Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | September 5, 2022 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M AS S I N B R I E F V E R BAT I M Last woman standing "It has been an honor to serve as Insulet's CEO and to have been part of this remarkable team for more than seven years." Shacey Petrovic, the former CEO of Acton medical device manufacturer Insulet Corp., which after her resignation for family medical reasons meant all 15 of the public companies headquartered in Central Massachusetts are led by men UMass Chan expansion "UMass Chan and Lahey share a common vision of training future generations of physicians grounded in evidence-based, patient-centered, multispecialty and interprofessional practice." Dr. Michael Collins, chancellor of UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, on plans to partner with Lahey Hospital & Medical Center to put a regional UMass Chan campus in Burlington ALANA leader "It's essential that a community, such as ours at Assumption, consider the differences among the individuals who make up the community. The fact that we are all different is the one thing we all have in common." Brenda Hunt, who was named the first director of ALANA (African-, Latino/Hispanic-, Asian, and Native American) and first-generation student success at Worcester's Assumption University, where she will oversee the Cross-Cultural Center N ew Street Realty Corp. of Worcester is requesting the City of Worcester establish an adaptive reuse overlay district for two Sprinkler Factory properties, which served as the former home of a nonprofits arts gallery. Approval would clear the way for redevelopment of the properties at New Street's properties at 38 Harlow St. and 24 New St. in Worcester for residential or commercial use. ey are currently zoned for manufacturing, according to documents filed with the Worcester Planning Board. e Planning Board will have a public hearing on the matter at its Aug. 31 meeting, according to the Planning Board website. e 211,000-square-foot building at 38 Harlow, known as e Sprinkler Factory, has been home to a variety of small businesses and nonprofits over the past few years from manufacturing and construction businesses to a nonprofit arts gallery. e property is assessed by the City of Worcester for $1.4 million. In September 2021, tenants were issued notices to vacate by the City of Worcester related to a fire safety compliance dispute between New Street Realty Corp. and the City. e matter was later dropped by the city. When reached by phone on Aug. 22, New Street Realty Corp. declined to comment about its request. Aer the Sprinkler Factory Art Gallery closed down, the former directors – Birgit Straehle and Luis Antonio Fraire – bought e White Room events space in Worcester's Canal District, with an eye toward potentially adding an artistic element. An adaptive reuse overlay district allows the city to rezone a specific property that is vacant or underutilized paving the way for redevelopment, without rezoning the entire neighborhood. It can ease dimensional requirements and parking minimums, according to a 2021 Worcester Regional Research Bureau report, "Worcester's Zones, Districts, and Overlays." Other developers in Worcester have used an AROD to enable redevelopment of former industrial properties such as the former Sargent Card Building at 300 Southbridge St. and the former self-storage facility near Polar Park at 90 Lamartine St. Sprinkler Factory owner seeks special district to allow for redevelopment BY TIMOTHY DOYLE WBJ Staff Writer W The Sprinkler Factory PHOTO | COURTESY OF GOOGLE Luis Antonio Fraire Birgit Straehle

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