Worcester Business Journal

March 19, 2018

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wbjournal.com | March 19, 2018 | Worcester Business Journal 11 W announced last month they'll open a Mexican-style restaurant on Main Street called Conico. Medusa Brewing Co., which opened in 2015, is planning a roughly $5-mil- lion production facility next to its existing taproom, for which it won Historic District Commission approv- al last month. 82% buy-in Businesses in the neighborhood have not wanted to waste the opportunity. Now that property owners don't have to worry about filling vacant store- fronts, they've turned to a tax-bill sur- charge to pay for improvements they hope will only make downtown more of a destination. "This seemed like the logical step," said Mae Zagami, the owner of Hudson-based Creative Designs in Kitchens. First, enough businesses had to approve the plan. Owners of at least 60 percent of the 105 properties in the neighborhood had to come on board, and 71 percent did. At least 51 percent of the the total assessed value of prop- erty had to be owned by those in sup- port, and Hudson hit 82 percent, said Zagami, the clerk of the business improvement district board. The Hudson Board of Selectmen signed off last fall, with town officials getting behind the business effort. "It's fantastic," Hudson Executive Assistant Thomas Moses, the top municipal official, said of strides being made downtown. "It's exciting all the time." A model for success The district covers a half-mile stretch of Route 62 through downtown, from about where Main and High streets intersect toward just past the rotary where Lincoln and Central streets meet. Much of South Street, which runs parallel to Main Street, are cov- ered, as are some parcels on streets that run off of Main Street. Tax surcharges are relatively small: 0.035 percent on business properties and 0.02 percent on residential proper- ties with four or more units. Smaller residential sites aren't charged. Town Hall, which is in the district, isn't being charged, but the town is working on a memorandum of understanding to pro- vide in-kind services to roughly match what the town would have paid. Hudson is the first Central Massachusetts community to start a business improvement district and one of few in the state, along with others like Amherst, Hyannis, Northampton, Springfield, Taunton, Boston's Downtown Crossing and Westfield. Braga said he's already gotten ques- tions from people in other communi- ties looking to do what Hudson is starting. "I've talked to, just in my regular travels, people outside the community," he said. "They say, 'Oh, I love that downtown.' It's a recognized hotspot at the moment, and it's really important to us that we keep that going." (Above) The Hudson business improvement district, shaded in red, covers 105 properties along Main Street and South Street, and from Washington Street and the rotary to just past Manning and Broad streets. (Below, left) Keith Sullivan, co-founder and head brewer at Medusa Brewing Co. (Above two photos) The Haberdash, a sister store of Crompton Collective in Worcester, opened in Hudson last year. "I remember for many years going home at 6 o'clock at night; and I'd head up Main Street, and it looks like a ghost town" Arthur Redding, owner of Hudson Appliance on Main Street W P H O T O / Z A C H C O M E A U P H O T O S / K E L S Y H A L E Y M E D I A

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