By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
LOWELL -- A major step in making the $800 million revitalization of the Hamilton Canal District a reality has been taken, with the completion of the transfer of land for both the Lowell Trial Court site and the first phase of the project.
Early last month, the city turned the title for a 3.3-acre parcel of land on the southwestern corner of the site at the convergence of Dutton and Thorndike streets over to the state for construction of court complex. The $175 million, 240,000-square-foot, eight-story building will house the city's superior, district, family and probate, juvenile and housing courts. At the closing, the city was paid $2,577,773, with an additional $700,000 to come this fall upon demolition of the existing site.
On Tuesday, developer Trinity Financial paid the city $670,000 for the Appleton Mill buildings, as well as prepaying the real-estate taxes for fiscal 2010. Trinity will pay the city an additional $330,000 for the title of the Freudenberg building later this year.
Trinity is expected to begin construction on the rehabilitation of the Appleton properties, which are slated to become 130 artist live/work spaces, in the next few weeks. CWC Builders of Newton has been chosen as the contractor for the 200,000-square-foot Appleton rehabilitation project.
According to City Manager Bernie Lynch, the revenue will be used to repay debt incurred by the city in purchasing the Hamilton Canal parcels, leaving less than $1 million in debt remaining.
Lynch said that as the state begins demolishing vacant storage buildings for the courthouse and Trinity begins work on the Appleton mills, "the transformation of the gateway into downtown Lowell that the project has promised will be well under way."
"All of the significant blighting influences on this key entry point into the city will be eliminated," he added. "As new construction follows, Lowell will continue to position itself as a model of urban revitalization even amid the most challenging real-estate development market in decades."
The entire project, expected to take 10 years, is expected to result in the rebirth of the desolate 15-acre site nestled between the city's Acre neighborhood and downtown into a neighborhood of 350,000 square feet of commercial/office space, up to 50,000 square feet of retail space, a mix of up to 700-800 market-rate and affordable-housing units, 400 new permanent jobs and $4 million in annual tax revenue to the city.
This story appeared in the Lowell Sun on Friday, July 3, 2009