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Waking up Worcester

Cotuit

By Cotuit
in Massachusetts

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Recchia Town

Recchia

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They just finished the new bus station at the Union station. It is right next to the Union station on the Centrum Boulevard, facing what will be the citysquare. Greyhound and Peter Pan will move their Worcester station to this location. So Union Station becomes a transportation hub in the middle of the new downtown. They did a good job with the new bus station. Its design fits the Union Station very well. Behind the Union station they started demolition of an old building and will replace it with a parking garage for park and ride.

union_bus.jpg

Lookin good, will this become the hub for Worcester's local bus system? How is the bus system in Worcester?

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jeepcj85 Unincorporated Area

jeepcj85

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The bus system sucks. Not enough service, and poor route planning. I have suggested 2 downtown area loop routes that are in city council now. I also suggested thest routed to the RTA recently while they were evaluating service but it fell on deaf ears. Currently every single line in the city runs past city hall. The RTA people are a bunch of morons if you ask me.

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oliver Unincorporated Area

oliver

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Having the long distance bus service in a safe area in downtown provides good options for trips to Boston and NYC. If you live downtown you can take the greyhound to NYC in the afternoon, go to dinner, party and take an early bus back (bus service starts at 2.30 am from NYC to Worcester), without moving your car. I did this once for New Years Eve a few years back with friends, it was a blast. It

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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They just finished the new bus station at the Union station. It is right next to the Union station on the Centrum Boulevard, facing what will be the citysquare. Greyhound and Peter Pan will move their Worcester station to this location. So Union Station becomes a transportation hub in the middle of the new downtown. They did a good job with the new bus station. Its design fits the Union Station very well. Behind the Union station they started demolition of an old building and will replace it with a parking garage for park and ride.

union_bus.jpg

Wow, someone in Worcester actually looked up intermodal in the dictionary. As opposed to Providence where our "Intermodal Station" has buses, buses, and oh buses.

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Recchia Town

Recchia

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Wow, someone in Worcester actually looked up intermodal in the dictionary. As opposed to Providence where our "Intermodal Station" has buses, buses, and oh buses.

No no Cotuit, you're wrong, Kennedy Plaza IS intermodal, cause it has buses and you can walk or bike there too!..oh wait, you can walk and bike anywhere...thus making any bus stop intermodal...damnit RIPTA...

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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No no Cotuit, you're wrong, Kennedy Plaza IS intermodal, cause it has buses and you can walk or bike there too!..oh wait, you can walk and bike anywhere...thus making any bus stop intermodal...damnit RIPTA...

You can also ride there on the back of a crackhead.

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oliver Unincorporated Area

oliver

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Another nice project:

www.beaconplace.net

An old building on the corner Main/Madison street will be developed into 60 luxury condo units. It's exciting that something is happening in this part of town. There are beautiful old buildings in this section of Main Street, but the area is completely run down (where South Main starts).

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TheBostonian Hamlet

TheBostonian

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How can a city have nine colleges and not be considered hip, lively, progressive or innovative? Northampton/Amherst has five schools and is all those things. And forget about needing to be a real city. AMH/NOHO isn't urban. Is it the ratio of students to total population that makes the difference? Does anyone know what Worcester's student population is?

Update: The Colleges of Worcester Consortium (which includes 2 or 3 area schools outside the city) says the total student headcount for the 2004-2005 year was 30,606, about 24k full time.

The Noho area has 20k+ just with Umass and doesn't have a population anywhere near Worcester. That surely makes a difference. But 30k is a very significant chunk of Worcester's 175k.

Maybe Worcester is a real and magical college town, just without a pretentious image to live up to. I understand these numbers are just numbers. I'll leave it to my fellow forumers to shed some light on this important New England city that I know so little about.

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oliver Unincorporated Area

oliver

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It's amazing how many loft and high-end condo developments are currently going on in Worcester. I like the idea to maintain the old structures and converting them into high-end living space. The number of developments shows that there is something moving in the city. Here a few of them:

http://www.universityparklofts.com/

http://www.biscuitlofts.com/

http://www.thefremont.com/

http://www.beaconplace.net/

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oliver Unincorporated Area

oliver

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Personally I love the idea that they are doing all the loft buildings, and I would love to live in one, but I am worried that without good transportation and services, that they are going to turn into another Smokestack Place.

Well, the Biscuitlofts are all sold and they went for pretty high prices. But thats the one with the best location, as the building is off Shrewsbury street and in walking distance to Restaurants & Bars.

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oliver Unincorporated Area

oliver

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Where exactly is Beacon Place going? It's the Fremont Street project I am most worried about. Don't get me wrong - nice building, I am sure it will look nice, but it's just the wrong neighborhood. If they kept the prices in check, maybe, but from what I hear they may be a bit high.

Although, I have to say that I am just waiting to see something start happening with the factories on Southbridge St. That is an area I think is not capitalizing on it's potential.

Beacon Place is going to be on Main Street, actually almost South Main Street (where Main Street turns bad). The investors really must bet on a Main Street turnaround. I share your thoughts about the Fremont project, it is a strange area for lofts, but I like the location of the University Park lofts (depends also on the development of Main Street). Locationwise the best lofts will be on Harding/Winter Street, right behind Union Station and a close walk to Shrewsbury Street. Also if the canal ever became reality, those buildings would be right on it.

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Lowerdeck Burg

Lowerdeck

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Nice to see some life going around in Worcester. I'm not so sure the point of a downtown movie theatre. That might go busto, especially with Blackstone Valley a few miles down the road.

You need some smaller independent cinema somewhere downtown, play those more obscure and limited movies that elitists love. That would work better for a livelier downtown area. Which well, that would be a really really good thing to have. There's no reason for me to be in Worcester downtown except for Centrum events.

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