From tacos and fire extinguishers to a major step forward for one of Worcester’s largest redevelopment projects, the city’s business and development landscape kept plenty busy this week.
A fourth Taco Bell cleared a zoning hurdle, a longtime local businessman won approval to bring his company home to Worcester and $12.8 million in infrastructure work got underway at GreenTech Park. Meanwhile, a Worcester nonprofit landed $500,000 for workforce development and the state chose the city to unveil a new effort aimed at combating extreme heat.
Taco Tuesday, anyone?
The Worcester Zoning Board of Appeals approved two special permits at its Aug. 10 meeting for applicant Charter Foods North to build a full-service Taco Bell restaurant with a drive-thru at 79 Pullman St.
The 0.68-acre site is the former location of a Sylvan Learning Center. MidPoint Engineering + Construction of Auburn plans to build a 2,250-square-foot restaurant with 27 parking spaces.
The new Taco Bell would be the fourth location in Worcester, joining existing restaurants at 801 Grafton St., 463 Lincoln St. and 418 Park Ave.
Owned by Yum! Brands, Taco Bell generates more than $17 billion in global system sales across more than 8,750 locations worldwide, serving more than 42 million customers each week.
Putting out fires on Woburn Street
Worcester resident Marcelo Barreto plans to relocate the headquarters of his fire extinguisher business from Charlestown to 6 Woburn St.
The Worcester Zoning Board of Appeals on Aug. 10 approved three variances and one special permit for construction of a 30-by-80-foot, two-level industrial building on the 9,230-square-foot lot.
Barreto, who lives on Randall Street in Worcester’s Burncoat neighborhood, has operated the company for 20 years, providing fire extinguishers to other businesses.
Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Jordan Berg Powers joked that the new construction will be the “safest building in the City of Worcester.”
A timeline for construction was not immediately available.
GreenTech Park breaks ground on $12.8 million infrastructure project
More than three years after acquiring a sprawling piece of Worcester’s industrial past, the Worcester Business Development Corporation has begun infrastructure work at GreenTech Park, the 51-acre former Saint-Gobain campus off Interstate 190.
WBDC broke ground Aug. 13 on the first phase of roadway and utility improvements, backed by $12.8 million in public funding. The work is intended to create development-ready parcels while eventually restoring an east-west roadway connection between the Indian Hill and Burncoat neighborhoods.
The first phase reconstructs a roadway and upgrade utilities to support future development, including “pad-ready” sites targeted toward advanced manufacturing and technology companies.
Restaurant Depot, a wholesale foodservice supplier, recently completed local permitting for an approximately 50,000-square-foot facility expected to become GreenTech Park’s first tenant. WBDC ultimately envisions roughly 1 million square feet of new development across the campus.
“These infrastructure improvements are the foundation for everything we envision at GreenTech Park,” WBDC President Craig Blais said in an Aug. 13 announcement. “This public investment demonstrates the confidence that our federal, state and local partners have in this project and in Worcester’s ability to attract the next generation of advanced manufacturing and technology companies.”
Read The Worcester Guardian’s full story on the GreenTech Park redevelopment here.
State aims to beat the heat with historic announcement at Clark
Katie Schlick was introduced as Massachusetts’ first-ever heat resilience officer during an announcement by the Healey-Driscoll administration at Clark University on Aug. 13.
Massachusetts is just the second state in the nation to create such a position. Schlick will coordinate state government efforts to help communities prepare for rising temperatures, protect public health and reduce the impacts of extreme heat across the Commonwealth.
Clark is home to the Human Environment Regional Observatory, or HERO, program, which for two decades has researched how communities experience environmental change and how local planning can reduce climate risks.
“I want to thank Governor Healey and Climate Chief Hoffer for their foresight in establishing this position and for choosing to make the announcement in Worcester, where some neighborhoods have become quiet battlegrounds against the kind of extreme heat that impacts families and businesses and endangers our most vulnerable citizens,” Clark President David Fithian said.
Open Sky receives $500,000 for workforce development
Open Sky Community Services Inc. of Worcester receives $500,000 as part of $5.9 million in workforce development grants awarded to 12 initiatives across the state by the Executive Office of Workforce Development on Aug. 5.
Open Sky will use the funding for training and placement services aimed at preparing 50 unemployed and underemployed participants for social and human service assistant roles. Seven Hills Foundation of Worcester will partner with Open Sky on the project.
“Across Massachusetts, employers are looking for skilled workers and residents are looking for opportunities to build successful careers,” Gov. Maura Healey said in the state’s announcement. “These grants help us do both by connecting people with the training they need to fill in-demand jobs and helping businesses grow with the workforce they need.”
“This new grant award enables us to expand the geographic reach of our work and focus on Human Services roles that are particularly challenging to recruit for, while continuing to offer meaningful training and work opportunities for underserved populations,” Open Sky President and CEO Ken Bates said in the announcement.
Founded in 2018, Open Sky serves and supports more than 8,000 adults, young adults and youth facing mental health challenges, developmental disabilities, homelessness, brain injury, substance use disorders or other complex challenges.
Building Worcester is The Worcester Guardian’s weekly roundup of business, development and economic news from across the city, tracking major projects, new businesses, public meetings, commercial real estate and the decisions shaping Worcester’s future.
Have a tip about a new business, development project or commercial property? Email Executive Editor Charlene Arsenault at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org or reporter Mike Vigneux at MikeVigs@gmail.com.
