Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 2, 2026 | Worcester Business Journal 11 He scrutinized buyers' records and plans, looking for owner-occupants rather than investors seeking to fill large houses with students. Most of the transition took about 18 months, and the financial return exceeded his expectations. e approach won over Patricia Glennon, an Elm Park resident since 1985. She recalled Haims pulling over while she walked her dog, introducing himself and telling her to call if she ever had a problem with one of his properties. "He did a tremendous thing for as much for the neighborhood and the city as for himself, by far," Glennon said. A house near Glennon illustrates the outcome. Once a private home, it later became Becker's president's office. Haims required it to remain a single-family residence and found a household that restored it. "He turned them back into sin- gle-family homes from office build- ings or dorms, and it basically made this neighborhood worth calling a historical district," Glennon said. Nine dorms, one village Haims did not return every Becker building to its original use. He retained nine former dormitories, restored the mostly historic properties and leased them to Worcester Poly- technic Institute. WPI operates them collectively as South Village, offering single, double and triple bedrooms in houses with shared living space. e arrangement preserved student housing while avoiding a build- ing-by-building sale. Haims still owns the nine houses and two surface parking lots, his remaining pieces of the original 27-parcel deal. Other properties went to new own- ers. In 2024, Haims sold the former Boutin Student Center at 44 West St. to Bay State Bank for $3.15 million, aer buying it as part of the Beck- er portfolio for $525,000. Bay State has since renovated the building for back-office operations. Haims also sold 80 William St., a building previously used by Becker for its video game design program, to e Center for Applied Behavioral Instruction, a nonprofit special edu- cation school for students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other related neurological disorders. e building now houses CABI's school for students around high school age, helping them navigate the transition into adult life. Haims acknowledges not every resale has moved as quickly as he 800-939-9103 cornerstonebank.com Member FDIC | Member DIF Scan the QR code to connect with us. More Than Half of Businesses in the U.S. Reported Fraud in the Past Two Years We Can Help with Positive Pay Positive Pay is the leading fraud-prevention solution designed to help protect your business against altered, forged, or counterfeit checks and ACH debits clearing your account—with the convenience of reviewing and acting on decision items right from online banking or the mobile app. In 2025, we protected our business customers from over $250,000 in fraudulent transactions, and we're just getting started. continues on page 12 "My heart and my intent is still to stay committed to that community." Russ Haims, Hampton Properties

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