Through careful curation of tenants and a long-term vision, Worcester’s Printers Building has built up a space devoted to manufacturing, education and creation.
The Printers Building was built in 1922 and has been the home for three printers including Davis Publications. In 2000, Davis took over the building from one of the other original partners and began managing the property, said Davis Publications President Wyatt Wade.
With Davis’ educational publishing focus, it was decided that the businesses in the location should have an educational or artistic bent as well. Much like Crompton Collective set a tone for Crompton Place, Wade wanted to ensure that the Printers Building maintained the creative and artistic brand put forward by Davis Publications.
“The anchor company wanted to be surrounded by and provide space for creative-economy-type businesses, especially associated with the arts,” he said.
With that in mind, curation of the space began with NPR jazz affiliate WICN and an art gallery along with other creative tenants over time. With Davis serving as the financial anchor for the building, they could be particular with their tenants.
“We would let them in under a rent roll that was very different than what they would find somewhere else,” Wade said. “We wanted to fill up the building, but we had an emotional attraction to these businesses.”
The building is now 85-percent occupied to creative organizations such as makerspace Technocopia.
