Image | Courtesy of Google Earth
Two Worcester hotels, the Hampton Inn at 65 Prescott St. (left) and the Courtyard by Marriott at 72 Grove St., were purchased by WPI in September.
9 hours ago
WPI postpones plan to convert Gateway Park hotel into student housing
Photo | Eric Casey
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is pausing plans to convert a Hampton Inn hotel into student housing.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute has pumped the brakes on its plans to convert the Hampton Inn at Worcester’s Gateway Park into student housing, citing the shifting dynamics for higher education institutions.
WPI is postponing its original plan to convert one of the two hotels it purchased in September into student housing in 2026, according to a letter issued to the WPI community on Tuesday.
The letter says revenue derived from the 100-room hotel will provide financial resiliency in a time where the federal government has slashed research funding and made it harder for international students to attend American universities.
“This decision was based on the shifting dynamics affecting WPI and higher education across the country, including significant reductions in federal research funding, anticipated declines in international student enrollment, and the continuing effects of a shrinking pool of domestic students,” the letter reads. “The revenue generated by the hotel will provide financial resiliency for WPI and continue to produce property and hotel taxes for the city.”
WPI still plans to follow its original plan for the 134-room Courtyard Marriott, which would see it converted into student housing in 2030. The university did not offer a timeline for the Hampton Inn conversion, instead saying it would analyze its student housing needs on an annual basis.
WPI’s decision to purchase the hotels led to criticism from the Worcester Economic Development Coordinating Council, a behind-the-scenes organization made up of government and business officials, who said WPI did not engage city stakeholders before the purchase and argued the move to convert the hotels into student housing would diminish the city’s hotel stock.
The university later reached an agreement with the City of Worcester in November, agreeing to make payments to partially offset the possible shortfall created by the potential certification of the two Gateway Park properties as tax-exempt.
In the Tuesday letter, WPI pointed toward its contributions to Worcester, saying it had invested more than $140 million into Gateway Park mixed-use development since its inception and made annual payment-in-lieu contributions to the City in excess of $815,000.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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