In the News

Jim McGovern looked up at the 30,000 square foot brick building at 2 Ionic Ave. in Worcester on Tuesday morning. Within the walls that date back more than a century, the congressman representing Massachusetts’ 2nd District was reminded of the trips he made to the building as a child.

At that time, the city knew the building as the Boys Club. It welcomed nearly 2,000 boys daily for swimming, basketball, boxing, chess and other activities. McGovern said he learned how to swim in the pool at the facility.

“I have a lot of great memories of this when it was the Boys Club,” McGovern said. “When this building became vacant I was sad that it would deteriorate or it would be torn down.”

On Tuesday, McGovern invited his colleague U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, of Massachusetts’ 1st Congressional District, to tour the space which Creative Hub Worcester plans to transform into a creative space geared at generating new memories for the youth of the city.

“This was the center of activity in Worcester a century ago,” Neal said. “There’s no reason in a different format that it can’t be brought back to life.”

As the two congressmen walked through the four levels of the building they tossed ideas off of each other and Creative Hub founders - Laura Marotta and Stacy Lord - about possible grant funding and tax incentives.

Creative Hub Worcester co-founders Laura Marotta and Stacy Lord provide a tour to Congressman Jim McGovern and Richard Neal of 2 Iconic Ave. in Worcester.

The $14 million renovation project will bring the to neighborhood art studios, event spaces, workshops and toddler and preschool child care.

“This building has special meaning,” McGovern said. “I’m just thrilled that it’s going to be used in a way that’s going to benefit the community.”

State partners — including MassDevelopment and city partners such as UMass Memorial Health Care —have already jumped on board in helping the project reach the finish line.

At a federal level, new market tax credits, historic tax credits and various other grants can inject even more life into a project that Marotta and Lord have been inching toward for more than five years.

McGovern highlighted the new market tax credits as especially important. The program attracts private capital into low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial intermediaries called Community Development Entities, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.

“A lot of these initiatives don’t get off the ground. It’s called gap financing,” Neal said. “The economics of supply and demand have to work to get people to step off the sidelines and put their own money into the initiative. They have to be relatively assured that it’s going to provide a necessary and proper return.”

Taking in the steel beams that divide up the first floor, the bricks that provide stability on each floor and the view from the rooftop, each aspect represented for Neal a reason for investors to flock to the project.

“I was very impressed,” Neal said. “They have a plan. You can’t go anywhere without a road map. Right here they have a roadmap and it is essential. They lay out what they need and it’s not explained in terms of good wishes. You need to make it economically viable.”

The former Boys Club at 2 Ionic Ave. in Worcester used to be home to nearly 2,000 boys a day, some playing basketball, boxing or chess.

While investors are at the table and collectively have the means to make it work, no one wants to make the first move.

“That’s the last five years of our journey,” Marotta said.

Lord finished the thought, “They’re all standing on the edge of the pool holding hands, and it’s like OK, who’s the first one.”

Marotta believes acts like inviting two powerful congressmen to tour the space can help. At the end of the day, though, the building is about caring for those who often aren’t heard or seen.

It’s those faint voices that keep Lord and Marotta motivated.

“It’s going to happen,” McGovern said. “This project is going to happen and it’s going to be successful. And quite frankly, I can’t wait.”