Owners of Worcester's commercial buildings filed 1,251 permits a year in 2023-25, 29% fewer than the 1,763 a year they filed in 2015-19. Over the same years, permits on houses and apartment buildings rose 21%. The city is reinvesting, and the growth is in housing. On the commercial side, the work that follows a new tenant has dropped off most, and only a few streets are busier than they were before 2020.
Correction, October 2026: An earlier version of this article said Worcester issued a record 2,666 commercial permits in 2024, up 87% from 1,427 in 2020. It counted permits by the city's occupancy label, which since 2021-23 also covers three-family and larger buildings; it measured growth from 2020, the year the city changed permit systems; and its 2024 total does not reproduce from the city's records. This version classes every permit by the assessor's use of the parcel, the method in our Fall 2026 Ground-Level Report, and drops the addresses that are institutions or apartment buildings, among them 1 College Street, the College of the Holy Cross.
In brief
- 1
Commercial permits stepped down in 2021 and have stayed there. They have run between 1,240 and 1,315 a year since, and the busiest year for commercial parcels in the series was 2019, at 1,832.
- 2
The work that follows a new tenant fell the most. On commercial parcels, electrical permits fell 36%, from 677 a year to 430, plumbing 33% and alterations 30%, while roofing and mechanical fell 9% each.
- 3
Retail and industrial owners pulled back hardest. Retail and hospitality parcels filed 35% fewer permits and industrial 34% fewer, even with small-bay industrial space scarce; office and medical held up best, down 21%.
- 4
Main Street held level while most corridors fell. Main Street stayed at 123 permits a year; Gold Street rose 56% and Stafford Street 38% on small parcel counts, while Grafton Street fell 54% and Grove and West Boylston Streets 50% each.
- 5
446 Main Street, an office building, was the busiest commercial address. It pulled 62 permits in 2023-25, and downtown holds three of the top ten, with 100 Front St at 51 and 542 Main St at 33.
I went through the 162,121 building, electrical, plumbing, gas and mechanical permits the city has recorded since 2015, the same set behind our Fall report, and sorted each one by the parcel it was filed on. What comes out is a commercial market where owners are holding and tenants are staying put, and a housing market where owners filed more permits in 2023-25 than in any three-year stretch since 2015.
Ten years of permits, commercial against housing
Commercial permits stepped down in 2021 and have sat between 1,240 and 1,315 a year since. There is no run-up in this series and no record year: the busiest year for commercial parcels was 2019, at 1,832. Housing went the other way, and 2024's 12,093 is the high for the series.
| Year | Commercial parcels | Houses and apartment buildings |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,808 | 8,854 |
| 2016 | 1,668 | 9,439 |
| 2017 | 1,724 | 10,520 |
| 2018 | 1,783 | 9,953 |
| 2019 | 1,832 | 10,448 |
| 2020 | Excluded (cutover year) | Excluded (cutover year) |
| 2021 | 1,315 | 9,645 |
| 2022 | 1,248 | 10,117 |
| 2023 | 1,240 | 11,687 |
| 2024 | 1,256 | 12,093 |
| 2025 | 1,256 | 11,991 |
| 2015-19 average | 1,763 | 9,843 |
| 2023-25 average | 1,251 | 11,924 |
Source: City of Worcester permits, all five types, counted by date submitted and classed by the assessor's use of the parcel. 2020 is left out because the city changed permit systems that year: January to November are nearly empty, and December alone holds about 22,000 records.
What kind of work fell off
Roofing and mechanical work get replaced whether or not anyone moves. Electrical, plumbing and alteration permits mostly follow a tenant fitting out space. That split is the story.
| Permit type (commercial parcels) | 2015-19 per year | 2023-25 per year |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical | 676.6 | 429.7 |
| Mechanical | 224.2 | 204.7 |
| Plumbing | 259.2 | 174.3 |
| Gas | 193.4 | 146.3 |
| Alteration, renovation and repair | 200.8 | 141.0 |
| Ground or wall sign | 86.6 | 71.7 |
| Roofing | 35.0 | 31.7 |
| Change of use | 7.0 | 6.3 |
| Demolition | 12.2 | 6.0 |
| New construction | 7.8 | 6.0 |
Electrical permits fell 36%, plumbing 33%, alterations 30% and gas 24%. Roofing and mechanical fell 9% each. Tenants are staying put, so space is not being rebuilt for them.
Sign permits, the plainest read on a new business taking space, fell from 86.6 a year to 71.7. New construction is a sliver either way, about six permits a year on commercial parcels, and demolition roughly halved, from 12.2 a year to 6.0. Worcester's commercial owners are neither tearing down nor building new at any scale.
Which property types pulled back
| Commercial sector | Parcels | 2015-19 per year | 2023-25 per year | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail and hospitality | 636 | 635 | 411 | -35% |
| Industrial | 348 | 379 | 248 | -34% |
| Other commercial | 255 | 370 | 289 | -22% |
| Office and medical | 287 | 380 | 302 | -21% |
| All commercial | 1,526 | 1,763 | 1,251 | -29% |
"Other commercial" is parking, mixed-use and commercial land.
Retail and industrial fell about a third each. The industrial number surprises people, because small-bay industrial space is scarce in Worcester. My read is that the two go together: a full building with a long-tenured tenant gives its owner no reason to pull a permit. Office and medical held up best, down 21%.
Street by street
These are the twelve streets with the most permits on commercial parcels in 2023-25.
| Street | Commercial parcels | 2015-19 per year | 2023-25 per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main St | 101 | 121.8 | 122.7 |
| Shrewsbury St | 67 | 77.4 | 60.7 |
| Park Ave | 92 | 93.4 | 59.0 |
| Lincoln St | 44 | 81.2 | 50.7 |
| Gold St | 15 | 27.4 | 42.7 |
| Grafton St | 67 | 88.8 | 41.0 |
| Stafford St | 19 | 29.2 | 40.3 |
| Grove St | 32 | 77.8 | 39.0 |
| Front St | 11 | 68.2 | 38.7 |
| Chandler St | 57 | 50.6 | 38.0 |
| Southwest Cutoff | 57 | 66.0 | 37.3 |
| West Boylston St | 76 | 65.6 | 32.7 |
Main Street held level at 123 permits a year on 101 commercial parcels. No other street comes close: Shrewsbury Street is next at 60.7 a year. The risers were Gold Street, up 56% on just 15 parcels, and Stafford Street, up 38% on 19. Those are small parcel counts, so a few active owners move the number. Know that before you read either one as a trend.
The drops were steep along the corridors. Grafton Street (Route 122) fell 54%, Grove Street and West Boylston Street (Route 12) 50% each, and Park Avenue 37%. The Southwest Cutoff (Route 20) went from 66.0 permits a year to 37.3, and Front Street's 11 parcels from 68.2 to 38.7. In a market this tight, my read is that a drop that size means tenants renewing in place and owners deferring work, not empty buildings.
The busiest commercial addresses
| Rank | Address | Permits, 2023-25 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 446 Main St (office) | 62 |
| 2 | 100 Front St | 51 |
| 3 | 525 Lincoln St (shopping center) | 50 |
| 4 | 100 Research Dr (R&D, industrial) | 49 |
| 5 | 123 Summer St | 48 |
| 6 | 867 Grafton St | 42 |
| 7 | 70 Gold Star Blvd (shopping center) | 41 |
| 8 | 68 Stafford St | 40 |
| 8 | 120 Thomas St | 40 |
| 10 | 542 Main St | 33 |
446 Main Street, an office building, led every commercial parcel in the city with 62 permits. Downtown carries the list: 446 Main, 100 Front and 542 Main are three of the top ten. Two are shopping centers, 525 Lincoln Street and 70 Gold Star Boulevard, and a multi-tenant center pulls permits every time a space turns over: electrical, plumbing and a new sign. 100 Research Drive, an R&D and industrial building, pulled 49.
"Permit data is the earliest public signal of where capital is moving. By the time a renovation is complete and a property hits the market, the chance to buy at pre-improvement pricing has passed. Investors who track permit activity can spot the neighborhoods and corridors where values are about to shift, and position accordingly," says **Todd Lornell**, Principal & Founder, Lornell Real Estate
Fire safety and insulation: a housing story
Sprinkler and fire-alarm permits on commercial parcels have run lower every year since 2021 than in any year from 2015 to 2019.
| Year | Sprinkler and fire alarm permits (commercial parcels) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 132 |
| 2016 | 146 |
| 2017 | 131 |
| 2018 | 183 |
| 2019 | 161 |
| 2021 | 87 |
| 2022 | 112 |
| 2023 | 117 |
| 2024 | 118 |
| 2025 | 123 |
The count has climbed back a little each year since 2021's 87, but it has not returned to the 131 to 183 a year of 2015-19. There is no compliance wave on Worcester's commercial buildings in these records.
Insulation is where the split shows most. Commercial parcels pulled zero or one insulation permit a year through 2022, then 3, 6 and 6 in 2023-25. On houses and apartment buildings, insulation permits rose from 321 a year to 1,029, in step with state energy-efficiency incentives, and mechanical work rose 54%, alterations 45% and electrical 42%. If you own a three-decker, your neighbors are retrofitting. If you own a commercial building, an energy retrofit is not yet standard practice in this city.
Why the city's "commercial" label misleads
Each Worcester permit carries an occupancy label. In 2021-23 the city began labelling permits on three-family and larger buildings "Commercial", so the label now sweeps in a large share of the city's housing. Of the 11,041 permits labelled commercial in 2023-25, 3,705 were on commercial parcels. 3,493 were on apartment buildings, 2,921 on institutions such as colleges, hospitals, government buildings and churches, and 910 on houses. 1 College Street, for one, is the College of the Holy Cross.
Count by the label and commercial building permits look up about two-thirds. 2020 is the other trap: the city changed permit systems that year, so January to November hold almost nothing and December holds about 22,000 records. Any growth rate measured from 2020 is an artifact of the switch.
What this means for owners, buyers and tenants
For owners
If your building has had no electrical or plumbing work since 2019, you are in the majority, and that holds up as long as your tenants stay. When one leaves, the next will want the space built out, and you will be competing against the buildings whose owners kept spending. On Main Street, Gold Street and Stafford Street, owners have kept spending.
For buyers
Deferred fit-out is the value-add in this market. Fewer permits on commercial parcels means more buildings with interiors nobody has touched in years. Price that work into your basis, and walk the electrical and plumbing first, because those two trades fell the most.
For tenants
Expect the build-out to be part of the negotiation. With owners pulling fewer fit-out permits, a lot of available space needs work, and the TI conversation starts there. On a street where permits held, like Main Street, you have better odds of finding space that has been kept current.
For developers
Ground-up commercial construction is a sliver, about six new-construction permits a year on commercial parcels. The growth at the permit counter is housing. On the land side, our Fall report found about 2,242 acres of business and manufacturing land built to less than a quarter of its zoning. For the projects that are going up, see our Worcester development tracker.
Methodology and data source
Every figure here comes from City of Worcester building, electrical, plumbing, gas and mechanical permits, counted by date submitted and classed by the assessor's use of the parcel: the same records and method as our Fall 2026 Ground-Level Report. Averages compare 2015-19 with 2023-25 and leave 2020 out. Street and address counts cover commercial parcels only.
Explore Worcester's commercial market
Read the full Fall 2026 Ground-Level Report for the permit series by sector and street alongside sales and ownership, browse our current Worcester County listings, or dig into our Worcester market research. Contact Lornell Real Estate at (774) 230-3634 or [email protected] and we can tell you where a specific building sits in these numbers.
Data sourced from City of Worcester permit records (WPIS), classed by the assessor's use of each parcel. Figures revised October 2026.
Commercial parcel is a parcel the city assessor classes as retail, hospitality, office, medical, industrial, parking, mixed-use or commercial land. This article counts a permit as commercial by the parcel it is filed on, not by the occupancy label on the permit.
Get the Fall 2026 Worcester market report
An owner's guide in thirteen pages, from CoStar's 10 August 2026 data and the city's own records: each sector's vacancy, rents and record prices, why small industrial is full while big boxes are not, what sold and to whom, the submarket spreads, and what it all means if you own a building in Worcester County. Every figure names its source.
