Mixed-Use Building Planned For Worcester Fairway Beef Site

WORCESTER, MA — More than a year after its closure, a Boston-based developer has applied to raze the former Fairway Beef market to build a mixed-use residential building.

AKROS Development LLC will go to the Zoning Board of Appeals Monday to get approval for a 9-story, 105-unit building near the corner of Grafton and Temple streets. The development would also include 1,000 square-feet of commercial space on the first floor, and a parking structure with 72 spaces.

The developer wants ZBA permission to have fewer parking spaces than required under city zoning law.

Fairway Beef abruptly closed on July 3, 2021, after 75 years in business — and speculation about a possible development due to its proximity to the new Polar Park sprang up immediately.

But plans for the site were never announced, and rumors fell silent until the Fairway Beef site was listed for sale for about $1 million this summer. The real estate agent has marked the listing as "pending," but the Worcester County Registry of Deeds does not have any record of a final sale.

Many new residential developments have are either been planned or are under construction near Polar Park, including a building on the site of a former Table Talk factory along Green Street; the former site of the Lucky Dog music hall also along Green Street; and a building across from Polar Park along Madison Street.

A local developer has also proposed over 400 new units for a mostly vacant block along Franklin Street due east from the Fairway Beef site. That development would be separated from the Canal District by Grafton Street and I-290.

The AKROS Development proposal is set to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals at a meeting on Monday.