Worcester Seeks Developers For DPW Properties Near Shrewsbury Street

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester is accepting proposals for the redevelopment of more than four acres of prime city-owned land along a section of Shrewsbury Street that is seeing increasing development activity.

The city's development office in late July issued an RFP (requests for proposals) for three properties along Albany Street near Fantasia Drive that are home to Department of Public Works garages and buildings.

"The purpose of this RFP is to provide all interested parties with an opportunity to submit a Letter of Interest and proposal for the acquisition and redevelopment of the Properties and allow the City to identify a preferred buyer/developer with an acquisition and development proposition that is most advantageous to the city," the RFP says.

The RFP includes a study by the Urban Land Institute commissioned by the city that evaluates what the Albany Street properties could be used for. The study highlighted the DPW garage property — which also has a municipal gas station — as the most advantageous site for development due to its size. The study proposes several arrangements for new multifamily buildings on the site, plus proposed upgrades for both Albany and Shrewsbury streets to make them more safe for pedestrians.

The ULI study also included other city-owned DPW parcels along East Worcester Street. The RFP issued in July notes that there may be other properties "in the vicinity that may be the subject of a future disposition."

Shrewsbury Street, known as Worcester's "restaurant row," has seen a flurry of new development proposals and new buildings recently, including: a 28-unit mixed-use loft building near Draper Street; two separate buildings with more than 300 units from an Auburn developer; and the pending demolition and rebuild of Piccadilly Plaza near the end of the corridor at Plantation Street.

Several businesses have also expanded along the street, including a new Wormtown brewery, Pepe's Pizzeria moving to a building near De Marco Terrace (a move precipitated by another development), and a new e-sports bar.

The DPW properties were also rumored to be under consideration when Mayor Joseph Petty at the beginning of his term in 2022 passed an order to then-city manager Ed Augustus to work with the Worcester Housing Authority to find a way to build the city's "first large scale affordable housing development since 1992."

The city will stop accepting bids for the Albany Street properties on Aug. 30. Officials will then begin a review of the proposals, scoring them based on factors like access to financing and economic impact. The Worcester Redevelopment Authority recently completed a similar process with the Denholm building along Main Street.