In 1885, the Norton Company bought farmland in the Greendale section of Worcester and started building its first grinding wheel plant. A century later, the campus had grown well beyond that first plant. A 2023 Urban Land Institute advisory report quotes stakeholders who say Norton employed as many as 9,000 workers well into the 20th century. The report also records something easy to forget about the site. The campus served as a recreation area and a pass-through for pedestrians until Saint-Gobain bought the company in 1990.
For more than 35 years since then, the 51 acres off Interstate 190 have been something to drive around. The redevelopment now underway is usually told as a manufacturing story. For Burncoat, though, the most concrete part so far is the order of the work. The first construction phase on the site, now called GreenTech Park, is building public streets, and the stated purpose of those streets is to reconnect Indian Hill and Burncoat.
A Site That Used to Be Crossed on Foot
The Worcester Business Development Corporation, a nonprofit economic development group, bought the property in November 2022. Since then it has worked with the city, Saint-Gobain and other stakeholders on redevelopment plans for the former campus of Norton Company and later Saint-Gobain Abrasives, the Worcester Guardian reported.
That history explains why the road work matters to the neighborhoods on either side. For decades the campus was private industrial land with an operating company inside it. Roberta Brien, executive vice president at WBDC, made the point directly at a Worcester Planning Board meeting this summer. According to the Worcester Business Journal, in an article republished by WBDC, she said the new public streets in GreenTech Park will let local residents travel through the area in ways that weren't possible while the Saint-Gobain site was in operation.
Why Phase One Is Pavement
On Thursday, August 13, 2026, WBDC broke ground on the first phase of roadway and utility improvements. Public funding for the work totals $12.8 million. The Worcester Guardian reported that this phase rebuilds a roadway and upgrades the utilities future buildings will need, with the goal of creating "pad-ready" sites for new construction.
The money comes from several sources:
- The state's MassWorks program
- The Massachusetts Department of Transportation
- The U.S. Economic Development Administration's Public Works program
- MassDevelopment's Site Readiness Program
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said nearly $8 million in federal funding has gone to the project.
There is a logic to building streets before buildings. WBDC is marketing individual parcels for buildings of roughly 60,000 to 450,000 square feet, and it ultimately envisions about 1 million square feet of new development across the park. A company weighing a building that size wants a ready lot with roads and utilities in place. The streets that make those lots marketable are the same ones that open the campus to the public. In the Worcester Guardian's account, the infrastructure work "will also create public access through the campus, restoring an east-west connection between the Indian Hill and Burncoat neighborhoods."
The Streets Named So Far
Several street names now appear in the project materials. Here is how each one is described.
| Street | What's planned | Where it's described |
|---|---|---|
| Ararat Street | To be reconnected as part of the project | MassLive, Aug. 13, 2026 |
| Norton Drive | To be reconnected as part of the project | MassLive, Aug. 13, 2026 |
| New Bond Street | To be reconnected, then modified and widened for bicycle and pedestrian traffic; focus of the next infrastructure phase | MassLive; WBDC; Worcester Guardian |
| Stores Street | To be modified and widened for bicycle and pedestrian traffic | WBDC |
| C Street | To be modified and widened for bicycle and pedestrian traffic | WBDC |
The bicycle and pedestrian language matters because it describes a route people can use outside a car. The next phase on New Bond Street is funded by federal Congressionally Directed Spending earmarks and MassWorks money, and the Worcester Guardian reported that it will "continue efforts to restore public connections through the former industrial campus."
What Will Sit Along the New Streets
The first building expected on the site is a wholesale warehouse. Restaurant Depot, a foodservice supplier headquartered in Whitestone, New York, plans an approximately 50,000-square-foot facility. The Worcester Planning Board approved its site plan in July. WBDC describes a 4.4-acre site next to I-190, bordered by Stores Street and Frontage Road, with 171 parking spaces and five loading bays.
Neighbors may be surprised to learn this is not a store they can shop in. Restaurant Depot sells only to members who are foodservice, deli or nonprofit organizations. According to WBDC's account of the approval, that members-only model is what lets it operate under the site's Manufacturing General 1 zoning, because wholesaling counts as a business use there. It would be the company's second Central Massachusetts location, after Milford. In August, the Worcester Guardian reported that Restaurant Depot was expected to break ground in 2026.
The City Council has also acted to bring in more tenants. MassLive reported on Sept. 24 that the council unanimously approved City Manager Eric D. Batista's recommendation to create a tax increment financing zone for the park. The Economic Development Committee had approved the proposal on Sept. 16. The plan, written by Peter Dunn, the city's chief development officer, calls for a 35 to 50 percent average exemption on new property taxes over 10 to 15 years, depending on building size. The zone covers 30 acres of the park. WBDC President Craig Blais thanked the city for partnering "to attract new investment and jobs to the Greendale neighborhood."
Taken together, the sequence is public streets, then pad-ready lots, then a tax incentive to fill them. Burncoat's benefit comes at the first step, before anyone knows which companies will sign on.
What Hasn't Been Set Yet
Several practical questions are still open in the published project materials:
- The exact route. WBDC has named Ararat Street, New Bond Street and Norton Drive for reconnection. No published map yet shows the street-by-street path of the east-west link or where it meets the Burncoat side.
- Completion dates. The first phase began August 13, 2026. No finish date has been announced for it or for the New Bond Street phase.
- The full design. WBDC describes New Bond, Stores and C Streets as being widened for bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Detailed sidewalk and bike-lane plans have not been released.
- Remaining approvals. In July, WBDC noted that the project still needed approval from the Worcester Conservation Commission.
The GreenTech Park construction updates page is where WBDC reports site cleanup, infrastructure upgrades and new public roadways as the work moves forward. For a site that has been closed to through-walkers since 1990, the next useful update is the one that shows where the new street comes out on the Burncoat side.
If you own a home near the old Norton campus and want to know how the new streets around Ararat Street and New Bond Street could affect your plans, Erin Zamarro follows projects like this one closely and is happy to talk them through with you. When you're ready, start with a free home valuation.
