Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | July 6, 2020 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F WooSox remain optimistic for spring 2021 opening V E R BAT I M Growing the growing operation "It's been truly amazing considering that many other marijuana companies furloughed their employees and reduced their hours of operation. CommCan co-owner Ellen Rosenfeld, discussing her Millis cannabis company's plan to triple its manufacturing capacity and hire 50 new people in the coming months Resilient and reopening "Resilience is a trait of the Nichols community that has served us well for over 200+ years and particularly in 2020." Nichols President Susan West Engelkemeyer, in announcing that Nichols College in Dudley will reopen its campus in August Mechanics Hall's future "We may well find that we cannot afford to reopen until January or later in 2021." Mechanics Hall Executive Director Kathleen Gagne, discussing the future of the institution B efore construction even began, a timetable for completing Polar Park, a new minor league base- ball stadium in Worcester, was called ambitious by those planning it. Despite a pause in construction lasting about a month during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, planners are still holding out hope: e Worces- ter Red Sox will begin playing at the ballpark in April 2021. "Until we have a new plan, that's our plan," said Janet Marie Smith, a ballpark architect who is acting as a consultant on the $132-million project. Smith and leading officials from the City of Worcester and the WooSox – who had their final season in Pawtucket, R.I., cancelled due to the coronavirus – gave a media tour of Polar Park on June 29 to show progress. Concrete has been poured for a 22-foot wall in right field, and a seating bowl is taking shape around the infield. Union Station is vis- ible from the concourse behind where home plate will go. Design work is almost entirely com- plete, but architects remain working on smaller details, Smith said. e ballpark is planned to have a capacity for 10,000, with about 6,000 fixed seats and the remainder a mix of tables, seating berms and other areas. "I don't think you ever really finish designing," she said. e project hasn't gone entirely smoothly since city officials and the team announced plans to move to Worcester in August 2018. Aside from the pandemic-related delay, construction costs have risen by roughly $30 million, due to higher ma- terial costs and site acquisition. e city, which will own the ballpark and is paying for most of the project, picked up about $20 million of those extra costs. City officials have maintained the ballpark, which the city is borrowing funds for over a 30-year period, will pay for itself through new property tax revenue on sites surrounding the ballpark. Much of that revenue would come from a multi-build- ing mixed-use development on the other side of Madison Street, including a dual-branded hotel with 262 rooms, a 121,000-square-foot commercial building, a 60,000-square-foot commer- cial building, and a 125-unit residential building. Work on that project has yet to start. e first phase was originally said to open by Jan. 1, 2021. Looking to further push along that project, the Worcester City Council has approved a series of tax breaks, including for the hotels, another for a residential building, and a third for a building call- ing for office, laboratory and retail use. A sudden recession has called into question the shorter-term viability of those buildings or an office building slated to be a landmark of sorts for Polar Park beyond the le field wall. Concrete has been poured for under- ground parking, but the office building will not be built for opening day as envisioned. Plans now call for capping the underground garage and building the office building later. "It depends on market conditions," Smith said of the construction. Sports economists, including those who've reviewed financing for Polar Park, have nearly unanimously said such public funding isn't a wise use of funds because economic impacts of stadiums are relatively small. e tour gave officials a chance to push those concerns to another time. City Manager Edward Augustus stood at the top of Gold Street beyond the ballpark's right field and envisioned the public being able to see into the ballpark when games aren't played. "is is the money shot," he said. "is is going to be an amazing vantage point." W BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor A three-story steel structure at Polar Park will become the main entrance at Madison Street. PHOTO/GRANT WELKER

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