By Michael Lafleur, mlafleur@lowellsun.com
LOWELL -- A big change is coming for downtown commuters.
Effective the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 17, city officials will be converting the stretch of Middlesex Street from Gorham Street to the Lord Overpass to two-way traffic. City officials have already made changes that will allow vehicles to more easily make a right turn onto Middlesex Street from the Lord Overpass.
The change will occur overnight from Oct. 16 to Oct. 17. It is part of the city's $24.6 million effort to build a new, 900-space parking garage on Middlesex Street, which is expected to be open by Christmas.
Adam Baacke, deputy director of the city Division of Planning and Development, said making that section of Middlesex Street a two-way thoroughfare will create much better access for an area slated to undergo a massive urban-renewal project. A two-way Middlesex Street will be the main point of entry to a new, state-funded $100 million judicial complex and the city's massive Hamilton Canal District project, Baacke said.
"It's all part of a big plan, and it's a key step in the process," Baacke said. The Lord Overpass, meanwhile, will retain its current traffic pattern with the addition of only new traffic lights at the intersection with Middlesex Street.
City officials now are in negotiations with Trinity Financial, a Boston-based development firm that has been picked to carry out the Hamilton Canal District project.
The nearly 15-acre district today is composed of vacant lots and crumbling mill buildings that the city has acquired through buyouts or eminent-domain takings. The land abuts Middlesex Street. City officials plan to sell the land to Trinity, which will then be charged with undertaking a massive commercial, residential and retail revitalization of the area. The exact price of the land and any other terms now are being hammered out in negotiations.
City and Trinity officials have said they hope to start the public planning process for the Hamilton Canal District project by November.
The conversion of Middlesex Street to two-way traffic will be the first major change in the area, to be followed quickly by the opening of the garage.
Baacke said he does not expect the 17,600 square feet of ground-floor retail space in the garage to be rented out by December, even though city officials now are in talk with at least two restaurants and a retailer interested in leasing the space. Baacke said he expects to have the garage's first commercial tenants open by the spring.
"We really haven't even started the active marketing campaign," he said.
"This has all been sort of word of mouth leads."
This story appeared in the Lowell Sun on Sunday, September 16, 2007