Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 27, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 11 said. "ere's going to be a lot of eyes on these projects, and it's going to be very interesting to see how they play out and in how they're received." He's hopeful if progress is made in Worcester or Marlborough, more devel- opers will emerge. "Once we go down that route, I think if they're halfway through a [conversion] project, and it's looking successful, you'll see people lining up to do this," he said. "Until that point, you know, I think it's very difficult to pull the trigger and be the first out of the box." W (877) 292-4232 | felpower.com Your Trusted Partner in Energy Management COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS Empowering businesses and organizations to optimize energy spend and achieve sustainability objectives. Office-to-multifamily proposals A handful of office-to-multifamily proposals have been made in Central Massachusetts, but most of these projects are still just theoretical at this stage. Address Developer Announced Proposal Status 130 Lizotte Drive, Ferris Development Group, April 2024 Converting existing office Seeking overlay zoning to Marlborough in Southborough building into 75 units, building allow project to move two additional buildings forward containing 105 units on adajcent lot 1 Chestnut Place, Synergy, in Boston February 2024 Converting former Fallon Health Design phase Worcester headquarters into 198 market-rate units, with 22 affordable condos in adjacent building 390 Main St., WinnDevelopment, June 2023 Considering converting the Slater Announced intent to purchase Worcester in Boston Building to mixed-use property building in June 2022, sale with unspecified amount of has yet to be finalized apartment units 340 Main St., The SilverBrick Group, September Converting Commerce Building Project put on hold in Worcester in Florida 2020 into 312-unit apartment building September 2022 due to rising construction costs Source: Municipal planning documents, various media publications the property. A CoStar listing for the site says it is under agreement for purchase. e company did not respond to a request for comment from WBJ. Beyond these three properties, Umphrey doesn't see as much potential for office-to-multifamily conversions in Worcester as other regions facing larger struggles with unused office space. "In Worcester, the other buildings from a vacancy perspective are doing really well," he said, referencing buildings like 100 Front St., which he said has only 2,800 out of 2750,000 square feet avail- able, and 120 Front St., which he said has 10,000 square feet vacant out of 165,000. Suburban situation Urban areas don't have a monopoly on underutilized or empty office buildings. "ere's no doubt that when you start getting into suburban space – the Marl- borough area, Southborough, and down even further – there's definitely a lot of space and vacancy," Umphrey said. A prime example of underutilized of- fice space is the five-story building at 130 Lizotte Drive in Marlborough. Empty for more than a decade, the building was bought in March for $4.48 million by Ferris Development Group, a Southbor- ough-based real estate developer. Ferris wants to build 75 units in the existing building and develop two additional buildings containing 105 units on an adjacent parcel. Suburban conversions can bring their own challenges. While down- town Worcester is already zoned for multi-family housing, 130 Lizotte sits in an industrial-only zone. Ferris is seeking an overlay zone which would allow the project to begin to move forward. Not a cure-all Office-to-multifamily conversions are unlikely to be an easy fix to housing problems, according to the CBRE report. "Elevated multifamily demand on its own is not enough to justify the cost of conversion in most cases," the report reads, "Successful conversion candidate buildings exist in a rare intersection of supply, demand, and cost characteristics, in which the primary factors tend to be related first to cost of conversion and second to office/multifamily demand." But Bartholomew is keeping a close eye on these proposals, including the Ferris project. Bartholomew's employer, R.W. Holmes, works with Ferris. "It's going to be fascinating to watch. I think there's certainly a pent up demand. A lot of these owners want to figure out how to make their building work," he

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