For Worcester, the New Gateway Park 

is an Impressive First Step in an

Area-Wide Transformation 

The new WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center 

Worcester, Massachusetts 

Located just under 50 miles from Boston, the historically 

industrial City of Worcester, Massachusetts covers some 37 square 

miles in the state’s approximate center. Despite its size, Worcester 

has less than 100 acres available for new development—and with 

more than two hundred documented brownfields, the city recognized 

that restoration of these idle and underused properties was crucial 

to promoting development, revitalizing its economy, and reversing 

the high unemployment and poverty rates found in some of its 

neighborhoods. On an 11-acre former industrial area now known 

as Gateway Park, the city and its partner, Gateway Park LLC, are 

developing a bioengineering research and mixed-use complex that is 

transforming the once-underused area, drawing millions of dollars in 

private investment, and creating hundreds of new jobs. 

Long invested in transforming its brownfi elds, Worcester was 

the recipient of an EPA Brownfields Assessment Pilot grant in 

1999. This funding was used to investigate contamination levels 

on the South Worcester Industrial Park property, which the city is 

currently redeveloping into 1.7 million square feet of industrial, 

manufacturing, and warehouse space. For Worcester’s north 

side, Gateway Park LLC created a master redevelopment plan 

for a 55-acre, mostly industrial area rife with underused, likely 

contaminated properties. While active businesses still remained 

in this target area, including an art museum and some commercial 

facilities, idle brownfields within these 55 acres included former steel 

manufacturers, auto body shops, and a plating company. 

What would become the first major project within the north 

Worcester target area was initiated by a partnership between two 

non-profit entities: the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), which 

had been looking for a location for its newly funded bioengineering 

wing; and the Worcester Business Development Corporation 

(WBDC). These two organizations formed Gateway Park LLC and 

through it, purchased multiple properties totaling 11 acres within 

the larger project area. One of these 11 acres, once home to the New 

England Plating Company, was designated as the future parking 

location for the planned, mixed-use complex. 

Given its history of metal plating activity, this one-acre property 

proved the most difficult and most expensive site to clean. 

continued • 

(foreground) and the renovated industrial building, 

which contains offi ces, meeting rooms, 

and shared facilities (at left).

JUST THE FACTS: • With more than 200 documented 

brownfields, the City of Worcester 

recognized that restoration of these 

idle and underused properties was 

crucial to promoting development, 

revitalizing its economy, and reversing 

high unemployment and poverty rates. 

• State and federal funding that included 

an EPA Brownfields Revolving Loan 

Fund grant enabled cleanup of an 

11-acre former industrial area targeted 

as a mixed-use, biotechnology/ 

biomedical facility and business 

incubator. 

• When development is fully realized, 

the new “Gateway Park” will create 

2,500 new jobs, including 300 

biomedical research positions—as 

well as more than $6 million in 

annual taxes. 

Gateway Park’s 

master plan calls for 

the rehabilitation and construction of 

buildings containing 1,564,800 square 

feet of mixed-use space, and 1.7 acres of 

residential development.The project was 

recognized in 2006 with the James D.P. 

Farrell “Brownfields Project of the Year” 

award from the Environmental Business 

Council of New England. 
Gateway Park LLC received two $350,000 cleanup loans from the Massachusetts Development Finance 

Agency and had dedicated one of those loans solely for the former plating property, but still found itself 

needing additional cleanup funds. The solution was found within a $1.28 million EPA Brownfields 

Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) grant awarded to Worcester in August 2005. With an additional $200,000 

provided to the Gateway Park project from the RLF, cleanup of the former plating company 

property and the remaining 10 acres was completed in March 2006. This cleanup 

included demolition of buildings and the safe disposal of thousands of square feet 

of asbestos-containing debris. Building materials were also recycled whenever 

possible. 

Gateway Park’s first building, completed in Spring 2007, is the $40 million, 

four-story, 124,600-square-foot Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center. 

WPI occupies some three-quarters of the Center, which houses the university’s 

graduate research programs in biology and biotechnology, biomedical 

engineering, chemical engineering, and chemistry and biochemistry. On the 

first floor, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives created the Gateway Park 

Incubator—a facility that includes laboratories, shared equipment, and offices 

for up to six startup biomedical companies. The remainder of the building is 

being leased to business and commercial entities. 

In all, Gateway Park’s master plan calls for the rehabilitation and construction of 

buildings containing 1,564,800 square feet of mixed-use space, and a 1.7-acre parcel 

has been designated for residential development. On the one-acre site of the former plating 

company, a 200-space parking lot and a 640-space parking garage are now complete. The Economic 

Development Administration provided a $2.5 million grant to the project for this parking development, 

while the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $1.8 million for improvements to public road 

access in the project area. In addition, the State of Massachusetts awarded a $2 million grant to the city 

for infrastructure improvements within Gateway Park. 

The Gateway Park project was recognized in 2006 with WPI’s receipt 

of the James D.P. Farrell “Brownfields Project of the Year” award 

from the Environmental Business Council of New England—an 

award presented annually to a project that exemplifi es excellence 

in overcoming social, economic, technical, and institutional 

challenges. When development is fully realized, WBDC estimates 

that Gateway Park will create 2,500 new jobs, including 300 

biomedical research positions—as well as more than $6 million in 

annual taxes. For more information on Worcester’s Gateway Park 

project and Brownfields Revolving Loan Funds, please contact 

EPA Region 1 at (617) 918-1105 or at www.epa.gov/region01/ 

brownfields/. 

CONTACTS: 

For more information contact 

U.S. EPA REGION 1 

(617) 918-1105 

Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at: 

www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/ 

An interior view of one of the modern laboratory bays 

in the WPI Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center at 

Gateway Park. 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA-560-F-09-023 

Worcester, Massachusetts and Emergency February 2009 

Gateway Park Response (5105T) www.epa.gov/brownfields/