Worcester Annual Meeting Reflects City’s Development Renaissance

From Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce: It’s no surprise that one top leader behind Worcester’s economic development renaissance is quite successful in his own right. City Manager Edward Augustus is the youngest elected official to ever hold office in Worcester, and a former federal Department of Education official with the Clinton Administration, chief of staff for US Congressman Jim McGovern, two-term state senator, and director of community relations at the College of the Holy Cross.

In keynote speaker remarks delivered before Worcester Regional Chamber’s 141st Annual Meeting, numbering 680 attendees held at the DCU Center on Dec. 8, 2016, Augustus reflected on his past two years in office, replacing longtime former manager Michael O’Brien whom he credited with helping to deliver today’s unprecedented development expansion downtown.

“I was fueled by optimism about our city,” Augustus said. “I continue to be driven by the conviction that Worcester’s best days are ahead of us. Two years ago I said, ‘Worcester is the second largest city in New England; let’s start acting like it.’ That’s exactly what we are doing. Those cranes down the street are building a dynamic future for our city.”

Augustus said what Worcester is currently experiencing in terms of development is quickly becoming a model for other cities its size. Augustus provided a broad overview of the many developments underway and soon to be realized downtown during his speech.

The city manager said in the next 18 months, 350 luxury apartments at CitySquare will be completed and more than 2,000 people will be living in new housing across the city. In the last 18 months alone, 55 new Worcester restaurants have opened up, which is now the hottest market in the state, and hotels are also on the rise, attracting hundreds of jobs downtown. Backing up those investments, which number close to $3 billion invested so far in the past five years, is vast improvements being made to the city’s infrastructure, public safety and programming. That redevelopment is already paying dividends.

This year, Worcester’s average home prices are up 5-8 percent, rental rates are up 8 percent, and the multiple new hotels are being built because the city has consistently maintained an 80 percent hotel occupancy rate. Moreover, nightly hotel room revenues are up almost 30 percent, and city property values have shot up almost a billion dollars.

“Our vision is one with a downtown that is a neighborhood,” Augustus said. “A downtown that does not pack up and head home at 5 o’clock, but a downtown that people return home to. Walking around downtown now, you will notice new streets and sidewalks on Portland, Salem, Franklin, Front, Mercantile, and Exchange streets,” Augustus said.

Next year, the city plans to unveil even more positive change with an $11 million complete overhaul and redevelopment along Main Street. Augustus said this will not just be a simple repaving project, but a complete “re-envisioning of what Main Street is.”

The project funded by city, state and federal money will include a top-to-bottom reconstruction, including new streets, sidewalks, ornamental lighting, dedicated bicycle lanes, new brick-banded crosswalks, and public art installations. Augustus said his team envisions a 21st century Main Street that embraces modern urban design philosophies. The changes will encourage parking and walking safely to work and a complete redesign of Carroll Plaza by Hanover Theatre. Southbridge Street will be re-routed in front of the federal courthouse allowing the city to extend the street to the front door of the theater.

Despite the influx of new restaurant patrons and residents, crime is down across the city. In 2015, violent crime was down 8 percent and property crime declined by 4 percent. “Engagement at the neighborhood level is the key to the success of our police department,” Augustus said, adding that the city’s new neighborhood police response team has contributed to lower crime rates. And with the creation of a new mounted police unit, he expects that rate to fall even further.

Worcester is also getting in on the green energy economy, with planned construction of the largest municipal solar farm in all of New England on top of the former Greenwood Street landfill with 26,000 solar panels covering 24 acres or 19 football fields of space. Also, the city is replacing all 14,000 streetlights with high efficiency LEDs, which is estimated to save the city more than $50 million over the next 50 years in electricity bills.

“When our new system is installed, our workers will get an email giving them a heads up as to when a light bulb is getting ready to go out,” Augustus said. “We also will be able to calibrate the intensity of the light at any given light pole. So when police tell us they have an issue in a particular neighborhood, we can turn up the intensity of that streetlight(s). Police officers will be able to turn up a streetlight from a smartphone.”
Fitch Ratings has also given the city its highest municipal bond rating in history. “That’s four rungs higher than the city of Providence,” Augustus said. “We also maintain strong ratings from two other agencies.”
Timothy P. Murray, president & CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, told listeners he has personally given more than 50 briefings, walks and tours, highlighting the momentum that Augustus outlined. “The collaborative spirit to work through tough issues is a hallmark of this community,” Murray said. “Time and time again that is the refrain we hear from the people that come into this city to work.”

Photo Curtesy of Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce