Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal • January 5, 2015 www.wbjournal.com Even the staging and preparation work is expensive, said Robert Branca of Branded Management Group of Worcester, which redeveloped 72 and 60 Shrewsbury St., as well as the Harrington Corner building at the cor- ner of Main and Front streets. Once you open up a building to add things such as elevators and other elements to bring it up to code, you never know what you're going to find, he said. "You have to care for the facility and you have to care for its history… and that takes money and it takes time and it takes energy," said David Fields, a managing partner with Wormtown Brewery, who has been working with Branca to develop Wormtown's new 12,500-square-foot location at 72 Shrewsbury St. (Wormtown plans to begin brewing at the site this month.) Balancing past with present When tackling such projects, devel- opers must balance maintaining the historical nature of a building, such as its exterior, while adding modern requirements such as handicapped access, Winn said. "The challenge is really to serve many different masters and do it in a way where you are checking all the boxes for regulation and the rules, but at the end of the day, have something that is attractive and usable," he said. These additional costs can be some- what offset by federal tax credits equal to 20 percent of the redevelopment costs, Winn said. Often, that's just enough to break even with the cost of new construction, he said, but a state program allows developers to receive another 20 percent back in tax incen- tives. That's where the costs begin to make sense, Winn said. "It's a big boon in places like Massachusetts, New York or Virginia that have this state credit," he said. But the benefits extend beyond the bottom line, said Branca, allowing for the creation of a unique building that draws potential tenants. "They're unique and that draws attention and a sense of place," Branca said. "If (businesses) are in a landmark building, it raises the stature of that tenant and gives them a higher profile and lends them a higher stature … their customers are interested as much in the space as their service." Branca's building at 72 Shrewsbury St. also houses two restaurants (Volturno and Sweet), a retail shop and offices. Fields said Wormtown had been looking at historic sites with an eye toward space, and when they saw the former Buick dealership, they signed on immediately, saying it was "a really, really cool spot that would help create an environment and atmosphere that was supportive of the brand" while also helping the company's image in Worcester. "It is not just a Wormtown thing, it is not just a Shrewsbury Street thing but it is a Worcester thing … being part of something that energizes the city of Worcester is very important to us," Fields said. That's the intangible "sense of place" that these historic renovations bring to the city and individual neighborhoods, added Stephen Rolle, Worcester's plan- ning director. "It really is vital for us to retain these buildings in that they create a sense of place and uniqueness and they are what makes a community unique," he said. "It is really important, particularly to those areas where there are a number of those buildings remaining and espe- cially when those buildings are a strong contributor to the feeling of the neigh- borhood." Broader benefit These buildings can benefit the entire city, said Branca, who has seen this play out in Providence's east side. "People love (historic) buildings; they love to work in them and they love to live around them," he said. "Name any city that has a historic district; they tend to be the place (where) rents are higher and they are more occupied." For the ultimate test of whether a historic renovation can be done suc- cessfully and whether it's desirable, both Winn and Branca pointed to their most recent projects. Alluding to now fully occupied Voke Lofts, Branca said: "From both the developer and the tenants, people voted with their dollars. There are plenty of new apartments and condos to move into, but that place is full." This has attracted renewed interest in historic redevelopment in Worcester, the developers said, specifically the vacant former Worcester County court- house in Lincoln Square, which has received proposals from three different companies. Rolle has high hopes for more his- toric renovations in Worcester. "I think we are going to see that more and more now that we see examples of what places look like after they are transformed," he said. "While develop- ers may feel they are taking a risk now, there are proven examples out there that this does work and can work in Worcester." n Developers add modern touches to historic buildings >> Continued from Page 1 Top: Large bay doors open out at the front of the Wormtown Brewery site on Shrewsbury Street. That area will contain a tasting area, which will be an addition for the business. Above: More brewing tanks, located on the other side of the room, will expand the company 's production capacity. • FRAMINGHAM, 100 Clinton St. – The former site of an Avery Dennison plant will be the new, 67,000-square-foot home of brewer Jack's Abby. • FITCHBURG, 166 Boulder Dr. – Putnam Place comprises four former General Electric factory buildings that were built at the turn of the 20th century and have since been redeveloped with 300,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space. • WHITINSVILLE, 670 Linwood Ave. – The Linwood Mill was a symbol of the local 19th-century textile industry. Today, it has been renovated to include both residential and mixed-use space. It currently houses an adult daycare center, a barber shop and a medical rehabilitation facility. • WORCESTER, 21 Salisbury St. – The former Worcester Vocational Technical High School is now the site of the Voke Lofts apartment building. • WORCESTER, 138 Green St. – Crompton Place is an ongoing development to incorporate commercial and residential space into a former mill building in the city's Canal District. New life for old buildings Here's a list of five Central Massachusetts sites of businesses past that have been redeveloped: P H O T O / M A T T V O L P I N I P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y

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