New Worcester Gas Station Proposal Heads To Public Hearing

WORCESTER, MA — A new automobile-focused development planned for a vacant lot along Quinsigamond Avenue will get a public hearing this week, recalling a similar plan shut down by local residents last month.

Developer Neon Marketplace Operating I — whose manager is Rhode Island-based Procaccianti Companies CEO James Procaccianti — is seeking permission to build a gas station complex at 75 Quinsigamond Ave. A Neon Marketplace convenience store would take up about half of the 1-1/2 acre site, and gas pumps would take up the other half.

The site, located two blocks south of Crompton Park, has been vacant since 2012, when a former Nissen bakery there was demolished.

Last month, another developer seeking to build a gas station on a blighted parcel met resistance in Worcester.

On Dec. 8, Prayosha Realty Trust went to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) seeking permission to build a car wash and gas station at the Austin Liquors site along Park Avenue. But the developer withdrew the plan during the meeting after pushback from local residents. The residents — and some ZBA members — said building a new gas station goes against Worcester's goals to reduce carbon emissions. They also highlighted the multiple other gas stations very close to the site — one as close as 850 feet away.

There are three gas stations located within about a half mile radius of the 75 Quinsigamond Ave. site along Southbridge Street, plus an under-construction 16-pump Gulf gas station about a half mile away at Kelley Square.

The proposed Neon Marketplace is set to go before the ZBA at Monday's meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m.