An artist's rendering of the planned Hamilton Canal District. Work is scheduled to begin within 14 months. COURTESY PHOTO
By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
LOWELL -- A 15-acre site nestled between Dutton, Middlesex and Market streets, overgrown with brush, littered by debris, and dotted by canals. Once the bustling hub of the city's mill-based industrial culture, today it stands largely abandoned, an eyesore at the gateway to the cobblestone streets of downtown.
Yesterday afternoon about 100 residents got their first look at Boston-based Trinity Financial's $800 million plan to reinvent the Hamilton Canal District.
"This plan is transforming a significant neighborhood of the city and hopefully transforming the city itself," said Adam Baacke, assistant city manager and director of the city's Division of Planning and Development.
The mixed-use proposal includes 1.9 million square feet of development, made up of more than 700 housing units, 50,000 square feet of retail space, 350,000 square feet of commercial space, a 450-seat theater that could possibly be a new home for the Merrimack Repertory Theater, 1,700 parking spaces, parks and pedestrian walking routes along the canals.
The site is adjacent to the future site of the Lowell Judicial Center, a six-floor, 250,000 square-foot facility that will house Lowell's four courts, district, superior, juvenile and probate. Trinity's plan includes a building between the court and Revere Street that would house offices for those working in court-related professions, as well as retail space that could include a café or deli on the ground floor.
At completion, the project is anticipated to bring more than 1,000 full-time permanent jobs to the city.
Hank Keating, of Trinity Financial, said the project is scheduled to begin construction on the first phase in 12-14 months. The project's six and final phase will be completed by May 2021.
First on the agenda is building 46 loft-style affordable apartment units for artists at the site of the Appleton Mills on Jackson Street. The building will also include a gallery on the ground floor. A second building will include 115 rental units, which are envisioned as affordable housing for graduate students.
Keating explained that the developer will be able to save some of the outer walls of the historic Appleton Mills, but the interior is structurally unsafe, having been left vulnerable to the elements for several years.
In addition, all buildings on the site will be built as "green" as possible, utilizing solar panels, new glazing materials, and actual vegetation on the roofs. The developer is also looking into using wind-power on the taller buildings.
One major goal is to connect neighborhoods. The plan links the Acre and Lower Highlands to the HCD and downtown, by extending Broadway, Jackson Street and Revere Street, as well as adding pedestrian walkways between the neighborhoods and to the Gallagher Terminal and extending the trolley line.
Traffic engineer Rob Woodland explained that he is working on a plan to extensively reconfigure the oft-frustrating Lord Overpass. The site is expected to add 10,412 additional cars to local roads each day by project completion, including 744 additional vehicles at the Lord Overpass during the peak afternoon rush hour.
Resident Dayne Lamb said she is concerned that Trinity will build beautiful new buildings on the site around the canals, but the canals will remain full of trash and in disrepair.
"It is like Venice used to be," she said of the canals. "They are garbage cans now."
City Manager Bernie Lynch acknowledged that Enel North America, parent company of Boott Hydropower, which owns the canals, has not historically acted as a good neighbor. However, the city now has some leverage.
Lynch explained that when negotiations on a new tax agreement between the company and the city failed last year, Enel's hydropower plant was assessed at full valuation, increasing the company's tax bill by nearly $400,000.
"Now they seem more willing and more interested in working with the city on a number of issues," Lynch said. "It is a new, kinder, gentler Enel, more responsive than they ever have been."
The next public forum on the project, will be held on April 24 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
The developer is expected to file its Environmental Notification Form with the state within the next month, which will be followed by a 30 day public comment period.
"I have lived in Lowell my whole life and it has been generations since we have had any significant investment in this neighborhood," said City Councilor Bill Martin. "It is a plan that will change the face of this section of the city for the better. It is the best thing we ever did in Lowell."
This article appeared in the Lowell Sun on Sunday, March 16, 2008