'Alarming lack of transparency': Worcester city councilors weigh in on WPI hotel plan

WORCESTER — A city commission meeting scheduled Thursday where Worcester Polytechnic Institute's controversial plans to buy two hotels in the city so they can be turned into student housing would likely be discussed has been postponed to Aug. 29.

Meanwhile, talks are ongoing between the city and WPI representatives about a potential meeting, and multiple city councilors have joined in on blasting WPI's conduct.

According to a meeting agenda on the City of Worcester's website, the Historical Commission's Thursday meeting is canceled and all items have been moved to a special meeting Aug. 29 at the Esther Howland Chamber, the main City Council chamber in City Hall.

WPI's intention to buy the two hotels — the Hampton Inn & Suites at 65 Prescott St. and the Courtyard by Marriott at 72 Grove St. — has drawn sharp condemnation from some of the city's leading business and political leaders.

A letter signed by members of Worcester’s Economic Development Coordinating Council to WPI President Grace Wang excoriated WPI's plans. The letter claimed the move could substantially hurt the city’s tax base and would fail to mesh with the intended goals of the multimillion-dollar Gateway Park Project.

The hotels are part of that 55-acre project, which used roughly $170 million in public and private funds to clean up contaminated lands and refurbish old industrial buildings to create a mixed-use development. The project features WPI’s 125,000-square-foot Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center.

The Economic Development Coordinating Council, an informal partnership between city officials and some of the city's largest business leadership organizations, claims Worcester could lose $780,000 annually in local property taxes and more than $850,000 in annual hotel/motel tax revenue, along with more than 100 jobs and 25% of local hotel room capacity.

City leaders also said that WPI has not been not transparent with them about the plan to purchase the hotels.

Jon Weaver, an Economic Development Coordinating Council member and president and chief executive officer of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, previously told the Telegram & Gazette the move would limit the available space for local biotech expansion.

WPI has declined to comment .

The Historical Commission was asked to comment on WPI's plans as they relate to 65 Prescott St., the Hampton Inn site, during the Thursday meeting.

Mayor Joseph M. Petty told the T&G on Monday that City Manager Eric D. Batista was expected to meet with WPI this week. However, Thomas Matthews, a city spokesperson, responded to a T&G question Thursday by saying only that the parties are in communication.

Also Thursday, a majority of city councilors signed a letter further criticizing WPI and calling for a halt to the acquisition. The letter was written by District 2 City Councilor and Standing Committee on Economic Development Chair Candy Mero-Carlson.

"WPI was originally an engaging and open partner with the Worcester City Council, business community, and residents of the city. However, over the last two years WPI has had an alarming lack of transparency with the city and business community. As Worcester City Councilors, we urge WPI to halt this proposed acquisition," the letter read.

The letter was signed by Mero-Carlson, Councilor-at-Large Morris Bergman, Councilor-at-Large Khrystian King, Councilor-at-Large Donna Colorio, Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Toomey, District 1 City Councilor Jennifer Pacillo, District 3 City Councilor George Russell and District 4 City Councilor Luis Ojeda.

"WPI’s proposed acquisition of the Hampton Inn and Courtyard Marriot hotels would be a detriment to annualproperty tax rates and would lead to the loss of over 100 jobs at a time when unemployment in Central Massachusetts is on the rise," the letter read. "These are hardworking individuals that are losing their paychecks due to WPI expansion that breaches the original intent, vision and mission of the Gateway Park Project."

The councilors also shared the Economic Development Coordinating Council's concerns that Worcester's tourism business could be hurt by the loss in hotel capacity. The letter also states that WPI went against the spirit of its civic partnership with city and business leaders. "As Worcester City Councilors we are deeply dissatisfied with the process in which WPI has covertly negotiated the pending purchase of these hotels. This potential acquisition damages the spirit of partnership that the city has cultivated with WPI," the letter read.

District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said in a Monday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that new student housing should not come at the expense of city taxpayers.

"I believe that the more housing universities and colleges create, the less they take away from our residents. But not at the expense of tax payers & neighborhoods. (Payments in Lieu of Taxes deals) should then be re-negotiated to make up for taking properties off our tax rolls."

Haxhiaj said the same situation was occurring with Clark University's purchase of the former Diamond Chevrolet lot and has previously requested a report on how many properties colleges and universities have taken off city tax payrolls in the last five years.

On Friday, Haxhiaj said in another post on X that she and Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen were not sent the letter and that city staff were directed to send it to select councilors. Haxhiaj said she would have signed it if she had received it.

In another letter, John Brissette, chair of the Worcester Civic Center Commission that is charged with managing the DCU Center, wrote that losing the hotels could lead to the city being out of compliance for accommodation requirements for events hosted at the DCU Center.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: 'Alarming lack of transparency': Worcester city councilors weigh in on WPI hotel plan