It’s Official! The Hamilton Project Begins
I attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Appleton Mills phase of the Hamilton Canal District project. Trinity sponsored a big tent near the site for the speeches and the traditional turning over of shovels, as well as a luncheon the Brush and our own Lowell Art and Design Center (the name we call the conglomeration of X/O Studios, Studio II, and the studio I share with Pixelbytes).
Ultimately, this was just a ceremony. But it is a ceremony which is the culmination of the work and partnership of so many entities, from the private and public funding sources like MassHousing, MetLife Inc; and the designation of the HCD area as a Growth District, a program created by Governor Patrick to treat the outlying urban centers in the Commonwealth like the local economic engines they could be. Lowell has or is receiving a total of around $16M (Sun article) of the monies allotted for Growth Districts for the first phase of this project, a more than our fair share of the total. And we cannot forget the contribution of regular jus’ folks of the city, who came out to the public meetings and expressed their views on what they hoped to see in the new district.
In eighteen months, the Appleton Mill restoration and build-out is scheduled to be complete. I still can’t believe that the mess that is that poor, ruined mill can be turned around into usable housing (affordable artist rental units) that quickly. I am lucky to get a front row seat, so to speak, from my downtown studio, and I am going to document the progress as best I can.
Here are a few more pictures for you from today. Look for more photos as the project progresses; I plan on getting some good use out of my camera!
Governor Patrick strolls the artist studios at the Brush
The big tent!
It was a great turnout, showing once again that this project has captured the attention and imagination of the residents of the city.
Patrick is introduced for his speech.
November 12th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Really informative blog. I commute to Lowell from Waltham to work, am also an artist, and have wanted to make an effort to connect with the community there. It’s impressive that the community has worked so hard to support artists!
November 12th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
It looks very strange when I come home at night and can through from NPS to Jackson St. straight through the building. It is really rather beautiful at the moment. It will be interesting to see how the view out my window changes over the next few years.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:21 am
were is the CM-????
November 13th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Moonlight:
If you carefully look at the second picture from the bottom, you will see sitting on the front row, some of the CC members, Assistant CM A. Baake and CM B. Lynch.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:28 am
There is a lot of activity in the Appleton Mills “building” as the workers try to simultaneously remove debris and rotted pieces of the skeleton while adding structural support to keep the building standing. An earlier schedule noted it would be Spring before the visible reconstruction will begin, and 12 months later there should be a grand opening of the new Appleton Mills building. With that eyesore gone and the economy hopefully improving, we should look forward to additional development in the area, including the court complex.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Mimi, that was my question also. I still don’t see him, and why was he not in the group photo?
November 13th, 2009 at 10:04 am
waittil: For as long as I’ve been coming downtown I’ve looked at that rotting building and seen it as a really obvious eyesore (except that even as a ruin it is interesting and fascinating visually) in a quite refinished and lovely downtown area. It will be so great to see it saved and rebuilt.
Yes, Lynch was in the front row, along with a number of councilors. Also in attendance was councilors-elect Franky and Joe, and it was announced that Patrick was also there, though I didn’t spot him.
There were members of the Department of Planning and Development there, lots of media, quite a number of local citizens many of whom I recognized, George Duncan of Enterprise Bank, artists from both downtown and Western Ave, and a lot of other prominent and “regular” folks from Lowell, as well as some elected officials from Westford and Tyngsboro at least (those were the towns I heard of anyway, there could have been more).
That last one I feel is an underappreciated potential. The purpose of the Growth Districts designated by the Patrick administration is to produce *regional* economic engines, not just for people living in that urban area, but for the surrounding towns. For too long, Lowell has thought of itself as just Lowell, and Chelmsford as just Chelmsford, etc. If we could invite the region to participate in what is happening in Lowell, I think we as a whole would be stronger for it. We need to forge better ties with the surrounding towns of the upper Merrimack Valley.
November 13th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
To Lynne’s last post (7): From a job creation perspective this all will work ONLY if we start thinking in terms of a regional economy. Just reading the Globe the last few days and seeing how many area high tech and biotech firms are either leaving the region or being purchased by a firm from outside MA is worrying to me.
This is where the University and MCC, existing large employers, various regional development entities like the Merrimack Valley Development Council, and the state AFL-CIO which also has a stake in job generation, must get around the table and think through far, far more systematically and long term how to take advantage of Hamilton Canal, research at the university, and the solid medical institutions we have in our area to figure out where new jobs will come from.
Failure to do this will bite us in the butt before we know it and no matter how gloriously the HC development goes in terms of reclaiming the physical space, no sustainable job creation will follow. Job creation is a very purposeful activity - not a random occurrence - that requires a careful blend of public sector dollars to prepare an infrastructure and prepare a well-educated workforce and private sector money too.
And for those above who think the economy is improving think again: Banks continue to fail at similar rates to what took place in the early 1930s; long-term unemployment is as high now as it was in the early 1930s; foreclosures are going to jump back up after the first of the year; the stimulus dollars have generated windfall profits and bonuses for the very people who helped mess the economy up; and everyday working people are straining under immense financial pressures while local small businesses are finding it harder and harder to borrow money.
Nothing against optimism - but only when it is tempered by reality.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Great photos. It’s always fun to play a sort of “Where’s Waldo,” picking out the self-serving political hacks and media whores. Grab a shovel, there’s gonna be a lot of shovelin’ going on.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:15 am
It’s never hard to find Bud in a ‘where’s Waldo’. He’s never met a photo op he didn’t stick his mug into. Can’t wait for the next mayor. Hope they don’t elect anyone who will preside over the school committee who cannot vote on the teacher contract. To me this is a no brainer.. Can’t vote, can’t be Mayor!