Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal • 2016 Central Mass By The Numbers 35 PLEASE JOIN US IN HONORING... November 18, 2016 Tuckerman Hall, Worcester, MA • 12:00pm - 2:00pm Cost: $50 Space is limited! Pre-Registration Required REGISTER ONLINE AT: www.wbjournal.com/womeninbusiness MATILDE CASTIEL, MD KATHRYN CROCKETT JULIE CROWLEY MICHELLE DROLET ANTONIA G. MCGUIRE LIORA STONE For questions contact Kris Prosser at kprosser@wbjournal.com or 508-755-8004 ext. 286 Supporting Sponsors Presenting Sponsors Real Estate T he Worcester Business Development Corp. is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1965 with the goal of promoting redevel- opment in the city. Over time, this has focused on removing blight and using public resources to clean up and prepare sites for redevelopment. One such project is 44 acres on the former Worcester State Hospital Campus that will be developed by the WBDC into a biomanufacturing facility that could employ up to 500 people. WBDC President and CEO Craig Blais spoke about this project and the role of the WBDC in real estate in Worcester. Why is developing commercial properties important as part of the mission of the WBDC? We work specifically in Worcester consistently with what the city would like to do with development. The WBDC takes on the projects that would not get done conventionally. We act as the catalyst between the private sector and the public sector. We bring the resources of the public sector whether they be grants or tax credits, incentives or favorable lending. We bring that to the project to get that ready for conven- tional deals. We act as that in between catalyst with the goal of expanding the tax base, creat- ing jobs and the removal of blight. That is our role. If the conventional market would come and do something like that, we wouldn't be involved. It's always the projects that need that push or support from the public sector. And because we are a private nonprofit, we are able to play that role pretty effectively. Could you expand on how the organization helps deal with blight? As an example, GKN Sinter Metals, or the PresMet site in the Canal District -- that was a site that remained vacant since 2007 and was abandoned and contaminated and really was an eyesore for the entire area. We were able to come in and negotiate a land transfer from the company that was now in Wisconsin and had left the city, where we indemnified them for the condition of the location. They donated the value of the property to our nonprofit, and we then assembled the money to clean up the site. While we were doing that, we negotiated with a private developer who wanted to build hockey rinks on the site. Our role was to assemble the proper- ty, clean up the blight and contamina- tion and truly make it pad ready for the developer to come in and construct hockey rinks. What's your experience been like working with developers on these properties? It has been very positive and gotten so much better. One of the recent ones has been working with the Franklin Realty Advisors team at Mercantile Center. The team had acquired the two towers, and we worked very closely with them to repurpose these properties in keeping with the City Square redevelopment. Now there are 500 employees coming into there and negotiations for four restaurants. They have been very pleased with what they have seen in Worcester. I've seen a big change in the attitude of developers towards Worcester. Malden-based Roseland Property Co. is entering the market with 250 luxury apartments going into City Square. This is all new and all new private investment coming into the city which is nice to see. How does the former Worcester State Hospital Campus fit into the WBDC equation? We were the developers of the origi- nal biotechnology park constructed on another piece of the state hospital land. There was surplus land that was not needed for state hospital purposes and it was sold to the WBDC. It was not pad ready, and the WBDC worked closely with the city and state and put all the infrastructure in and got all the permitting and built the Massachusetts Biotechnology Park in the 1980s and 1990s. We were a likely candidate as to take on the 44 acres of surplus property that has the same problems of old buildings and a lack of infrastructure. We worked with the state to build what they wanted to see there, which was an extension of the biotechnology park but with manu- facturing. It only makes sense to have paths for the biotechnology industry for constructing what they discover. It was a team effort. The city was at the table to assist with infrastructure, MBI is at the table to assist with the vetting of biomanufacturing companies and the connection to all the programs to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and then the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce was at the table with their recruitment effort to lead the recruitment. This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by Sam Bonacci, WBJ digital editor. WBDC focuses on turning blight into high-value properties W

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