Returning vestiges of our industrial past onto the tax rolls has become a key element of a community’s development.
Mass. Mills in downtown Lowell and The Mill complex at 73 Princeton St. in North Chelmsford demonstrate how to create residential and commercial uses out of structures no longer needed for their intended purpose.
In Westford, an infusion of federal funds will help that town move a step closer to redeveloping its last vacant mill building.
Town officials, state Rep. Jim Arciero and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan gathered Tuesday afternoon at 12 North Main St., formerly the site of Westford Anodizing, to acknowledge $500,000 in federal mitigation funds provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The money will go toward addressing exterior contamination near the site’s old incinerator, which will provide a path toward redevelopment and revitalization.
Currently, the town-owned structure lies in disrepair and remains unsafe to enter.
Trahan, a town resident, said there’s been “unprecedented levels” of funding to conduct cleanups, with Westford being one of 16 Massachusetts communities to receive that support.
The site has been designated a brownfield, a type of property the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency believes may contain some type of contaminant or pollutant.
According to Westford Assistant Town Manager Eric Heideman, the mill building has been out of “productive use” for more than a decade. Since the roof collapsed in 2010 due to snow load, the structure has continued to deteriorate.
Heideman estimates the building now contains about half of its original 32,000 square feet in usable space.
For safety reasons, he said they’re unable to conduct any environmental testing inside the building. That’s why the federal dollars will be spent on environmental cleanup on its exterior.
“Once we get this done, in the spring, we’ll come back to our Select Board and see if they want to try to use some of our leftover Community Preservation funds to try to tackle some potential selective demolition or stabilization,” Heideman said.
The one “big unknown,” however, is the project’s price tag. Heideman said a former entity interested in redeveloping the parcel expressed spending at least $20 million.
Arciero would like to see the Westford Anodizing property replicate the successful conversion of the Abbot Mill into a residential complex.
That undertaking wouldn’t have happened without with financial support from the state and federal government.
In November of 2011, the Abbot Mill development received a state Historical Tax Credit to renovate part of the historic mill into condominium housing.
Yule Development Co., a Newton-based developer, used that $300,000 to help renovate the site into a 129-unit apartment complex. Part of the Forge Village Historic District, Abbot Mill is included on the National Register of Historical Places.
“I am pleased that an historic property in Westford was able to be successful in this grant application,” Arciero said on that occasion. “The renovation will not only be important for the housing opportunities it will provide, but will complement the Forge Village section of Westford.”
Yule, which purchased the property in 2004, said at the time that without the state tax credits and about $6 million in federal tax credits, “the project wouldn’t have happened.”
Fifteen percent of that $34 million development’s units were designated as affordable.
Arciero also realizes the tremendous undertaking – and reward – this current mill renovation represents.
As it stands now, the mill is “an eyesore,” Arciero said on site Tuesday. It’s the kind of project that can “make or break communities,” meaning it’s important they leverage their resources and connect with state and federal partners that allow them to move forward with the project.
Arciero and other state legislators — namely Lowell Sen. Ed Kennedy and Westboro Rep. Kate Donaghue — have worked tirelessly but unsuccessfully to secure an earmark for such funding over the years.
“We’re not asleep at the wheel,” Arciero said. “That’s why this boost is so huge. That’s why the congresswoman’s help has been so huge. This is a way that we’ve chipped away over the years but never really got ourselves in position to move forward.”
Westford Town Manager Kristen Las told Trahan she hopes the town takes “a neighborhood approach to redevelopment” rather than a site-specific approach. That will likely involve mixed-use development, she said, but they’ll first issue a request for proposal to complete the cleanup.
To receive federal support marks “a very important milestone” in the mill’s second life, Las said, and will hopefully serve as “a catalyst for redevelopment of the entire Graniteville neighborhood.”
This federal seed money represents a breakthrough that we hope Arciero on the state level and Trahan in Congress can now exploit to help turn this “eyesore” into a tax-paying community asset.
