Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | July 28, 2025 | wbjournal.com Your hard work and dedication continue to inspire us all. Leading the Way: Bill Spencer Congratulations to all of the 40 Under Forty Honorees. Celebrating Excellence Continued from previous page scope changes," Steinberg said. "Would it be an office building? Would it be a bio- tech building? We're still all eager to see what ultimately becomes of that area." New York-based Diamond Baseball Holdings, which purchased the WooSox in December 2023, has been investing more in real estate around ballparks for the clubs it owns. is is an expansion in the scope of the business that has purchased 45 minor league teams since forming in 2021. So far, DBH is taking a wait-and-see approach with Worcester. "We've had conversations with Diamond," Dowdle said. "We've briefed them on everything we're doing in the ballpark district. I don't know what their appetite for investment in Worcester is at this point, but they're aware of every- thing we're doing." Moving beyond le field, Dowdle said a purchase agreement with a buyer is in the works for the undeveloped residen- tial site at 110 Madison St. A potential partner for the planned 175-room hotel project has been identi- fied by Madison, said Dunn. e hotel was originally set to be com- pleted by May 2024, according to a 2020 report from then city manager Edward Augustus. Even with the partner-related progress, Dunn doesn't believe shovels will be in the ground this year. Other than the 350-space Green Island Boulevard parking garage, the one Madison Properties project completed in the district is e Revington, a 228-unit mixed-used building finished in Novem- ber 2023. Dowdle said he's pleased with how that project has played out. e average asking residential rent at e Revington is $2,600, and the building has an occupancy rate of 87%, according to real estate date firm CoStar. Retail tenants include acai bowl franchise Playa Bowls and a branch of Whitinsville-based UniBank. Despite the public back-and-forth between the two parties, Dowdle agrees with City leaders who feel the ballpark experiment is a noble one. "is project has been great for Worcester," Dowdle said. "It has slowed down a bit with some of the factors that have happened in the economy and mar- kets recently, but I'm still bullish." Ballpark revenue shortfall e WooSox have met their finan- cial obligations, and attendance isn't the reason for ballpark district budget shortfalls, said City of Worcester CFO Timothy McGourthy. "e attendance at the ballpark has no bearing on the City," McGourthy said. "It would impact parking revenues potentially, but ticket sales and all that has no bearing on the City." Instead, the shortfalls are the result of slower-than-anticipated developments of key parcels, many of them owned by Madison Properties. Building permits and additional taxes on new develop- ment are a key part in funding. Fiscal 2024 saw a $792,000 shortfall between what was budgeted for versus what was collected for revenues in dis- trict improvement financing (DIF) area around Polar Park. e final fiscal 2025 revenue numbers are still to be calcu- lated per the three-month schedule, but McGourthy expects around a similar shortfall. e City continues to make bond payments and expects future district revenue to eventually make up for year- to-year shortfalls. is is a budget short- fall, rather than an account shortfall, and isn't coming from money budgeted for other purposes, McGourthy claimed. "When we do the budget, if we weren't moving monies into the District Improvement Financing account, those monies would be used for other mu- nicipal purposes," McGourthy said. "So in that sense, the DIF would compete against every other public purpose that the City does. But we've never taken money out of a school account or road account and moved it over to the DIF." Revenues are generated from other projects in the district, like the 173-unit mixed-use building e Cove and 83- unit affordable housing District 120. A 53-unit mixed-used project by Newton-based Rossi Development at the former Table Talk Pies site is under construction, with other projects planning to bring 450+ more units to a Canal District neighborhood that looks much different than just a few years ago. "If you look at fiscal 2019, which was the year the DIF was established, it was about $10.5 million in private assessed value within the ballpark district," Mc- Gourthy said. "Today, it's $128 million in private assessed value. at's both the combination of these new projects ... and the increase in property values on all of the land owners in that area." Dunn and McGourthy said shortfalls are a temporary adjustment to a long- term project they still see as a home run, stressing the other benefits of turn- ing the formerly contaminated industri- al lot into a $160-million ballpark. The home team e WooSox made their rent payment of $2.8 million in fiscal 2025, with an increase to $2.84 million slated for 2026. e team has regularly ranked at the top of MiLB in terms of attendance per game, coming in 10th of 120 in 2024 Madison should sell its Polar Park properties When City of Worcester and Worcester Red Sox officials announced in 2018 the plan to construct the Polar Park baseball stadium in the Canal District, a key part of the economic development effort was a partnership with Boston developer Madison Properties to redevelop five properties around the ballpark into residences, hotels, and office buildings, with openings scheduled to begin in 2021 when the stadium opened. All five of those Madison projects are significantly behind schedule and only one has come to fruition -- the high-end 228-apartment complex The Revington -- although the Canal District has seen other non-Madison developments come online, including The Cove and District 120 apartment complexes. All developments in Central Massachusetts have faced headwinds since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including trouble obtaining affordable financing, shortage of materials and labor, and downturns in the commercial real estate and life sciences industries. The slow development of the Madison properties was the main reason cited by City officials for why the City's plan to not use general taxpayer funds to pay for the $160-million Polar Park has failed. Members of the City Council have gone as far as to call for one key Madison property to perhaps be seized by eminent domain to make way for a new developer. When polled online, nearly three-fourths of WBJ readers said Madison should sell its properties to make way for new developers. Should Madison Properties be forced to sell its Polar Park-adjacent land? Yes, it's time for a new developer to take over the projects. Madison shouldn't be forced to sell, but it should offload the properties if it isn't going to finish the developments soon. No, the entire development industry is facing challenges, and Madison shouldn't be singled out. No, Madison owns the properties and can do what it wants with them. 39% 34% 11% 15%

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