A former Boys Club that stood vacant for 20 years has reopened as part of an $51 million affordable housing development in downtown Worcester, with all 80 apartments already leased as city and state officials celebrated its completion Wednesday.
Gov. Maura Healey joined Mayor Joseph Petty, City Manager Eric Batista and representatives of WinnCompanies on Oct. 21 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at The Residences on Lincoln Square, a development that combines the restoration of the historic Worcester Boys Club building with a newly constructed five-story apartment building.
The project ushers in 80 affordable apartments for adults 55 and older, including 11 units designated for residents with disabilities. Its completion adds housing to a city where rising rents and a limited supply of affordable apartments have made finding suitable homes increasingly difficult for many residents.
The development includes 19 studio apartments, 46 one-bedroom units and 15 two-bedroom apartments. Of those, 68 are reserved for households earning no more than 60% of the area median income, while the remaining 12 are designated for households earning no more than 30% of the area median income.
The income restrictions are intended to make the apartments accessible to lower-income residents, including older adults living on fixed incomes.
“Every Massachusetts resident deserves a safe, affordable place to call home,” Healey said in a statement. “By transforming a long-vacant Worcester landmark into 80 homes for seniors, we’re helping residents age with dignity while preserving the character of our communities. My administration was proud to support this project, which is part of our work to build more homes and lower costs across Massachusetts. Thank you to WinnCompanies and all of the project partners for making this possible.”
The development represents the culmination of a lengthy effort to find a new use for the former Worcester Boys Club, which opened in 1930 as one of the nation’s earliest Boys Clubs and later served as Worcester Vocational High School.
The four-story building had been vacant since 2006.
Rather than demolish the structure, developers preserved significant portions of its historic interior and exterior, converting the building into 16 apartments and shared community spaces. A new five-story building constructed alongside it provides the remaining 64 apartments.
The two buildings are connected by a glass walkway.
Among the most distinctive features of the restoration is the former Boys Club gymnasium, which has been converted into a fitness center with an indoor pickleball court. A former classroom now serves as a resident lounge.
Other amenities include gathering spaces for reading and games, outdoor seating areas and a garden between the buildings.
For Worcester officials, the project represents both a housing investment and the preservation of a building with longstanding ties to the city’s history.
“The transformation of the historic Worcester Boys Club into the Residences on Lincoln Square is a monumental achievement for our city. After two decades of effort to redevelop this underutilized site, seeing it reborn as 80 affordable homes for our adults 55 and older is incredibly rewarding,” Petty said in the announcement.
The project also marks a milestone for Worcester’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
According to Batista, it was the first development to receive support from the city’s trust fund, which was established to help finance affordable housing projects.
“An adaptive re-use project like this is exactly the kind of work we need to be doing to help ease the burden of the housing crisis,” Batista said in the announcement.
The newly constructed apartment building incorporates energy-efficient features designed to reduce heating and cooling demands.
Built to Passive House Institute U.S. standards, the all-electric structure includes triple-pane windows, extensive insulation, heat pump systems, energy-efficient appliances and ventilation systems that recover energy.
The construction also presented an unusual engineering challenge: The five-story building extends over the Ernest Johnson Tunnel and Underpass, requiring the developer to obtain air rights from the city.
The development was completed by WinnCompanies, with Worcester-based F.W. Madigan Company serving as design-builder and Maugel DeStefano Architects of Harvard overseeing the architectural design.
The $51 million project was financed through a combination of public and private funding, including federal and state historic tax credits, affordable housing tax credits, state housing programs, city funding and private investment.
CVS Health shelled out nearly $10 million in financing through a tax credit investment, while Rockland Trust made the construction financing possible. MassHousing, Massachusetts Housing Partnership and other state agencies also participated.
According to an economic impact analysis commissioned by the developer, the project generated approximately $39.8 million in direct economic activity and supported 504 direct and indirect jobs.
The Residences on Lincoln Square also completes a larger housing development that began in 2013, when WinnCompanies opened Voke Lofts, an 84-unit mixed-income apartment community nearby.
Together, the two developments provide 164 apartments in the Lincoln Square area.
WinnCompanies now owns six apartment communities in Worcester, totaling 628 units, according to the company.
The ribbon cutting marks the end of construction on a project that has been years in the making—and the return to use of a prominent Worcester building that had remained empty for two decades.
