Kelly Square is “gentrified” in the sense that there are a lot of new buildings and shops that are more or less owned by people not from the city, but strictly speaking, gentrification implies a population replacement of some kind. There’s no significant population to speak of in Kelly Square. Maybe the old factories that were turned into lofts? They still look nasty anyway. And if you go down Millbury street, there’s no kind of gentrification there. Drug dealers and their houses all down that road. Mostly Hispanic all the way past Quinsig. Ave too. I wouldn’t say Green Island is all the way gentrified. Definitely the tip of the iceberg tho. It’s a complicated scenario, because the new development isn’t replacing anyone per se, as Kelly Square/Polar Park areas of Green Island didn’t have a high population to begin with because the housing simply didn’t exist before. When it does, I wonder how that will change the surrounding areas.

If you want to see current gentrified neighborhoods, you’ll have to look a little bit further north, at downtown. 145 Front St. and The Grid changed the face of downtown, as well as the demographics. Didn’t do the city or its residents many favors, as I haven’t heard great things about either (mostly The Grid).

Kind of sucks because Union Station is the hub of public transportation, and people with cars simply don’t need to live near it the same way low-income families do. In addition, a good indicator in Worcester of gentrification or soon-to-be are the dispensaries. Look where the dispensaries are, and you’ll find gentrification of some kind nearby. Just lost my place near mayflower due to a predatory landlord from out of state.

You want to see “ghetto” areas too, but idk if Worcester has what can actually be called ‘ghettos’ technically speaking. If you want to see low-income neighborhoods with majority renters, then try Millbury St., Union Hill, look around Main South (west side) , and drive around the streets off Vernon-Winthrop or Grafton. You’ll see some rough looking areas. Anywhere between Vernon Hill and Grafton street, but each block is different. Don’t forget to take pictures of Worcester East Middle. That shit is prisonlike. Some of the roads off Shrewsbury street up behind cristoforo colombo might make good photos (especially since the rough areas are so close to a district like Shrewsbury st.) hope this helps.