wbjournal.com | October 28, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 37
35th Anniversary
WBJ
Mercantile Center. He owns the 100 and
120 Front St. buildings, and in 2022 sold
the property containing e Mercantile
restaurant for $5.55 million. Norton had
invested about $4.7 million to develop the
space.
Both Front Street office buildings are at
95 percent occupancy or above, Norton
said. e real challenge at this point is
filling the remaining 50,000-60,000 square
feet of retail space.
"We are starting to look at a micro-mar-
ket sort of concept, but we're not sure if
the market is ready for it yet, like it would
be if there were some more downtown
residential," Norton said. "We've talked to
some retail developers to come in and take
that part of the deal. ey just don't think
the market is there yet."
The mall as it was
e Galleria came alive in 1971, amid
a nationwide shopping mall boom in the
latter half of the 20th century. Downtowns
Continued on next page
"With [UMass
Memorial] as the
mainstay, so to
speak, I moved
the project forward,
and it's been
very successful on
the office side.
– Chip Norton, president,
Franklin Realty Advisors
Galleria shoppers in the mid-1970s had plenty of stores from which to choose, like Sharfmans Jewelers.
A view from above: An open Front Street is a linchpin of the new CitySquare development.
