The City just did that with the Denholm Building, and now at last week's quicky WRA meeting it feels like that project is slipping away and Worcester has the project on it's hands.
There's now talk of giving the Menkiti Group more taxpayer susbsidies so they please please do the Denholm Building.
It's a hot button that one. First, yes it'd be challenged, but most importantly we'd need to have the cash to buy them. While I don't doubt it's a challenging time to get properties developed, these properties have been there for decades. So, then, impose an escalating fee or give them
an incentive to develop. I don't care which is it. I am super frustrated that we continue to let these folks just sit on these properties, while residents will wait 10-20 years to see anything there. How is this fair to our neighborhoods? How does this align with the City's goal to revitalize our
Neighborhoods outside of downtown? Big D just got a big incentive, thanks to my proposal to turn that into a Urban Center Housing zone- which would incetivize them to get a TIF. Why do the residents of Mill Street have to wait until this owner FEELS like developing it, while we're struggling
to get housing built, house small businesses, encourage mixed-use development in our District 5 neighborhoods. Why isn't Webster Square paid attention to in the same way the City has paid to downtown?
Lot of questions and lot of frustrations. I plan to stay on these topics and re-introduce them every 90 days on the council floor, if I have to. Ofc, I will keep talking about these on every social media platform and nbd meeting too.
Comments
There's now talk of giving the Menkiti Group more taxpayer susbsidies so they please please do the Denholm Building.