Grid District Building Out for Explosive Year

Interview with Steven Carter of the Grid District.

The Grid District development just across Franklin Street from the Worcester Common already has 400 residential units and a few popular eateries, including the cafe Brew on the Grid and the Mediterranean restaurant Techni. Much more is still to come, including a highly anticipated beer garden set to open next year. Steven Carter, the Grid District’s director of operations, sees the development contributing to a growing downtown.

We saw demolition of the old Paris Cinema begin over the summer. How is the project progressing?
The demolition has been a bit like surgery, trying to take the theater out with all the buildings surrounding it. In some cases, it’s been a brick at a time. We’re shooting for Stix, an Asian noodle bar, to be open by the first week of October. For the Beer Garden, which will have 200 outdoor seats and 200 indoors, we’re probably open for next St. Patrick’s Day.

You also have space being built out on the ground floor of Bancroft on the Grid. What’s set to go in there?
We’ll have Pie & Pint, a pizzeria, and Craft Table & Bar, a casual farm-totable eatery, along with WooHaHa, a 100-seat comedy club open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. We’re hoping to have that open by December. For residents upstairs, we’re planning what we’re calling Grid Service, a room service for the apartments.

What else is on the horizon?
We have a 5,000-square-foot retail space in the back of Bancroft on the Grid that I’m hoping could be a microbrewery. I am looking for a brewery, I just haven’t found a brewery yet.

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