Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | May 15, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 9 The Board of Directors and Administration of GVNA HealthCare, Inc. Would like to thank our staff for achieving a 5-star rating for Patient Satisfaction and a deficiency free DPH Survey. Congratulations on a job we done! GVNA HealthCare, Inc… In your Community 34 Pearly Lane, Gardner, MA gvnahealthcare.org (978) 632-1230 There have been some success sto- ries, with others unsettled. The former Worcester Vocational High School has been turned into the Voke Lofts apartment development. The Palladium made Preservation Massachusetts' endangered list but has been spared the wrecking ball. Two other massive empty civic buildings at Lincoln Square await mod- ern reuse, including the Worcester Memorial Auditorium and the Worcester County Courthouse, the lat- ter of which has been eyed for a $35-million mixed-use development. Notre Dame, which closed in 2008, is under agreement to be sold to an unnamed party, according to its current owner, developer CitySquare II. Preservation Worcester believes most of the nearly $20-million project cost could be covered by historical and other tax credits. Mount Carmel's champions Mount Carmel parish merged last year with a smaller sister church, Our Lady of Loreto. Diocese financial records show Mount Carmel had a $235,000 deficit, but that it also brought in about $92,000 more than it spent for the year. Church attendance had been in decline. In 2002, the church counted nearly 1,900 parishioners one weekend. By 2015, there were fewer than 500. Preserve Our Lady of Mount Carmel hopes to raise $120,000 to make the building safe and keep it from demoli- tion. So far, it has about $100,000. Bello has been a parishioner of Mount Carmel her whole life. "I still consider myself a parishioner of Mount Carmel," she said. "I just turned 62. I've been here my entire life." Bello hopes Mount Carmel could be turned into a museum, a shrine, per- formance space or a visitors center. Exploring a sale The parish, meanwhile, is talking to several brokers for a potential sale and redevelopment of the Mount Carmel site, Pedone said in an interview. Church leaders are not ruling out the church could be used in a different way, he said. Pedone, the top-ranking clergy member at Mount Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto, called the situation very unfortunate and nearly unavoid- able once I-290 was built. The highway rumbles so closely that the church's rec- tory building sometimes shakes, he said, and the church building itself has suffered structural issues. "There's no one happy about this. Let's move forward. Instead of worship- ping a building, let's worship God," said Pedone, who grew up attending Mount Carmel. "The church is the people, not the building." P H O T O / E D D C O T E W REDEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY MONSON DEVELOPMENT CENTER – FOR SALE The sale and redevelopment of a portion of the former Monson Development Center presents an exciting opportunity to create a unique mixed-use development to support a mainly rural economy (and expanding light industrial economy) in the village-like historic Town of Monson. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is seeking responses to the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the purchase and sale of a portion of this state- owned property. Please refer to the RFP for site tour and specific submission requirements. MONSON DEVELOPMENT CENTER: • 256+/- acres for sale — bid on entire site or an Area • Historic property may be eligible for federal and state Historic Tax Credits • Town supports mixed use development • Adjacent to hundreds of acres of protected agricultural and recreation land • Includes undeveloped rail spur TO OBTAIN THE RFP: www.mass.gov/DCAMM/Monson2017

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