QCC officially opens downtown campus

Staff photo Guests celebrate the opening of Quinsigamond Community College's new downtown Healthcare and Workforce Development Center in Worcester Wednesday morning.

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By Rick Saia

Nearly two months after launching its initial classes at its new Healthcare and Workforce Development Center in downtown Worcester, Quinsigamond Community College imprinted the “officially open for business” tag on the site Wednesday in a formal ceremony before about 300 people.

Under a white tent that spanned the length of the Franklin Street building, the former home of the Telegram & Gazette, several speakers cited the coordination among officials of various organizations, notably the school, the Worcester Business Development Corp. (WBDC) and the three levels of government in transforming the four-story, 135,000-square-foot building into a site that will be used for education and startup businesses.

That “public-private partnership,” college President Gail Carberry said, helped create “a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts,” she told the gathering.

George Tetler, an attorney who chairs the WBDC board, described the efforts to buy and redevelop the building as “one of the most complex financial undertakings” that involved 340 documents.

“This project is not just a building,” he said. “It is part of a transformation of downtown Worcester.”

QCC, which occupies more than half of the building, opened the center last month with more than 500 students, although it can accommodate up to 2,000. It houses all of the school’s nursing and allied health programs, along with workforce development programs, which include health care and biotechnology, as well as adult basic education and English as a second language.

In a separate announcement Tuesday, QCC said it received more than $1 million in grants from three Worcester foundations to purchase furniture, fixtures and other equipment for the site. The grants include $500,000 from The Stoddard Charitable Trust, $400,000 from the George I. Alden Trust and $125,000 from the Fletcher Foundation. It has also recently received $300,000 from the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation.

The guest speaker for Wednesday’s ceremony, state health and human services secretary John Polanowicz, commended the college for its efforts in helping prepare workers for the changing health care industry. With health care reform allowing more patients to take charge of more of their care, they need people to help them make their choices.

“You are developing the team that will take care of all of us,” he said.