Renovation of Worcester Memorial Auditorium moves to pre-design phase
Photo/Grant Welker
The Architectural Heritage Foundation and the city signed a land disposition agreement to begin the pre-design phase of the $94-million renovation of the Worcester Memorial Auditorium.
The $94-million redevelopment of the Worcester Memorial Auditorium moved a step closer to reality on Monday.
Following months of negotiations, the Architectural Heritage Foundation and the city signed a land disposition agreement to allow the Boston nonprofit, whose mission is to preserve and energize historic properties, to begin the design phase of the project and make the building handicapped accessible, according to an announcement on the auditorium's website.
Last summer, AHF signed a $450,000 purchase and sale agreement for the 86-year-old landmark in Lincoln Square. At the time, the nonprofit said it planned to collaborate with Becker College in Worcester to renovate the main auditorium for electronic gaming and interactive programs and events.
The land disposition agreement announced Monday begins the process of completing that sale agreement.
The project calls for preservation of the exterior, the auditoriums, and lobby, and it will outfit interior spaces for digital innovation, performance, and IMAX-like uses.
Built in 1933 to honor the sacrifices of Worcester veterans, the 98,000-square-foot building includes an auditorium to seat 4,500 people, a 675-seat entertainment space dubbed the Little Theater, and the Shrine of the Immortal, a memorial with murals of the 355 soldiers and nurses from Worcester killed during World War I.
The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It has been vacant for two decades.
In 2009, Preservation Massachusetts included Lincoln Square on its Most Endangered Historic Resources list, because the district’s three historic buildings -- the Auditorium, the Worcester County Courthouse, and Lincoln Square Boys Club -- were vacant.
Sean McDonnell, AHF’s president, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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