Pickett Plaza

Shadley Associates recently worked with the City of Worcester and the Polar Park design team to transform a downtown parking lot into a lively, urban public plaza.  Located in Worcester’s Green Island and Canal District, Pickett Plaza accommodates a significant pedestrian corridor between downtown, Green Street and Polar Park, Worcester’s new Triple-A baseball stadium, and offers a unique public open space destination.  The park is dedicated to Civil War hero General Josiah Pickett, and includes a large statue of the Blackstone Canal builders, Tobias Boland and Benjamin Wright (by sculptor Robert Shure).

The park serves the City’s residents and students, the neighborhood, and ballpark visitors.  The site design creates a flexible open space that encourages a safe, accessible and attractive passage for the multitude of pedestrians walking to the ballpark on game days.  A canal water feature parallels the newly created Canal Street and symbolizes water flow from its granite headwaters to a channelized canal that steps down along its flow.  Pickett Plaza is a major green space in this dense district, with areas for seating, staging areas for both permanent and temporary art displays and festivals, and landscape areas that make the park inviting and engaging during the entire year.  The park, completed in 2021, is fully universally accessible, accommodates food trucks for events and has become a destination within the city of Worcester.