Worcester's Planning Board voted 4-0 to approve a five-story, 74-unit apartment building at 27 Chandler St., a vacant lot that once held the Hovey Laundry building before it was torn down. The project, named The Hovey after the laundry that operated there for 27 years under owners Harry and George Hovey, will include a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units along with a wood deck, a 2,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard and a covered bridge connecting to an adjacent garage.
According to MassLive, developer GoVenture Capital Group plans 8 studio apartments, 56 one-bedroom units and 10 two-bedroom apartments in the building, along with bicycle parking for residents. Notably, the project will not include new parking spaces for cars, per the same report. GoVenture Capital Group has named the project The Hovey to honor the laundry's history, and as reported by the Worcester Business Journal, the plan sets aside 10 affordable housing units at 60% of Area Median Income alongside a gym and community space.
A Site With a Long Working History
The building at 27 Chandler St. was constructed in 1929 as an addition to the existing Hovey Laundry complex, according to MassLive's reporting. Hovey Laundry closed in 1956, and the site later housed the O'Connell-Dickie Moving Company before the building became home to the Worcester Youth Center in the late 1990s after that organization relocated from Main Street, per the Worcester Youth Center's own account of its history.
The building's path to demolition wasn't without friction. The Worcester Historical Commission voted in November 2021 to deny a demolition delay waiver for the structure, even though the owner argued the building was structurally unviable and bore red-and-white “X” markers indicating fire hazard risks, according to Patch. Today, the lot sits vacant, cleared for the new construction to begin.
Los Angeles Ownership, Worcester Roots
The land under The Hovey is owned by Chandler Owner LLC, which is managed by a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company, Benedict Canyon Equities, per the Worcester Business Journal. That entity bought the property in 2020, assembling parcels at 27 Chandler St., 35 Chandler St. and 53 Irving St. for a combined $2 million, the outlet reports. GoVenture Capital Group itself, however, is based in Worcester — the developer was founded in 2018 and now manages over $450 million in assets, using an in-house construction division for regional workforce housing projects, according to the company's own site.
GoVenture has an active local portfolio beyond Chandler Street. The company built The Klin, which includes 111 apartments, and The Reeds, a 36-unit property, and it's currently constructing The Benjamin, a 364-unit development at 274 Franklin St. expected to be completed in 2027, per MassLive. The developer's reach extends past Worcester too — the Worcester Business Journal reports GoVenture submitted a proposal in December 2025 to demolish the former Tanela Restaurant in neighboring Shrewsbury for a 250-unit residential complex and 12,000 square feet of commercial space.
Chandler Street's Turbulent Recent History
The Hovey's approval lands amid broader upheaval along the Chandler Street corridor. Contractor Ricardo Pinto acquired 15 properties tied to developer Daniel Yarnie and his company, Polar Views LLC, out of foreclosure for $37.3 million in April, following bankruptcy proceedings tainted by forgery allegations, as detailed in Hoodline's earlier coverage of the site at 119 Chandler St., where a hot pink building is being demolished. Polar Views LLC had apartment proposals approved more than two years ago that stalled before the foreclosure, and Pinto has promised to complete the proposed developments — in fact, he's seeking to increase the planned units at 119 Chandler St. from 56 to 90, according to MassLive.
Separately, a 21-apartment development at 216 Chandler St. has not yet started construction, MassLive notes, underscoring how uneven progress has been along the corridor even as new approvals pile up.
Meeting Worcester's Housing Targets
The Hovey's approval fits into a citywide push to close a housing gap. Worcester added 1,023 new housing units in 2025 and 399 in 2024, according to MassLive's review of city data, but the city still needs to add roughly 1,119 housing units per year — an extra 816 units above its recent pace — to meet a target of 12,304 new units by 2033. Any project of 12 or more net new units in Worcester must also comply with the city's Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance, enacted by the City Council in May 2023, which requires at least 10% of units be set aside for households at or below 60% Area Median Income, or 15% at 80% AMI, under a 30-year deed restriction, according to the City of Worcester.
Other recent approvals show the pace of activity: the Worcester Planning Board approved 50 apartments at Worcester Academy's former alumni building in July, and in January it approved a 197-unit apartment complex near Polar Park, to be built by GFI Partners, a Boston-based firm. The Worcester Zoning Board of Appeals also approved a 41-unit affordable housing project in Main South in March, an area where the Main South Community Development Corporation has worked to revitalize the neighborhood. Downtown, developer Synergy secured $51.17 million in state and private financing to convert the former 11-story Fallon Community Health Plan headquarters at 10 Chestnut St. into 198 market-rate apartments — the largest office flip in state history, according to MassDevelopment.
State officials have also pitched in. The Healey-Driscoll Administration awarded $18.6 million in Housing Development Incentive Program tax credits in July to help create approximately 662 housing units across six Gateway Cities, including projects in Worcester, according to the Commonwealth. With The Hovey now approved, GoVenture Capital Group adds another entry to Worcester's growing list of housing projects aimed at chipping away at that deficit — one vacant, historically freighted lot at a time.
