It’s a late spring weeknight and Polar Park is packed and boisterous. The Worcester Red Sox are playing a home game and there’s an energy in the air.
Outside the park, the streets are quieter. As the fans enter the gates, the streets in Worcester’s Canal District begin to empty. Stragglers stay for dinner in one of the neighborhood’s restaurants, but the majority of visitors are there for the main event.
The WooSox’s 2021 inaugural season was an atypical one, making it difficult to tell what the impact of the ballpark would be on the city. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed construction and then it kept the stadium from filling due to capacity limits were not lifted until June.
With the team in their second season and Polar Park at number two in the league for attendance, the vision of economic development that was promised in 2018 when the Pawtucket Red Sox announced their move to Worcester has started to come true. At the same time, challenges remain for the area’s businesses.
“The Worcester Red Sox have been a positive impact on the Canal District without a doubt,” said Jeff Mararian, president of the Canal District Alliance. “It’s brought people to the district and it’s also spurred around it a lot of other developments that may not have happened now. ... It brings people to the park to check it out and they get to see the other things that are going on in the district.”
The city of Worcester poured $160 million into the Polar Park project, well above the original estimate of $86 million, with the funding bonded over 30 years. Former City Manager Ed Augustus Jr. and other city officials have repeated the justification that the ballpark, which is owned by the city and leased to the WooSox, will pay for itself (the project has not added to resident tax bills).
New developments in the works
Key to that conviction are new private development projects in the area, which were expected to draw new businesses into Worcester and create new tax revenue within a special tax district known as a District Improvement Financing area surrounding the park. It has already started happening: in addition to the new Green Island Boulevard Parking Garage that opened across the street from the ballpark this season, apartment buildings with units in the double- and triple-digits are planned, in construction or already open.
On Water Street, a 62-unit building known as Walker Lofts opened earlier this year in the former J.H. and G.M. Walker Shoe Factory building with apartments ranging from $1,295 for a studio to $1,895 for a two-bedroom.
Currently under construction is a 12-acre project called SOMA, or South of Madison, which includes 228 residential units. Madison Properties, the project’s proponent, received a $57 million financing package from Rockland Trust in January, according to the Telegram & Gazette.
Also planned is a seven-story, 173-unit residential building on Gold Street. That project was originally planned as a 13-story, 300-unit building, but a new proposal cutting it nearly in half was approved by the Planning Board in February.
One of the largest planned developments is set for the former headquarters of Table Talk Pies, which moved to a new facility on Gardner Street last year. The site sold to Boston Capital Development in January for $4.55 million, and the new owner has planned a major redevelopment including approximately 400 units of housing as well as retail space. The first phase of the project, an apartment tower dubbed Table Talk Lofts with 83 affordable units, is already in the works.
“One of the things we’re really excited to see is when the new apartments pop up,” said Jack Verducci, senior vice president of the WooSox. “What is the dichotomy of the neighborhood? How do we welcome people that are not only shopping and eating in the Canal District, but living there too? There’s a whole bunch of new residents. How do we incorporate them into the fabric of the WooSox and the neighborhood?”
While that type of development has been ongoing in Worcester in recent years, the arrival of the ballpark has successfully spurred it along faster than expected, city officials say.
“We didn’t know just how much other interest from investors and developers and projects would happen when we first set out on this in 2018,” said Peter Dunn, chief development officer for the city. “It’s been really a pleasant surprise to see some of the quick spin-off of other projects.”
Improved walkability and enhanced pedestrian connections
The Canal District has also seen improvements to Kelley Square and other streets, including the recently-opened Rockland Trust Plaza which connects pedestrians directly from downtown to the ballpark.
“Being able to do those kinds of improvements and those kinds of projects to really improve walkability and enhance those pedestrian connections between the downtown district and the Canal District, all that’s really great,” Dunn said. “We try to incorporate these elements of public art and placemaking and telling Worcester’s story so that experience is enhanced so people get to know Worcester and feel more connected and in love with Worcester and our story.”
Dunn said development is one of several areas the city has seen success in since the opening of Polar Park. Non-financial benefits have included cleaning up former brownfield sites and improving pride in and exposure for the city.
On the financial side, local business owners in the Canal District saw an influx of patrons (and the type of traffic and parking problems that typically come with them) during the team’s first season. Fans who came to Worcester for a baseball game would stop by nearby restaurants for a drink or a meal beforehand, visiting establishments they wouldn’t have found otherwise.
“It really is a crowning jewel for the city,” said Chip Jarry, co-owner of Bay State Brewing. “It’s amazing the amount of people not from Worcester that come to Worcester for the first time and their opinion prior to coming was negative, and they say, ‘Worcester has a lot! Look at all the restaurants!’ I hear that every week from people who haven’t been here before.”
The brewery offers game-day specials to entice more customers in, usually hot dogs and sausages like you would find at Fenway.
As fans explore, they find new hangout spots or stores, and some business owners have reported hearing that they come back on a non-game day to spend more time checking out the area.
“The great hope for us has been that over time, the people who come to the ballpark get the sense that they can spend the whole day here,” said Allen Fletcher, owner of Worcester Public Market. “I actually feel that we are seeing that begin to happen.”
The radius of baseball fan travel spreads farther out than the Canal District, too. Downtown at the Mercantile, Chef Michael Morway said WooSox attendees are a key piece of the dinner crowd.
“The WooSox was a surprise. It seemed a little far, but it’s not that far, so we have to watch the schedules,” Morway said. “Before the game, it’s really busy and right after the game we get another rush.”
Of course, with those fans come the typical complaints of bumper-to-bumper traffic in Kelley Square and expensive parking, when a spot can even be found.
Parking challenges persist
On game days, businesses like Bay State Brewing that have their own parking areas put out sandwich boards warning WooSox fans from leaving their cars there. The city’s parking meter machines, too, bear warnings that drivers can only park for up to two hours. Some paid parking lots in the Canal District charge more for event parking, and garages aren’t cheap: the new garage costs $20 for games.
“It went from being free parking everywhere to paid parking, and the paid parking is expensive,” said Nicole DiCello, owner of Bedlam Book Cafe. “I’m selling $8 books and they’re already paying that in parking. So unless I’m getting them on foot, living in that neighborhood, not having to pay for that, they don’t want it. There’s less income to go around these days and the price of gas right now is insane. We’re doing OK, but gone are the days of people swarming that building.”
Neighborhood residents aren’t the typical audience on game days, either. While Jarry said that his regulars still show up because of the parking lot, others aren’t so lucky.
Eddie Cazares, owner of El Patron, said it took a while for the parking situation to sort itself out, although the opening of the new garage this season helped.
“The first year, it was 3 or 4 o’clock on a Saturday and my restaurant was empty,” Cazares said. “There were no parking solutions to a 10,000-person stadium. I’m not a planner or an engineer, but I still think the parking should’ve been done first.”
Now, his restaurant is busy whether or not there is a game at Polar Park that day, but the crowd is completely different.
“When (the WooSox) are here, because of parking issues and because of so much congestion with traffic, my regulars actually stay away from the area,” Cazares said. “Some of them send me a message saying, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while, but I’ve got the kids with me in the car doing laps around the block.’ I feel terrible because I know they drive out here to come here.”
Cazares and other restaurateurs who spoke with MassLive said the timing of the games isn’t always ideal, either, because when games start later in the evening, restaurants are closed by the time the ninth inning is over.
Verducci said the bright side to the parking situation is that fans coming from outside Worcester are more spread out through the city.
“It’s not easy to pull up and park and go to the ballpark, but what’s great is they’re walking around, they’re seeing places like Water Street or Main Street, or if they’re not from Worcester they’re seeing Worcester things,” Verducci said. “While parking can be a pain, people patronizing local businesses and seeing something they might not have known about is definitely a benefit.”
Excitement and engergy
Verducci said the team has been working to be a good neighbor and partner with local businesses to enhance the effect on them as much as possible. Recently, the team partnered with the Mercantile to do a ticket giveaway on social media, which was very successful.
“It’s that type of excitement and energy in Worcester right now,” he said. “There’s interest in the team and trying new restaurants. It’s been really easy to create symbiotic partnerships with our local business community.”
Other local businesses, especially restaurants, have had the chance to get some exposure from right inside the ballpark. George’s Coney Island, B.T.’s Smokehouse and Wonder Bar have permanent spots inside the park (with the price markups that go with that coveted seat: a hot dog from Coney Island costs $4 at Polar Park compared to $2.25 outside, and a cheese pizza from Wonder Bar will set you back $38), and the Taste of Worcester section hosts rotating local vendors.
The continually-evolving landscape of the area leaves some local business owners optimistic that any problems they’re having now won’t persist very long, leaving only the bump in customer traffic.
“It’s only the second year, so I think that it’ll get better from the first year to the second,” Cazares said. “I think there can be continuous progress so that the city can accommodate some of the huge influx in traffic and turn it into more of a walking city, where you can see the masses out and the local businesses can benefit from that.”
DiCello, too, said she feels good about the city’s overall progress.
“It’s like a very slow, steady change. It’s really in the process of just becoming something else, and it’s been interesting to see how long it’s taking to do that,” she said. “I do notice people coming from outside of Worcester and I am still optimistic that we’re going to have even more people, because they’re going to be living in the neighborhood there with all those apartments. But again, it’s like we’re kind of in a waiting game.”
Related content:
- While 2021 focused on Polar Park, 2022 in Worcester’s Canal District might be even busier with new restaurants, housing developments and more
- ‘Realize things can be different:’ Worcester Homecoming highlights development from the city’s renaissance
- WooSox attendance jumps 24% following removal of COVID restrictions, putting Polar Park 2nd among minor league baseball teams
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