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Real estate company hoping to demolish historic Worcester church, build apartments

WORCESTER, Mass. — The fight continues to save a historic church in Worcester that a real estate company has proposed to demolish and, in turn, build apartments.

Downtown Worcester Square used to be home to five churches, but now there is only one left, the Notre Dame church.

"It's a place where people were baptized. They buried their parents. They were married there," said Deborah Packard, executive director of Preservation Worcester.

The real estate company Roseland Mack-Cali wants to replace the church with an 87-unit apartment building.

The real estate company has entered into in a purchase agreement with developer CitySquare II, who has been working with the Worcester on a $565-million revamp of downtown.

They bought the church in 2010 from the Diocese and in a statement told Boston 25 News:

"CitySquare II made continuous and concerted efforts to find a reuse for the building over several years. Various architects, engineers, contractors, brokers and other professionals explored numerous renovation and reuse options ….None of these proved economically viable, and we decided to sell the building."

Some residents say the city needs to back it up.

Packard said they don’t want progress it at the expense of the city’s historic landmarks. She said the building can be saved and it should be turned into a mixed-use retail space.

"There are historic tax credits which can be up to 40-percent of the project. There are new market tax credits. There would need to be investors. But any project cost money. So the new construction will cost money as well," she said.

The planning board is scheduled to hear Roseland's proposal on Aug. 2.

Boston 25 News reached out to the city of Worcester for comment, but has not heard back.