![]() ![]() Peter Turchon had founded a pioneering business in 1925 called Homes Inc. He studied communications at the University of New Hampshire because he wanted to own and manage a television or radio station.įirst, his grandfather died in 1975. Norton never really intended to work in real estate. “He’s always been very positive about Worcester, that there were opportunities here.” “He’s always been very bullish on Worcester,” said Craig S. Bowditch Economic Development Award, an annual honor recently handed out by the Worcester Business Development Corp. and the complex’s parking garage, revving up a dormant space. He also launched events such as beer tastings on the plaza between 100 Front St. ![]() He renamed the 646,500-square-foot complex Mercantile Center, invested about $20 million to update the lobby and other areas, and then refinanced the development to bring in local investors. Norton leaned into Worcester again, buying two downtown office towers on Front Street in 2015 for $32.5 million after he snagged a large lease with UMass Memorial Health Care’s information technology division. for $10 million and spending millions more to turn it into modern offices now known as the Worcester Business Center. In 2008, he was involved in buying a 250,000-square-foot former industrial building at 67 Millbrook St. The project also involved renovating a smaller nearby building, bringing total costs to about $42 million. He was part of a group that developed One Chestnut Place in Worcester, a nine-story office building on Elm Street featuring Class A, or the highest quality, space during a 1990-1991 national recession. Norton was there to help work on redevelopment. of Southbridge, long a mainstay of the small town on the Connecticut border, sold its 1.3 million-square-foot property in 1989 for $1.85 million, Mr. And he has not shied away from difficult investments during difficult economic periods. Norton has long been an active developer in the Worcester area. “I’ve never really worked for anybody, so I’ve learned through default.”įormally known as Charles F. Norton, 64, whose company is Franklin Realty Advisors of Wellesley. “I made all the good decisions and bad decisions on my own,” said Mr. Norton toiled on a maintenance crew at the family business’ properties.īut ask him who taught him the most about the business, and the man whose company has redeveloped key portions of downtown Worcester and a former industrial site in Southbridge will tell you he pretty much learned the job by himself. During his summer breaks from college, Mr. WORCESTER - Chip Norton has real estate development in his blood. ![]()
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