LDNA met at LTC on a snowy 28th of January at 7PM to discuss current events.
First up was Assistant City Manager Adam Baacke.
Adam pointed out that the last of the cobra-head traffic lights downtown were being replaced with Victorian models over the next few months. He requests that people that frequent the downtown pay special attention to the lights on Palmer Street: the city has put up a few different types of LED lamps in these fixtures and is looking for input on which ones give the best lights.
The city has also enlisted two traffic-engineering firms to work out the details regarding the plans to continue the conversion of the downtown street system into a two-way system. One of the two firms is nationally known, and the other is based out of Lawrence – they were responsible for the conversion of Essex Street back to two-way a few years back.
Residents had a few questions: if it was necessary to convert the streets to one-way in the past, do the reasons for this conversion still exist? Adam explained that the prevailing mid-century philosophy was to move as many cars through a downtown as quickly as possible. The end-result was a less bike-and-pedestrian-friendly atmosphere, fewer people actually stopping to do business, and people travelling the wrong way at the wrong time of day for businesses on that street. A common example cited is a coffee shop that ends up being on many people’s return trip only. Case-in-point: The Dunkin’ Donuts on Central and Church Streets is on the way home for many downtown residents – and four traffic lights away in the AM. Also asked was if Market Street in particular would be able to handle the queueing for the Roy Garage during the AM without the second lane for through-traffic. Adam said they’d be examining that sort of thing before anything final occurred. Also, exactly how much of Merrimack Street will become two-way is still up in the air.
Next Adam discussed some downtown developments:
- 110 Canal in the Hamilton Canal District (the old Pellon/Freudenburg plant) is nearly complete and a few firms have been interested in occupying it. It is 5500 square feet
- Winn Development is finishing up work in the last section of the Boott Mill – this will include 77 units of housing with 80% of them being market rate. There will also be 43,000 square feet of commercial space.
- ALL (Arts League of Lowell) is progressing nicely with their renovations of the historic Gates Block on Market Street, across from Haffner’s.
- Many of the former Louis Saab properties have been bought up and are being redeveloped.
- New businesses include Sweet Lydia’s, a new bakery, and a new African Market all on Merrimack Street. This fills up the space Giovanni’s Trends contracted out of recently.
- Tremonte Pizzaria, an extension of Tremonte’s out of Woburn, is moving into the former Fortunato’s space at Palmer and Middle.
- Lowell Community Health Center (LCHC) is nearly ready with their 100,000 square foot new facility on Jackson Street. They also own the other 100,000 square feet of that property and are examining who will develop it.
- A nearby building on Jackson Street is being redeveloped by Winn into 80,000 square feet of housing – 52 units.
- A few years out, the final section of the Massachusetts Mills will be developed. After a partial demolition for fire-safety reasons, there will be 125 housing units put in.