Ray Mariano: Changes to Shrewsbury Street mirror changes to downtown

It was a different time and a very different place. Back then, Worcester was a city made up of close-knit neighborhoods. In parts of the city, entire families lived in the same neighborhood, often in the same three-decker with the parents on the first floor and other family members on the second and third.

Many neighborhoods had a church that reflected the ethnicity of the surrounding community with clerics who spoke the native language. Back then, when someone asked you where you lived, you seldom mentioned the street name but often the larger community. You were from Grafton or Vernon Hill, Main South or Quinsig Village. People felt a deep connection to their neighborhood.

Arguably the most identifiable neighborhood in the city was Shrewsbury Street. The street itself was best known for its many small Italian shops, tradesmen and restaurants. In those days, everything — the butcher, the baker, the barber, the tailor, the funeral director — was Italian. And the neighborhood was anchored by what residents referred to as the Italian church — Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

That was back then. Like Worcester, Shrewsbury Street has changed.

Changes to the neighborhood

So much of what made Shrewsbury Street unique and special to those who lived there is gone.

Slowly, over time, families that had lived in the neighborhood for several generations began to leave. The good people who moved in had less of a connection to the community and were simply looking for an affordable place to rent an apartment. When something better came along, they left.

As new people came and went, the stability of the neighborhood and people’s commitment to it left with them. A neighborhood of cousins, aunts and uncles, where people seldom locked their doors, became a neighborhood of strangers. In that way, the change mirrored much of what was happening in other neighborhoods across the city.

It wasn’t just the neighbors who changed. The businesses along the street also changed. Today, most of the small craft and specialty shops are gone. In their place are more than 30 restaurants and places where you can get a meal or a quick bite, known as Restaurant Row. These businesses cater less to local neighborhood folk and more to people passing through.

Symbolically, the change to the neighborhood was completed when Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, the religious and cultural center of the community, was demolished by the wrecking ball of progress.

Current, proposed development changes

First it was downtown and then the Canal District. Dozens of new or refurbished buildings have transformed the central part of the city. More than 2,000 apartments have been built or are planned with the overwhelming majority of them studio or one-bedroom units — virtually nothing for families.

Ultimately, while large sections of the city haven’t seen a hint of the development boom, new development has reached out and touched Shrewsbury Street. Currently, there are three new developments under construction. Additionally, there are two developments approved where construction has yet to begin, and another development working its way through the approval process.

Over the next few years, if all of the six new developments move forward, the Shrewsbury Street neighborhood will be an entirely different place. Nearly 750 new apartments and close to 1,000 new parking spaces will be added directly on or near the street — some buildings six or seven stories high. And if these developments start out successfully, you can almost guarantee that other developments will follow.

Just recently, the city published a Request for Proposals relative to the Department of Public Works properties along Shrewsbury and Albany streets. If that proposal proceeds, it will likely add several hundred more apartments to the neighborhood — perhaps more. In a three- or four-year period, the neighborhood will be very different, almost unrecognizable from what it was a few years ago.

Certainly, these developments are a positive step for the city. The tax revenue alone is significant not to mention the hundreds of additional customers for area restaurants and small businesses. But the makeup of these apartments does little to create neighborhood stability or a community.

Nearly three-quarters of the new apartments will be studio or one-bedroom units. A small number will be two-bedroom apartments with less than 2% offering three bedrooms. In other words, there will be no families moving in, no children to play in the Little League or attend the local schools. Most of the young professionals moving in will be here until something better comes along or their professional status changes.

To accommodate all of the city’s new residents, a $45 million center platform project at Union Station will add capacity to commuter rail service, making downtown and Shrewsbury Street more attractive to a transient population.

In many ways, Shrewsbury Street, especially the new Mount Carmel apartments, will simply become an extension of Worcester’s new downtown. The stability that came from generations of the same family living in the same home and the connection to the neighborhood and community groups will be a thing of the past.

Over the next several years, there will be a lot of new apartments, some new buildings, a ton of new tax revenue and plenty of new people to patronize the restaurants and shops. But all of this new development will bring little or nothing to hold a neighborhood together or create a sense of community.

Like Worcester, Shrewsbury Street is becoming a place where people come and go without ever becoming a part of the community.

I guess that’s progress.

Email Raymond V. Mariano at rmariano.telegram@gmail.com. He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His column appears weekly in the Sunday Telegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Ray Mariano column on changes to Shrewsbury Street and downtown