Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | August 21, 2023 | Worcester Business Journal 9 how historically the area was a mercantile center and a lightbulb went on throughout the group. e development found its name. e group developed a color palette and style guide for the Mercantile Center. ey reused brackets for the banners around the building, le over from when the buildings were part of the Worcester Common Fashion Outlet Mall. A few blocks away at 446 Main St. is e Glass Tower, bought in 2019 by Synergy. It is the tallest building in Worcester, tied with a residential tower at 600 Main St. It has undergone a number of rebrands since it was built in 1974: e Shawmut Bank Tower, the Worcester County National Bank Tower, and prior to the current rebranding, Worcester Plaza. Like Norton, Chamberlain of Synergy felt it was important for the developer to rebrand the building while it was updating the office tower. "It gives it a fresh start, especially aer renovations," said Chamberlain. Synergy wants the building to be part of the community, he said, and while speaking with members of the community aer purchasing the building, people kept referring to the building as e Glass Tower, so the company went with the name. W Branding buildings created high value Several large Central Massachusetts businesses have prominent signage in high- traffic areas, like TJX and Definitive Healthcare along the MassPike, and DCU Digital Federal Credit Union has a multi-year deal to maintain its logo and naming rights for Worcester's downtown arena. In July, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette announced it will be removing its sign from the signature space on Worcester's Mercantile Center office tower.. When polled online, the majority of WBJ readers said such branding on buildings creates a high value for businesses. How much value do you believe companies receive from placing their names or logos prominently on their buildings? F L A S H P O L L Little to no added value 7% High value, especially if the building is in a highly visible location 47% Some added value, but only for certain types of businesses 30% High value, regardless of the building's location 10% give exposure to current tenants like Sullivan Insurance Group and global IT firm Xceedance. e Unum sign still looms large over Worcester but because the company holds the lease, it retains rights. e sign has some value as advertising, said Norton. Removing large signs positioned atop a building is expensive, costing into the tens of thousands of dollars, Kelleher said. It's not as expensive as fabrication and installation, but some- one has to pay for contractors to safely remove the sign and then dispose of the material aerward. Branding a building When Franklin Realty Advisors purchased the properties at 100 and 120 Front St. in 2015, the buildings were branded as Front and Center by previous owners. Norton partnered with Boston public relations firm Conventures and Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates, also a tenant at the Mercantile Center, to rebrand the buildings. "e rebranding was a cornerstone of the strategy," Conventures President Dusty Rhodes said. "Strong branding is key." At a meeting, Kelleher & Sadowsky Principal Jim Umphrey recounted Naming Worcester's commercial high rises Current name Address Past name(s) The Mercantile Center 100 & 120 Front St. The Mechanics National Bank Tower, Front & Center, City Square One Mercantile 1 Mercantile St. The Unum Building The Glass Tower 446 Main St. Worcester County National Bank Tower, Fleet Bank Building, Shawmut Bank Building, Worcester Plaza 20 Franklin Street 20 Franklin St. Telegram & Gazette Building Sources: Individual buildings 7% The same value as having a billboard or other prominent advertisement Crews have begin taking down the Telegram & Gazette logo from atop The Mercantile Center. 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Exp must include 5 years with each of following: Object-Oriented design & methodologies; AngularJS, AJAX, JQuery, CSS & HTML5; Business Rules Engines (BRE) & Business Process Management (BPM); devops tools; full soware development life cycle, including coding standards, code reviews, source control management, build processes, testing, & operations; building complex soware systems; XML, SQL Server, DB2, & JavaScript. Experience may be gained concurrently. SEND RESUME & COVER LETTER TO: e Hanover Insurance Company c/o J. Alben, Talent Acquisition 440 Lincoln St, Worcester, MA 01653 or HRServices@hanover.com.

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