Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | November 9, 2020 | wbjournal.com F A C T B O O K M A I N S T R E E T S Commercial Residential & industrial Central Mass. South Dudley 13.06 13.06 Spencer 14.12 14.12 West Brookfield 14.70 14.70 East Brookfield 14.82 14.82 Charlton 14.94 14.94 Webster 15.06 15.06 North Brookfield 15.42 15.42 Oxford 16.66 16.66 Warren 17.16 17.16 Brookfield 18.01 18.01 Sturbridge 19.02 19.02 Southbridge 19.48 19.48 Commercial Residential & industrial North County Source: Massachusetts Department of Revenue 2020 Central Mass. property tax rates, by community Rate per $1,000 in assessed value Seeking pedestrians West of Worcester, on Rt. 9, in West- borough, is a Main Street with a handful of long-established mom-and-pop shops and a smattering of residential units, which Town Planner Jim Robbins said has been the case for about a century. Westborough's downtown – and the town itself – literally revolves around the rotary in the center of five intersecting streets, but it has sprawled outward. e former Bay State Abrasives industrial site was converted into what is now Bay State Commons, a brick shopping and resi- dential complex boasting 250,000 square feet of commercial, retail and residential space, topped with a 64-unit condo- minium project and a two-acre park, the latter of which is owned by the town. e center opened in 2007 and imme- diately suffered significant vacancies due to the recession, but has since bounced back. Robbins estimated commercial space is 80% full, with the residential condominiums now at capacity. Although not part of the traditional, older Main Street area, it was designed to match the styles of the buildings in the town's center, functioning as a sort of Main Street district addendum. Outside of Bay State Commons, downtown Westborough is anchored by an array of small businesses ranging from restaurants to thri stores and salons – an ideal mixture for many town planners. e next major goal, Robbins said, is to bolster residential opportunities. "It makes sense to have more density for residential in the downtown because people can walk to all the services – the restaurants, the retail, town hall, the library – all of those services are in the downtown," Robbins said. "We want people to walk to them instead of drive to them." e town is pursuing this by working with property owners and developers, adjusting zoning regulations as needed. "at's a very popular development style right now across the country, cre- ating vibrant downtowns and bringing residential uses back into the center of town," Robbins said. "You can't do that without a diverse business base to attract people, because why would you want to live in the downtown if you didn't have good businesses to attract you, to take advantage of ?" Westborough is in the process of updating its town master plan, Robbins said, which includes paying attention to how best it might continue developing its downtown sector. "We want to create a more pedestri- an-friendly downtown," he said. The Stave & Still restaurant, which features Southern America cuisine, opened in Webster this summer. Continued from page 7 W PHOTO/MONICA BUSCH Royalston 13.52 13.52 Hubbardston 14.82 14.82 Princeton 15.85 15.85 Shirley 16.11 16.11 Winchendon 16.28 16.28 Sterling 16.81 16.81 Templeton 16.83 16.83 Phillipston 16.94 16.94 Pepperell 16.98 16.98 Athol 17.18 17.18 Petersham 17.37 17.37 Groton 17.38 17.38 Westminster 17.55 17.55 Barre 17.87 17.87 Leominster 17.98 17.98 Lunenburg 18.12 18.12 Harvard 18.47 18.44 Ashby 18.83 18.83 Townsend 19.52 19.52 Fitchburg 19.71 19.71 Gardner 19.74 19.74 Lancaster 19.85 19.85 Ashburnham 20.10 20.10 Clinton 15.49 26.85 Ayer 14.10 29.57

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