Worcester is waiving $2 million worth of Dowdle's permitting and other fees it would normally charge applicants, has agreed to a 10-year tax break for hotel rooms and a 15-year break for apartments, and will work with Dowdle to secure additional state funding for housing subsidies. e city has said it will reconstruct Lamartine and Washington streets, which line the south and east sides of the project, and give additional tax breaks to Dowdle for later phases if significant portions of the first phase open on time. W Plans for new development around Polar Park remain fluid, but an office building is now envisioned beyond left field, not a hotel as first proposed. IMAGE/COURTESY

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