216-Unit Apartment Building Planned For Worcester's Poet Hill

WORCESTER, MA — A Topsfield-based developer is seeking permission to build a 216-unit apartment building in Worcester's Poet Hill neighborhood, according to plans submitted recently to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).

The building would be located on a 5-acre parcel along Hemans Street across from Fairmount Park. Developer Boghos Properties is seeking permission from the ZBA to reduce the number of parking spaces required for a development this size from 432 down to 329, according to plans.

A reduction in parking will have environmental benefits, and will allow the building to have fit eight additional units, according to the application. Plans call for the seven-story building to have 94 one-bedroom units, 107 two-bedroom units and 15 three-bedroom units.

Some of Worcester's biggest recent residential projects have been concentrated around Polar Park: the Table Talk Lofts project, a 318-unit project where the Lucky Dog Music Hall stands and an under-construction 228-unit building across Madison Street from the baseball stadium.

But developers have targeted areas outside downtown, including the new building at 100 Wall St., which replaced the vacant El Morocco restaurant site. There's also a 111-unit apartment building going up along Brooks Street across from the shuttered Showcase Cinemas building. Although hemmed in between Grove Street and I-190, the Hemans Street project would be less than a mile from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute campus and just slightly farther to the downtown area.

The ZBA will discuss the Hemans Street project on Wednesday beginning at 5:30 p.m. Also on the agenda: a new car wash and gas station at the Park Avenue Austin Liquors location; and a gas station proposed for a vacant lot near Crompton Park.