Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 7, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 9 W Running your business demands resources you can rely on. Like the incredibly rugged and versatile Sprinter or Metris from Mercedes-Benz of Shrewsbury. With Mercedes PRO Connect to streamline your operations, customized upfitting to match your line-of-work requirements and a lengthy warranty, both vans are engineered to be with you for the long haul. Stop by, test drive and put one to work today. The perfect business partner. 760 Boston Turnpike Road, Shrewsbury, MA 01545 Sales: 888.639.6605 • Service: 855.825.0130 • Parts: 855.823.9682 • wagnermercedesofshrewsbury.com • Turbocharged Gas and Diesel Engine Options • Active Brake Assist • Attention Assist • 360° Degree Camera Starting at $34,495 MSRP • Crosswind Assist • Load-Adaptive Electronic Stability (ESP®) • Hill-Start Assist • Rearview Camera Starting at $27,180 MSRP Amazon has had an increased presence in Central Massachusetts, including in Bellingham, Milford and Northborough. offices replacing the mall. e firm said then it was excited to be part of Worcester's growth and it had hired a design-and-engineering team to draw up plans for the remade property. "e era of enclosed shopping centers has passed," Finard, the CEO, said at the time. "Shoppers have embraced places like Northborough Crossing and MarketStreet in Lynnfield with its apart- ments, health clinic, medical offices, and retail." e Greendale Mall's demise will leave Worcester without an enclosed shopping mall for the first time in about five decades, at a time when brick-and-mortar retail is being crushed in the short term by the pan- demic and in the long term by a shi to online shopping. e Galleria mall downtown was demolished and replaced with a mix of uses, including an office building, hotel and apartments. One notable outdoor retail plaza has opened in the past few years, the Trolley Yard development on Grove Street, whose tenants include a Starbucks, Chipotle, Hot Table Panini, two banks and a day care. Downtown Worcester has dozens of empty store- fronts, and a planned mixed-use devel- opment across from the $132-million Polar Park baseball stadium has been delayed, with its prospects for demand for new retail – along with offices, a hotel and apartments – seeming less certain. Instead, the area's retail destina- tions have shied outside of the city, including to the Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, which opened in 2003, Northborough Crossing, which opened in 2011, and Lakeway Com- mons, which opened in Shrewsbury in 2017. Another major retail develop- ment is under construction on Route 20 in Shrewsbury, Edgemere Crossing at Flint Pond, which will total 145,000 square feet of retail space, including a Market Basket grocery store, along with 250 apartments. As for the Greendale Mall's last tenants, the T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods store is rumored to be moving to Lin- coln Plaza in Worcester, where three empty storefronts stand where Staples, A.C. Moore and Barnes & Noble have closed. Framingham-based TJX Cos., the owner of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, has not commented on a potential move to Lincoln Plaza. Amazon is a good replacement for the Greendale Mall F L AS H P O L L Is an Amazon warehouse the best option to replace the Greendale Mall? Although there has been no formal confirmation to date, all signs indicate Boston developer Finard Properties will demolish and convert the long-struggling Greendale Mall in Worcester into an Amazon fulfillment warehouse, the first of such conversion in New England of an enclosed shopping mall into an industrial building. This is a reversal of Finard's original plan when it purchased the mall in 2019, saying it would convert the property into an outdoor shopping lifestyle center with apartments. When polled online, the majority of WBJ readers said an Amazon center is either the best option to replace the Greendale Mall, or at least a good solution to get the property back to productive use. No, the developer's original plan for a lifestyle center was better. 21% No, the original building should be restored, rather than demolished. Yes, it creates jobs and follows the trend of retail moving online. 39% It's not the best option, but it will convert a rundown property back into productive use. 38% 2% "I'm torn about this as I believe we need more affordable housing, but it makes sense to take advantage of an opportunity for jobs." C O M M E N T S : W PHOTO/COURTESY OF AMAZON

• Cover