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September 29, 2017

Construction firm wants to build 90-unit residential complex in South Worcester

Photo | Grant Welker 261 Clover St. in Worcester

Worcester construction firm Botany Bay Construction has proposed building a 90-unit residential complex on a city-owned industrial site on the south side.

The as-yet unnamed project would be built off South Ludlow Street near the border with Auburn where the city seized the property by tax title in 2014. The five-acre property at 261 Clover St. includes a 124,000-square-foot vacant industrial building and is surrounded by a mostly residential neighborhood.

The project requires the approval of the city's conservation commission because of wetlands within 100 feet of the project. The commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the project at 5:30 p.m. Monday in City Hall.

Botany Bay owns several residential complexes in the city, including Botany Bay Apartments, Center Hill Apartments, Hemlock Harbour Apartments and Millbrook Apartments.

The company previously bid to build on the lot, with an agreement to buy it from the city for $52,500 once it received building approvals. The city has estimated remediation and demolition costs to be more than $1 million.

The property and several adjacent parcels were rezoned earlier this year to allow for a development like what Botany Bay has proposed.

The proposal calls for 11 multi-family low-rise structures and would be among the largest new projects in the city.

A downtown project, 145 Front at City Square, is proposed for 365 units, the first of which will open early next year.

In August, developer Roseland Residential Trust received approval to build 84 apartment units and 2,025 square feet of retail space in a $30-million development called the Residences at Salem Square. The development would require demolishing the vacant Notre Dame des Canadiens church just off the east end of Worcester Common.

On Main Street in Lincoln Square, a $53-million project with 125 apartment units and retail has been proposed at the long-vacant Worcester County Courthouse. That project is starting to move forward. Trinity Development will go before the city's Historical Commission on Thursday for approval to remove and replace windows in the 1800s courthouse building, replace some doors and install signs.

Trinity Development said the project will be complete by the summer of 2020.

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