Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal • 2 020 Economic Forecast 13 A lthough the plans for the Worcester Red Sox to move into the Polar Park develop- ment won't come to fruition until April 2021, Worcester's highest- profile development will need to hit some major milestones in 2020 in order to stay its course. After the team moves in, its ticket sales and appeal to fans could get a boost from a controversial plan unveiled this year by Major League Baseball. The tight timeline will become a focal point Even smaller projects can run behind schedule. So what about a $101-million Polar Park ballpark at a site with a roughly 18-foot slope from what will be the field's infield to its outfield? Or where one office building on the site still remains to be demolished? Some other recently built minor league parks have been built in as short as 14 or 15 months, but they've been in warmer cli- mates – several ballpark delays were blamed on weather – with often simpler sites. Others have taken longer, like Hartford, where Dunkin' Donuts Park opened a year behind schedule, and the ballpark in Omaha, Neb., which took 27 months to build. A major bet on new demand The Worcester Red Sox will pay back just over one-third the $101-million cost of the ballpark to city in the form of upfront payments and annual leases. But that's not where the city expects to recoup its costs, or why it thinks the project is worth it. That value will come from planned ancillary developments like the one across Madison Street, with a vision calling for two hotels, 224 apartments and office and retail space. There's another soon-to-open neighbor- hood project preceding the stadium but would also be a stark departure for the Canal District: the Worcester Public Market. Projected to open early in 2020, the market on Kelley Square will include a Wachusett Brewing Co., Worcester Wares and a range of food options. The market will be the first of its kind in Worcester and add to a national trend among cities – but also a risky move in a neighborhood with few workers or residents. A potential boost from minor league contraction Major League Baseball has put forth a plan to eliminate some minor league teams' affiliation with their big-league club. That list includes the Lowell Spinners, who are affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, and the Norwich Sea Unicorns, who are part of the Detroit Tigers system. The plan has caught the ire of public officials and local baseball fans, who've criticized the potential eco- nomic and cultural impact and said the lack of an affiliation would doom the teams. Lowell is less than an hour from Worcester and Norwich around an hour, eliminating some competition for fans' attention and giving the WooSox a potential boost if the plan were to be adopted, especially if those teams were to eventually fold. WooSox project kicks in high gear Continued on Page 14 Although 2020 won't yield many major accomplishments, next year will lay the groundwork for the team's run in Worcester W O R C E S T E R R E D S O X BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor Denis Dowdle, president of Madison Properties in Boston, who is developing the area around the new ballpark. W Top Worcester Red Sox stories in 2019 A rendering of the proposed Polar Park in Worcester' Canal District, set to open in time for the Pawtucket Red Sox to move to the city for the 2021 season. >> Polar Park construction begins The first building demolished to make way for the $101-million Polar Park baseball stadium was downed in August, while the city and the ballpark developer filed their proposed plans in September and work on the overhaul of Kelley Square started in October. The building at 50 Washington St., four others and a portion of another had to be demolished to make room for the $101-million ballpark to eventually be the home of the Worcester Red Sox, the Boston Red Sox Triple-A affiliates relocating from Pawtucket in 2021. "This is the first tangible, visible evi- dence of the beginning of construction of the ballpark," City Manager Edward Augustus said at the scene in August. "It's an important milestone." According to preliminary plans, the building in question sits beyond left- center field and is proposed to be a small parking lot. In August 2018, the city and team announced a deal for the city to acquire the land necessary for the ballpark on former manufacturing property owned by Wyman-Gordon. The Worcester Redevelopment Authority acquired the 50 Washington St. property via eminent domain in April, paying $800,000 for the property. In total, the city paid about $8 mil- The Lowell Spinners and the Norwich Sea Unicorns could possibly be contracted under MLB's proposed plan. The empty site of the proposed Polar Park stadium in the Canal District. P H O T O / T M S A E R I A L S O L U T I O N S R E N D E R I N G / W O R C E S T E R R E D S O X

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