Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | January 12, 2026 | Worcester Business Journal 7 private are seeking out Marlborough. "Marlborough has been no stranger to lab type of uses in our community, and those companies that have set up shop here have done really well here," she said. Worcester's missed opportunities Two bids submitted for properties in Worcester would have helped kickstart two separate stalled economic develop- ment efforts. With Worcester continuing to look for ways to boost its efforts to pay off bonds related to the construction of the $160-million Polar Park baseball stadi- um, Worcester City Manager Eric Batista was hopeful a proposal to build the crime lab by Madison Properties could provide a win for the ballpark district, where other development proposals have been beset with delays and setbacks. Madison's bid would have seen the construction of a seven-story building at 115 Green Island Blvd., directly across the street from Polar Park. A November 2024 letter from Batista to the Worcester City Council offered the potential development as a way to offset a $2-million funding deficit caused by the lack of development of other parcels in the district. Batista was hardly the only public official throwing his weight behind the Madison Properties bid, as the proposal included a letter of support from Sen. Michael Moore (D-Worcester), Sen. Robyn Kennedy (D-Worcester), and Sen. Peter Durant (R-Southbridge), as well as five area state representatives. Worcester Mayor Joe Petty also penned a letter of support. News of the Madison Properties bid losing led to protest from Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Presi- dent & CEO Timothy Murray, who told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette the results were evidence DCAMM is bro- ken. He called for the agency's priorities to be updated to consider Gov. Maura Healey's pledge to invest in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. In contrast to the Marlborough bid, where ample surface parking could be constructed at the undeveloped site, Madison's bid sought to utilize the 348-space parking garage it construct- ed at neighboring 115 Madison St. e developer offered 248 monthly parking spaces at an initial cost of $200 per space, per month, with 100 additional spots available on a first-come, first-serve basis. With the state's request-for-proposals calling for at least 510 parking spaces, Madison offered an additional 66 surface parking spots at 149 Washington St., for a rate of $125 per space, per month. e proposal mentions nearby on-street, metered parking, as well as additional nearby seven surface lots and garages within a half-mile of the site. Due to historical contamination at the site once used by industrial manu- facturer Wyman-Gordon, construction would have required building a subslab depressurization system, which creates a vacuum beneath a structure in order to prevent harmful gases leaking into the building from below. DCAMM's calculation for the total cost of the Madison Properties project to the state was $337.58 million, about 26.6% higher than the winning Marl- borough bid's projected cost of $266.55 million. e Madison Properties bid wasn't the only proposal submitted from Worces- ter, as local real estate firm Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates submitted a bid on behalf of Webster-based Galaxy Life Sciences, seeking to construct a new lab in e Reactory biomanufacturing park in Worcester. If selected, the Galaxy proposal would have been a boon for e Reactory proj- ect. Other than a WuXi Biologics facility first announced in 2020 and still under construction, the 46-acre park has yet to come to fruition. Unlike the Madison proposal, e Reactory proposal didn't feature political support from local offi- cials as part of its bid documents. Bids from around Central Mass. Greatland didn't put all its eggs in one basket. In addition to its winning proposal, the company submitted two other bids to redevelop existing office properties. One called for redevelopment of the 176,840-square-foot building at 250 Campus Drive in Marlborough, a site utilized as the headquarters of $17-bil- lion health technology company Hologic. Greatland's other proposal would have seen the former BJ's Wholesale Club headquarters off of Route 9 in Westbor- ough redeveloped into the crime lab. "We weren't sure whether DCAMM was going to prefer a new construction or an existing facility," Sheehan said. e proposal with the lowest occu- pying cost as calculated by DCAMM would have been a proposal to construct a new building at 124 Westboro Road in Graon, a site formerly part of Graon State Hospital. is effort would have been led by Boston-based GFI Partners, which has developed at least three other industrial sites in Central Massachusetts, according to the company's website. Other bids sought to redevelop sites formerly used by EMC, a technology firm whose Central Massachusetts foot- print has dramatically declined since its 2016 merger with Dell Technologies. One bid, submitted by New York-headquartered real estate firm Newmark, sought to redevelop and expand a former EMC building at 52 South St. in Hopkinton, while another bid submitted by Framingham-based Atlantic Management Corp. called for the redevelopment of 32 Coslin Drive, another former EMC location. A third proposed property also had a tie to EMC, as Boston-based Redgate and Virginia-based FD Stonewater formed a joint venture to pitch 900 West Park Drive in Westborough. e four-story office building at the site was built for EMC in 2000 but has remained unoccupied since. Worcester-based Tonuse Inc. threw its hat into the crime lab ring, submitting six different bids for 7-9 Latti Farm Road in Millbury, the former site of a Worces- ter Telegram printing press later used by the Boston Globe. e Millbury bids offered the state different potential lease rates, with DCAMM calculations showing the total cost of those bids would have fallen in the range of $280 million to $373 million. Bidders for the Central Mass. crime lab Potential municipal tax incentives Developer Proposed location Description Total occupancy cost* mentioned? GFI Partners, Boston 124 Westboro Road, Grafton Build-for-suit building on vacant site formerly $132,301,130 No occupied by Grafton State Hospital Greatland Realty Partners, Lexington 250 Campus Drive, Marlborough Renovation of existing building currently $219,011,888 Yes utilized as headquarters of Hologic Newmark, New York City 52 South St., Hopkinton Proposal to expand existing building, $219,653,813 No formerly used by Dell EMC Greatland Realty Partners, Lexington 25 Research Drive, Westborough Renovation of former BJ's Wholesale $231,015,861 No Club headquarters Atlantic Management Corp., 32 Coslin Drive, Southborough Renovation of existing building, formerly $238,314,181 No Framingham used by Dell EMC Redgate, Boston, and 900 West Park Drive, Westborough Proposal to utilize office building built in $264,500,477 Yes FD Stonewater, Virginia 2000 for EMC, which has sat unoccupied since Greatland Realty Partners, Lexington 100 Martinangelo Drive, Marlborough Built-for-suit building on undeveloped $266,548,453 Yes wooded land Kelleher & Sadowsky Associates, Reactory Drive, Lot A, Worcester Build-to-suit building in The Reactory, $271,803,806 Yes Worcester, on behalf of Galaxy Life a 46-acre proposed biomanufacturing campus Sciences, Webster Madison Properties, Boston 115 Green Island Blvd., Worcester Build-to-suit, seven-story building in $337,578,062 No** Worcester's Ballpark District Tonuse Inc., Worcester 7-9 Latti Farm Road, Millbury Six bids were submitted for the former Boston $280,022,377 - Yes Globe and Worcester Telegram printing facility $373,021,166 at this property, with varying lease costs *measured in present value, does not reflect potential local tax incentive agreements **application says Madison was examining potential incentive programs, but did not offer specifics Source: Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance W

• Cover