A CITY EVOLVING

Green space, reconfigured streets, new buildings -- they're all part of urban planner's vision for a more livable, vibrant downtown Lowell

By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com

Urban planner Jeff Speck envisions transforming Cox Circle in front of the Tsongas Center, top center, with mixed-use office buildings curved around the circle, making it a welcoming, parklike public space. SPECK & ASSOCIATES LLCL, AECOM, ROCK MAPLE STUDIOS

LOWELL -- Downtown Lowell is a work in progress, and the evolution continues now.

From returning many of the downtown's one-way streets to a two-way configuration, to transforming the parking lot in front of Middlesex Community College into green space and turning Cox Circle in front of the Tsongas Center into the city's hottest office location, changes are in the air to make Lowell a more livable, friendly destination city.

World-renowned urban planner Jeff Speck, retained earlier this year by the Lowell Plan in conjunction with UMass Lowell, Middlesex Community College, the National Parks Service and the city, presented his Downtown Evolution Plan at yesterday morning's annual Lowell Plan breakfast at the UMass Lowell Inn

One piece of urban planner Jeff Speck's vision for transforming downtown Lowell: an artist's rendering shows how Middlesex Community College's campus would look with the parking lot on East Merrimack Street replaced by a quad. SPECK & ASSOCIATES LLCL, AECOM, ROCK MAPLE STUDIOS

Lowell Plan President Gary Campbell called the plan "a road map that, if implemented correctly, could change the course of Lowell."

"Sitcom-worthy coffeehouses thrive next door to near-condemnable junk storage; impeccably restored Gilded Age buildings lack upstairs tenants; a first-rate sports arena sits on an empty traffic circle; canals and rivers meet at an historic basin flanked by blank walls and parking lots," is how Speck describes the downtown's flaws in his report. "Like a polished stone, the downtown has achieved enough of a luster for the surface flaws to be visible."

The plan is wide-ranging and ambitious, but is broken into short-, mid- and long-term projects, some of which may be completed as soon as next spring at a minimal cost to the city.

In an effort to improve traffic circulation downtown, Speck recommends reverting Market, Shattuck, Central, Warren and Hurd streets to two-way, rather than their current one-way configurations. Additionally, the block of Merrimack Street from Dutton to Shattuck streets would become two-way; Middle Street would remain one-way, but the traffic flow would be reversed and left turns would be allowed onto Arcand Drive in front of

Urban planner Jeff Speck presents his Downtown Evolution Plan during the annual Lowell Plan breakfast at the UMass Lowell Inn and Conference Center yesterday morning. The plan is broken into short-, mid- and long-term projects, some of which may be completed as soon as next spring at a minimal cost to the city. SUN / DAVID H. BROW

City Hall at Worthen Street.

Bike lanes are envisioned for many of the downtown streets.

City Manager Bernie Lynch said he is ready to send the infrastructure improvements, including the reconfiguration of the streets, to the City Council this fall and expects that the work could be done in the spring.

"It is just some paint and minor upgrades," he said, adding the city is interested in moving quickly so as not to lose momentum on the plan. "We are working with the Lowell Plan on financing options. The secret of the city of Lowell is the partnerships and the confidence and the willingness to look to the future."

Meanwhile, Middlesex Community College President Carole Cowan is excited about a proposal included in the plan to eliminate the parking lot in front of MCC's main building in Kearney Square and replace it with a green-space quad, giving the college a more campuslike, friendly feel as well as serving to tie together the main building and the MCC federal building across the street.

Speck added that the green-space improvements also make that section of East Merrimack Street, from Kearney Square to the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, more attractive to pedestrians.

"Right now that parking lot is a safety hazard," said Cowan. "The idea of doing this has been around for a while and we would like to do it as soon as possible, but the timing depends on how we finance it."

At Enterprise Bank, CEO Jack Clancy is planning to replace a "missing tooth" on Merrimack Street.

The empty lot on Merrimack Street next to Old City Hall needs to be filled, Speck said. His proposal is for Enterprise Bank, whose offices are adjacent to the lot, to construct a building against Merrimack Street, with the rest of the lot, which abuts Middle Street, eventually becoming the home of another, smaller building.

"Right now we have about 75,000 square feet of space, which we will outgrow within the next five years," Clancy said, adding that the bank is interested in building on the site, which is owned by the National Park Service. "We will need the cooperation of the National Park and the city, but it would be the ideal spot for us.'

In an effort to connect LeLacheur Park and the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell to the city's downtown, Speck has recommended running a dedicated street-car line from the Gallagher Terminal to the Textile Memorial Bridge on University Avenue.

Additionally, he said he sees Cox Circle in front of the Tsongas Center as "Lowell's Dupont Circle," but it needs some work.

With 500 spaces available in the Ayotte Garage all day, Speck said it is a prime location for a mixed-use office development. His plan calls for narrowing the circle's travel lanes from 20 feet to12 feet, adding a sidewalk planted with trees along the circle. He also recommended the construction of office buildings curved in toward the circle, encasing it as a welcoming public space, as well as a restaurant on the first floor of one of the buildings to service the area.

The addition of these buildings, coupled with the existing Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union building and the 96-percent occupied Wannalancit Mills, would make the area very attractive to businesses searching for space, Speck said.

"When the market turns around, if the city and private community are invested in making this the next great office space in Lowell, it can happen," he said.

The executive summary of Speck's plan is available at www.lowellplan.org. The full report will be posted on that site next week.

This story appeared in the Lowell Sun on Friday, October 1, 2010.