Work has begun to turn old Worcester Boys Club home into apartment complex

WORCESTER ― A $51 million project has begun to convert the former Worcester Boys Club building and the property around it into affordable apartment homes for adults 55 and older, the developer says.

Although no construction work is visible on the grounds of the 94-year-old building, which has been vacant for 18 years, renovations have started to turn it into 16 apartment homes and community spaces, a statement by WinnDevelopment said.

The building, a landmark of Lincoln Square, housed Worcester Vocational High School for decades. It became vacant in 2006, when the city opened the new Worcester Technical High School near Green Hill Park.

While the renovations will breathe new life in the existing building, a new 64-apartment building will soon take shape right beside it.

The project, scheduled to be complete in 2026, envisions that the two buildings will be connected on the ground floor by a single-story glass walkway.

The project is the brainchild of WinnDevelopment, a Boston-based company that bought the 48,000-square-foot property from the city in 2019 for $300,000.

The developer initially planned to lease the building to a school for highly functioning autistic students , but those plans later fell through.

New plans first surfaced in April 2021, and the Planning Board granted approval to WinnDevelopment the following December for senior housing.

In its statement, the developer said it would use “adaptive reuse techniques” to preserve and renovate the existing building that in 1930 became home to one of the nation's first Boys Clubs.

WinnDevelopment plans to replace the building's windows with historic replicas.

Plans call for making the building accessible to people who are handicapped and converting the existing basement-level basketball court gym into a fitness center for residents and their guests.

There will also be access for public and civic uses, with public programming overseen by the nonprofit Preservation Worcester.

The new building will feature 19 studio apartments, 46 one-bedroom units and 15 two-bedroom apartments, WinnDevelopment said.

Across its five stories, 68 apartments will be leased to households earning up to 60% of the area median income and 12 units will be available to those earning up to 30% of the area median income. Eleven apartments will be set aside as housing for residents with disabilities.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Work has begun to turn old Worcester Boys Club home into apartment complex