Boston Herald
January 14, 2000

Positive developments in Worcester

By JULIA FAIRCLOUGH
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD

Community groups and planners in Worcester came to an agreement two years ago that the importance of the city's historic core downtown had diminished over the years. Few people lived downtown. Main Street no longer functioned as a retail core, a result of suburban sprawl.

So the neighborhood leaders, church representatives, historical museum heads and consultants came up with a plan to reverse the trend. Over the course of the past couple of years, the Chestnut/Pleasant Street Initiative was born. It is an effort that spans 20 blocks in the downtown area.

"This has been a long time coming," said Peter Fellenz, the executive director of Worcester Community Housing Resources. "I have lived here for 25 years and raised my family here. I have never been so enthusiastic."

Worcester, the second-largest city in New England, boasted a population of 220,000 in the 1940s. Now there are about 165,000 people living there, the result of migration to the suburbs. That outward trend began in the 1930s, Fellenz said.

"Part of the lost population was the upper-middle class professionals and families that created what we call suburban sprawl," Fellenz said.

"That flight of earnings is substantial. Our tax base recently lost several billions of property value, although in the past two years that has creeped up.

Planners believe the suburban sprawl has played itself out, as cities and towns have maxed out thier land with large subdivisions and mini malls.

So now a number of urban centers are having their first population growth in 50 years. Inflated housing costs in Boston and Cambridge have led people to buy homes further and further outside the city.

And Worcester, just 45 minutes west of Boston, has a housing stock that costs half of what a home would cost in Boston, Fellenz said. But to really attract residents and private developers to the city takes a plan, he said.

"We had to have a neighborhood vision," Fellenz said.

The downtown area in this case was targeted because it dates back to 1830 and the neighborhoods that have a historic culture and commerce will develop sooner than those that don't have competitive advantages, said Bob Mulcahy, the president of TerraSphere and a landscape architect and urban planner hired by the neighborhood groups and planners.

"This is the downtown neighborhood, which is different from suburban neighborhoods," he said.

"A lot of downtowns in America are coming back."

But right now there are a lot of holes in the neighborhood, blights that include empty lots and buildings.

"They decided they wanted a livable, sustainable neighborhood that creates value in real estate investments over time," Mulcahy said. "They wanted the American dream."

The groups that got together include All Saints Church, Worcester Community Housing Resources, Preservation Worcester, Worcester Historical Museum, the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association and city planning officials. Discussions began in the summer of 1998. By the fall they had retained Mulcahy to offer his expertise in executing a plan.

By the summer of 1999 all groups were in total agreement on the project, which is the first major step in activating a plan, Fellenz said.

"It is important to not only have the positive energy, but from a purely practical point of view, developers are worried about going into the complexities of an urban investment believing any small handfuls of individuals can block their investment, from parking to land use to zoning," Fellenz said.

"To have all key players aboard in a positive way is very attractive to bringing major investors in."

Their 10-year major plan will cost an estimated $50 million to $100 million in construction. Some highlights include converting the empty Union Church (more commonly called the Chestnut Street Congregational Church - named after the road where it sits) into a mixed-use conference center that will house a themed restaurant, health club/spa and art gallery. Attached to the church they want to build a 12- to 14-story upscale 200-unit luxury apartment complex.

To create a transportation system that services the residents and business of the Chestnut/Pleasant neighborhood, planners want to convert those roads into two-way streets to slow down traffic and made the area more pedestrian friendly. Traffic calming measures, like putting in raised crosswalks, will ensure motorists don't speed to retain the residential feel.

Mulcahy lauds the renovation of the majestic Chestnut Street church, which dates back to the early 1800s, was modeled after the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, and is on the National Historic Register. "It really is a jewel," he said. "While the first step would be to reposition the church to be a more multi-use community-based building, it also means taking advantage of this unique amenity and to use that as an anchor."

The Chestnut Street Church closed 20 years ago then it merged with the United Congregational Church downtown, Fellenz said. Reviving it is a major move as the structure presides over the downtown landscape like no other historic structure, Fellenz said. It is located a block off Main Street. Backers are looking to implement the plan this year. While the plan is neatly compiled in a 32-page bound report complete with goal outlines, conceptual sketches, funding sources and a preliminary budget, the next step is to seek investors and public/private partners who will start the developmental stage, Fellenz said.

Based on recent studies, planners want to see more upscale restaurants and specialty boutique shops. The neighborhood must be self-sustainable with laundromats and convenience stores.

Last year the group approached various foundations to talk about the importance of developing the downtown neighborhood. They responded by giving about $2 million in grants for the loan fund, Fellenz said. A portion of that financing is a way to show investors the group did its homework, he added.

The group is currently negotiating with the Worcester Business Development Corporation. It will also approach major financial institutions downtown to pool resources to complete the renderings for the best use of the church and to create a package that will solicit interest from investors, Fellenz said. BankBoston has already shown interest, he said.

Mulcahy added that what separates this project from others he has done is that it came from the community groups that got together to try to create value in their neighborhoods.

"It is truly a private effort," he said. This is how planning in America should occur; it was a bunch of interested people saying, "How can we change our city?"

Other key elements of the plan include:

©2000 Boston Herald