Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | February 3, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Your entrepreneurial spirit drives you, but growing a business isn't easy. You need reliable partners to help guide you through many of today's complicated business, tax and financial situations. At S&G we have the knowledge, technical expertise and experience to get the job done. Combine that with our Awesome Service Guarantee - our commitment to customer care and personal attention - and you'll see why S&G has become the partner of choice for so many winning organizations. • Value Growth Planning • Business Exit Planning • Business Transition Planning • Business Operations Consulting • Accounting & Tax Services • Financial Services • Retirement Planning Having the right partner can make all the difference in reaching your goals. Let S&G help you grow your business and create more wealth and value. Set up your no-obligation initial consultation today. 508-757-3311 www.sgllp.com WORCESTER • FRAMINGHAM • HYANNIS Having the Right Partner Can Make all the Difference! Behind schedule As for the challenge of related development taking place on time, completion already appears to be behind what was first envisioned. e first phase of the mixed-use development just outside Polar Park was originally said to open by Jan. 1, 2021 in an agreement reached in 2018 between the city and developer Denis Dowdle. e first buildings – a residential building south of Madison Street and an office building just beyond the park's le field wall – now won't open until September 2021. Other buildings are due to come on line in 2022 and 2023. To experts, the latest on these projects sound distressingly familiar, especially the overruns. "at's pretty much par for the course," said Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. "We see this all the time." "e real issue," said Joel Maxcy, a sports management professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, "is why is this cost overrun commonplace in stadium finance and why aren't lessons from past experiences ever learned?" Odds are steep Worcester can still find success making ends meet with Polar Park costs, the economists said. And despite the city's mantra about no existing taxpayer money going toward the project, there's only one place to turn if revenues fall short. "e loan must be repaid, and any shortfall will have to be made up from somewhere else," Maxcy said, "so the city and its taxpayers are on the hook." In looking to play catchup on revenue generation, the city has other strikes against it, too, economists say: e ballpark will be closed most of than 75% of the year, severely limiting how oen hoards of fans will be coming through the neighborhood. "One ought to view the ballpark as the 'tail' and not the 'dog,'" Sanderson said. "at is, these facilities tend not to be economic catalysts for one simple reason: ey're closed most of the time." Still, in the eyes of city officials, the choice was to build the ballpark or see the underutilized old industrial land sit for generations more. Mayor Joseph Petty compared the Polar Park site to DCU Center and Saint Vincent Hospital, which were built downtown in 1982 and 1999, respectively. "What else would be there?" Petty said. "Probably nothing." Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross Crews are building the area around what will be Polar Park's home plate area off Madison Street. Joel Maxcy, Drexel University W PHOTO/GRANT WELKER

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