Ex-T&G building secures $16M for renovations
Renovation of the former Telegram & Gazette building in downtown Worcester got a boost with more than $16.2 million in funding announced Tuesday by MassDevelopment.
Most of the money - $12 million - will come in the form of a New Markets Tax Credits allocation, while $4.2 million in direct loans will be provided to New Garden Park Inc., the development arm of the Worcester Business Development Corp., which purchased the building in 2011.
The 135,000-square-foot building on Franklin Street will house Quinsigamond Community College’s (QCC) urban campus for its allied health services and workforce training and employment programs as well as a business incubator, café, theater and professional office space.
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development arm, said the building will be ready for about 75 QCC faculty and staff to locate there in the fall, along with about 1,800 students to attend classes.
The business incubator will be a location where Worcester’s college students and others in the community can develop or research new ideas or start businesses.
“The renovation of the former T&G building is an excellent example of transformative development: revitalizing urban sites in the downtowns of our Gateway Cities to spur activity and growth,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones.
Fidelity Bank will be the project’s lead lender , with six others — United Bank, Webster Five Cents Savings Bank, Bay State Savings Bank, Commerce Bank, UniBank for Savings, and Middlesex Savings Bank — also backing the project. The City of Worcester has committed $2.5 million through the 108 Loan Program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city will also provide brownfields cleanup funding and a 20-year tax increment financing agreement for the site, MassDevelopment said.
New Markets Tax Credit allocations were provided through the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, MassDevelopment, U.S. Bancorp and The Community Builders, MassDevelopment said.
“The financing of this project is a key stage in the redevelopment of the former T&G building and the overall revitalization of downtown Worcester,” said Craig Blais, president and CEO of the WBDC. “Programs such as New Markets Tax Credits, combined with the financial collaboration of local banks, have helped to make a redevelopment project of this magnitude become a reality.”
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