Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | May 13, 2019 | wbjournal.com W ho is e man who will develop the project paying off the bulk of the WooSox stadium's cost has a low- key history Denis Dowdle? BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor D enis Dowdle couldn't have foreseen himself at the center of Worcester's big- gest economic develop- ment story in generations. e key principal for Boston-based Madison Properties had experience with Worcester only once before. He developed the former U.S. Steel facility in Quinsigamond Village into Worcester Crossing, a Walmart Supercenter-an- chored development off Route 146. About two years ago, Dowdle began considering another industrial site in Worcester. is time, he looked at man- ufacturer Wyman-Gordon's property off Madison Street, a property he compared to the U.S. Steel site and saw as perhaps the city's last major undeveloped parcel. en, of course, the Pawtucket Red Sox came along. Today, Dowdle – a low-key devel- oper without the name recognition or the long roster of completed projects other builders tout – is the lynchpin of a $240-million project raising Worcester's profile across the state, with the minor league baseball team set to move into a new ballpark in April 2021, as part of Dowdle's planned mixed-use develop- ment. "A lot of things came together," Dowdle said of the team's plans to move coming together aer he already secured a sale agreement for the site. "It felt like the stars were aligning for Worcester." Dowdle, particularly, is key to the financing of the project. e city needs revenue from Dowdle's development to generate tax revenues from hotels, offic- es, apartments and retailers in a special taxing district the city established solely to pay off the ballpark costs. e city has said no general taxpayer funds will be used to pay off the $101 million it borrowed for the stadium and new revenue will cover all public costs. Dowdle's development is responsible for generating more than half of the $3.7 million the city says it needs annually for the debt service starting in 2022. A smaller first in Worcester Dowdle has never built a project as large and complex as the roughly $140-million development he's now planning for the Canal District. He's undertaken two ground-up construction projects, each now with one thing in common with the planned development across from Polar Park: e once-contaminated sites they were built on. "I gravitate toward what I think is good real estate with some challenges," Dowdle said. In both Worcester developments – Worcester Crossing and the planned project across from Polar Park – Dowdle appears to have fortuitious timing. In Worcester Crossings' case, a new Route 146 was about to add a fast route between I-290 and the Massachusetts Turnpike. In the case of the Wy- man-Gordon site, Dowdle happened to begin talks with the manufacturer just before the city reached an agreement with the PawSox to bring the team to Worcester. Dowdle said he eyed the Wy- man-Gordon site first in 2004, but at that time the company wasn't yet selling. He bought the former U.S. Steel site instead. Turning the U.S. Steel plant into a retail plaza took roughly six years, including legal challenges to zoning changes. Dowdle listened to residents' concerns and was transparent with the public for his vision for the U.S. Steel site, said Jane Petrella, then the head of the Quinsiga- mond Village Community Center. "He was always open to any sugges- tions," Petrella said. Worcester Crossing transformed that part of Quinsigamond Village, a neigh- borhood overshadowed for decades by a since-closed landfill. "With Quinsigamond Village, there's been a long-standing resident desire to improve some of the physical conditions of their environment," said Mullen Saw- yer, the executive director of the Oak Hill Community Development Corp., the group covering the Quinsigamond Village neighborhood. Sources: RK Centres, City of Worcester, Atlantic Retail, City of Woburn, Worcester Registry of Deeds, Middlesex Registry of Deeds Dowdle's other projects Denis Dowdle of Madison Properties will develop a major mixed-use development next to the planned Polar Park. A look at two other developments he has led: Worcester Crossing, Worcester Size: 379,353 square feet Square-footage of anchor Walmart Supercenter: 216,000 Tenants: Walmart, Olive Garden, Mattress Firm, Hair Cuttery, DCU, GameStop Purchased: In 2004 for $13 million Sold: In 2014 for $49 million Woburn Landing, Woburn Size: 10 acres Tenants: 110 Grill, Red Robin, Chick-fil-A Tenants scheduled to open this fall: Homewood Suites, Hampton Inn (235 total rooms) Purchased: In 2014 for $4.1 million

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