Closed Route 9 Garden Center Has Complex Path To Development

WESTBOROUGH, MA — A former garden center along Route 9 in Westborough that's been closed for several years faces a potentially complicated path to redevelopment.

The former Green Thumb garden center at 187 Turnpike Road closed in 2019 following the death of owner Bob McGoldrick. He and his wife, June, founded the nursery in the 1950s on five acres — a time when Route 9 was lined with farms.

At an April Westborough Select Board meeting, Assessor Jonathan Steinberg gave the members an update on the property, which McGovern Auto Group bought in late 2021 for $2.5 million, according to the Worcester County Registry of Deeds.

Steinberg said the owners of Boston Lawnmower Company, 233 Turnpike Road, had tried to buy the property in 2020. The purchase had to get special approval in the state Legislature because the Green Thumb property has a deed restriction requiring the site to remain an agricultural use. That restriction prevents a correct appraisal of the property for a commercial use.

The Legislature in 2020 did allow the property to be appraised for both commercial and agricultural use, but the owners of Green Thumb and Boston Lawnmower could not reach an agreement on a sale price, Steinberg said.

Now, McGovern Auto Group — which operates more than a dozen dealerships across the region, including Shrewsbury Audi, McGovern Buick in Westborough and Westborough USA Autobahn — will have to return to the state to get permission to remove the agriculture deed restriction.

According to Steinberg, McGovern will have to ask the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) to appraise the property and report those findings to the DCAMM commissioner. At that point, the state could modify the deed and sell it to McGovern, removing the agricultural restriction. With the restriction gone, the property would become part of the Route 9 business highway zoning district.

The Green Thumb parcel was first listed in 2021 for $4.5 million, according to the commercial real estate website LoopNet.