By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
LOWELL -- Trinity Financial, the master developer of the $800 million Hamilton Canal revitalization project, is moving ahead with developing the Freudenberg building on its own after talks with Lowell-based Watermark Environmental failed.
Watermark, founded in 2001 by John Haley and Joseph Spangenberger, was looking at the 60,000-square-foot, orange-colored building visible from Dutton Street, as a potential location for its new headquarters. The tentative proposal was for Watermark to purchase the building, redevelop it, then move in. The company is currently located on Cabot Street.
"We have grown unbelievably this past year, which has sidetracked me from doing anything with the building," Haley said.
He added that the company, which, among other projects, is currently spearheading the cleanup of the former Silresim industrial site on Tanner Street, has grown to more than 60 employees.
"The timing was just not right for us to take on this big project," he said.
Adam Baacke, assistant city manager and director of the city Department of Planning and Development, said Trinity has engaged ICON Architecture to design the commercial building. Trinity is also working on a financing package for the Freudenberg project, which Baacke said will likely include a mix of debt financing and federal and state tax credits.
"At least one of the major holders of new market tax allocations is very interested," Baacke said, adding that securing financing for this leg of the project will be a little easier than the financing for the renovation of the Appleton Mills complex, which broke ground last November.
The Appleton Mills will be converted into 130 affordable artist live/work units, a project Baacke said is ahead of schedule. It was financed through a package of state and federal historic and housing tax credits that were purchased for $42 million by insurance giant MetLife Inc.
The project also received a $1.6 million permanent mortgage and a $34 million construction loan from MassHousing.
Baacke said he expects the project to break ground at the beginning of the next construction season.
Haley said moving into the Freudenberg building is still possible.
"Once Trinity develops it, they will need a tenant," he said, adding that Watermark is in the process of hiring someone to handle corporate office development. "We still have huge growth plans and are expanding exponentially."
In related news, Baacke said bids for infrastructure improvements at the Lord Overpass, including engineering pedestrian access from the Gallagher Terminal to the Hamilton Canal District, will be opened on Feb. 5.
When completed, the 15-acre Hamilton Canal District will boast up to 450,000 square feet of commercial and office space, 55,000 square feet of retail space and 700 units of affordable- and market-rate housing downtown, as well as generate as many as 400 permanent jobs. It will also be home to the new Lowell Trial Court.
This story appeared in the Lowell Sun on Friday, January 15, 2010.