The City of Chelsea and MassDevelopment are asking people who live, work or shop downtown to fill out a survey about the area, the first public step in a three-year state program aimed at the stretch of Broadway and Everett Avenue the two are calling El Centro.
The city posted the survey on its Facebook page this week. It takes about 10 minutes and is open to anyone who spends time downtown, not only residents. The city’s post asks what is working, what is missing and what people would like to see. The survey can be taken in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Khmer and Simplified Chinese, using the language menu at the top right of the first screen. It is online at s.alchemer.com/s3/45bcfa140176. The city’s post did not give a closing date.
What El Centro is
El Centro is one of six districts MassDevelopment picked in February for its Transformative Development Initiative, a program the state’s development finance agency runs in Gateway City downtowns. The other five are in Fitchburg, Holyoke, Lowell, Malden and Peabody. Chelsea has been in the program before; Malden and Peabody are new to it.
Each district gets a fellow for three years. Fellows are MassDevelopment employees who work in the district full time. The agency also offers technical assistance and grants during that period. Chelsea’s fellow is Adelsa Mendes. Her assignment began in August.
The survey’s own introduction says the program will work in El Centro from August 2026 through July 2029 and that the survey will be repeated in three years to measure what changed.
When the district was announced, city planning director Ben Cares described it as straddling downtown Broadway and Everett Avenue, with the goal of drawing foot traffic between the commuter rail station and the downtown business district. The city’s partners are the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, the Apollinaire Theatre Company and Bunker Hill Community College, he said.
What the program pays for
MassDevelopment describes the program as an accelerator for a set period: real estate projects, help for small businesses, arts and culture, placemaking, and planning. Since 2015, the agency says, it has put $50 million into its districts statewide and that money has drawn more than $168 million in public investment and $314 million in private investment. Those totals cover every district since the program began, not Chelsea alone.
The district’s focus on the area around the commuter rail station tracks the city’s new master plan, which the Planning Board adopted on October 27.
Also downtown
- North Suffolk has moved. North Suffolk Community Services has closed its office at 14 Porter Street. All of its services are now at 5 Winnisimmet Street.
- Free food safety course. Manka Food Service Consulting and Design is offering the ServSafe Manager course free to Chelsea residents, workers and business owners: in English on Saturday, November 7, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and in Spanish on Monday, November 16, from 4 to 10 p.m., both in Chelsea. Details are at 781-731-1529.