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Old 04-17-2015, 12:08 PM
 
Location: Charlton, MA
1,395 posts, read 5,069,681 times
Reputation: 855

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Do you guys live in or near Worcester? I'm curious where you live and how these opinions have been formed and when the last time you were in Worcester?
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Old 04-17-2015, 12:13 PM
 
23,087 posts, read 18,235,422 times
Reputation: 10646
Quote:
Originally Posted by KellyCrash View Post
Do you guys live in or near Worcester? I'm curious where you live and how these opinions have been formed and when the last time you were in Worcester?
Lived close to Worcester for 6 years, was in Worcester last week. Used to work there as well.
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Old 04-17-2015, 12:24 PM
 
Location: Southwest Minneapolis
520 posts, read 771,316 times
Reputation: 1464
There are three reasons to live in Worcester:

1. You are from Worcester and have always lived there

2. You go to school in Worcester

3. You work in Worcester and can't afford to live a nicer nearby suburb.

Worcester has very little to offer to a non-native and, as others have mentioned, isn't exactly an inexpensive place to live by national standards.

While there are some nicer parts of Worcester, those are made up primarily of single family homes. The decent pockets with rental units tend to be overrun with college students and quickly run into the grittier parts of Worcester.

There are only a couple of truly dangerous parts of Worcester, but most of the areas on the beaten path leave quite a bit to be desired in the way of amenities, cleanliness, property crime and other quality of life factors.

I lived in Westborough for several years up until this past fall and tried really, really hard to like Worcester because it was 10 minutes away. There are some decent restaurants on Shrewsbury street and a few others scattered around. There are even a couple nice places downtown. However, the sum of the parts adds up to a pretty unimpressive whole.
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Old 04-17-2015, 12:38 PM
 
Location: Charlton, MA
1,395 posts, read 5,069,681 times
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The Canal Street Lofts look amazing and are affordable by MASSACHUSETTS standards. Canal Lofts-Worcester

We can say it's expensive by national standards, but if we're looking to live in MA that's the only standards that count in my opinion. Massachusetts overall is an expensive place to live compared to many other areas of the country.

Voke Lofts also are nice very similiar to Canal Street & a decent area near North Main Street close to the Art Museum. Voke Lofts-Worcester | View Availability
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Old 04-17-2015, 12:50 PM
 
Location: Southwest Minneapolis
520 posts, read 771,316 times
Reputation: 1464
Quote:
Originally Posted by KellyCrash View Post
The Canal Street Lofts look amazing and are affordable by MASSACHUSETTS standards. Canal Lofts-Worcester

We can say it's expensive by national standards, but if we're looking to live in MA that's the only standards that count in my opinion. Massachusetts overall is an expensive place to live compared to many other areas of the country.

Voke Lofts also are nice very similiar to Canal Street & a decent area near North Main Street close to the Art Museum. Voke Lofts-Worcester | View Availability
The photos of the inside of the model unit of Canal Street Lofts looks very nice. The Google Street View of the surrounding area does not:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2575...zVARi_zqjQ!2e0

Voke is in a somewhat better area. At least you wouldn't look at the Street View and assume it was from a third world country.
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Old 04-17-2015, 12:56 PM
 
Location: Charlton, MA
1,395 posts, read 5,069,681 times
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Seriously? The Google street view to me looks like a building under renovation & a parking lot under construction.
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Old 04-17-2015, 01:00 PM
 
Location: Baltimore
21,428 posts, read 12,424,419 times
Reputation: 11108
Quote:
Originally Posted by Humphrey View Post
OK it's second largest by population living in the city boundaries but that is quite a narrow and arbitrary measure. Hence NECTA is used to measure urban areas in New England.

New England city and town area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The largest cities are:

1 Boston–Cambridge–Quincy - 4,703,187
2 Providence–Fall River–Warwick - 1,301,595
3 Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford - 1,121,463
4 Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk CT - 926,465
5 Springfield MA-CT - 683,800
6 New Haven CT - 597,172
7 Worcester MA-CT - 577,537
8 Portland–South Portland–Biddeford ME - 357,412

I think making Worcester seem larger than it actually is hurts the city's reputation a bit because it gives people unrealistic expectations. It's improving all the time and actually a decent place given it's size and the fact it's overshadowed by Boston.
So... everything I said and you tried to discredit...
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Old 04-17-2015, 01:08 PM
 
57 posts, read 175,412 times
Reputation: 94
Quote:
Originally Posted by KellyCrash View Post
Seriously? The Google street view to me looks like a building under renovation & a parking lot under construction.
That area looks pretty ragged now but it's going to change a lot over the next few years. There's a 600-unit apartment complex going in down on Franklin Street and the Osgood building near Union Station is becoming student housing.

There's been a lot of false starts and Worcester has a long way to go, but it finally looks like there's a recovery in the city with a bit of momentum behind it (new projects downtown, business and student housing moving downtown etc).

Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade View Post
So... everything I said and you tried to discredit...
Nah - not trying to discredit. What you said was true - Worcester is culturally and economically behind those other cities, but that's because it is quite a bit smaller.

Last edited by Humphrey; 04-17-2015 at 01:24 PM..
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Old 04-17-2015, 01:08 PM
 
Location: Baltimore
21,428 posts, read 12,424,419 times
Reputation: 11108
Pandas..someone just posted a picture of an u finished parking lot. Next to an overgrown lot across from an abandoned mill under renovation nearby a major highway in an environment of run down old buildings complete with a shoddily dressed guy carrying something over his shoulder and called it a "nice area" followed immediately by "you can tell its not a third world country" that's what youre looking forward to. That's the standard. Do not pass go.
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Old 04-17-2015, 04:52 PM
 
1,768 posts, read 3,219,290 times
Reputation: 1592
Rather than moving consider that you did not chose your rental well, and that there are better places around if you start looking. You have some experience in this area now, and much better chances of finding cheaper place. Maybe even much nicer place.

If you move that far out of metro Boston. your life might become only work and commute.
Nothing against Worcester.

Good luck.
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