Community Preservation Act funding cycle begins

LOWELL — The owners of the Wannalancit Mills are asking for almost $97,000 in Community Preservation Act funding to restore the towering, red-brick smokestack off Suffolk Street.

The 210-foot structure not only acts as a wayfinding beacon during the day, but also doubles as an industrial-sized green-and-white Christmas tree during holiday nights.

In its application, the Farley White Management Company called the structure “One of Lowell’s ‘Industrial Redwoods.’”

The project is one of 12 applications totaling $5 million submitted for eligibility consideration during September’s Community Preservation Committee meeting.

Historically, about $2 million in funding is allocated every year to invest in community housing, preserving open and recreational spaces and historic preservation.

Chair Adam Baacke reviewed the CPA funding with the nine-member board, which includes Department of Planning and Development Director/Assistant City Manager Yovani Baez-Rose, members of the city’s historic, planning and parks boards, and other appointees.

“At this time of the year, we’re hearing the eligibility applications and the eligible applicants are then given the opportunity to submit full applications,” Baacke said.

Past approved projects have included Rollie’s Farm as conservation land and agricultural education, restoring stained glass windows at City Hall and affordable housing projects like Acre Crossing.

The Community Preservation Act was signed into law more than 20 years ago. In 2019, Lowell voters overwhelming approved putting a 1% surcharge on local property taxes to be used for community preservation projects.

Exemptions were approved by the city for the first $100,000 of a residential property’s value, full commercial property value and low-income and low- or moderate-income senior homeowners. The city also receives a state match from the commonwealth’s Community Preservation Fund.

Some of the applicants, like Suffolk Place and Mass Mills IV, are past recipients of CPA funding.

“They can come to the well as many times as they want,” Baacke said.

Surprisingly, there were no applications for the recreation or open space category, but several in historic preservation and four requesting funding for affordable housing projects.

St. Anne’s Episcopal Church submitted a request for $800,000 to restore three historic buildings on its footprint that faces Merrimack Street bounded by the Merrimack Canal on one side and Kirk Street on the other.

Manny Cavaleiro requested $59,000 to replace the windows in the historic building at 573-579 Lawrence St., home to Cavaleiro’s Steakhouse.

Historic renovations comply with both the letter and spirt of the CPA law.

“This funding is collected from all of the taxpayers from the community of Lowell,” Baacke said. “The general impression in this community and other communities in the state is that the historic preservation component of these funds should be used on things that are visible to the community that is paying for them.”

He noted that the committee has not funded in the past projects that involved site landscape or interior renovations to buildings that didn’t also involve a community housing component.

Coalition for a Better Acre submitted a request for $500,000 to construct nine affordable homeownership housing units, part of a $5 million project. Committee member Daniel Tenczar questioned that math that he said had each unit costing almost $600,000 per unit.

“I would say that’s pretty on brand for subsidized housing development per unit cost,” Baez-Rose said. “Pretty standard numbers.”

That cost metric highlighted the challenges for developers to construct subsidized/affordable-rate housing in the state. Most private housing building projects in the city are for market-rate housing.

Mass Mills IV applied for an additional $1.5 million in CPA funds to restore the historic Boiler Building and Main Power Plant off Bridge Street and construct community housing.

The buildings were the scene of a façade collapse last March that dumped tons of bricks on the newly opened Riverwalk along the Merrimack River. The pathway is still closed pending the securing of the buildings and restoration of the damaged walkway.

The East End Club development, in the city’s Centralville neighborhood, requested $100,000 to construct two affordable housing units. And Suffolk Place applied for $300,000 toward the construction of 33 affordable housing units in the Acre.

“If we’re fortunate enough, we’ll close in November of this year to commence construction,” said Steve Joncas, a real estate consultant who is working on the Suffolk Place project with the developer.

The committee voted all 12 applications as eligible.

“We use our fall meetings to hear presentations, to answer any questions and to ask questions of the applicants,” Baacke said.

In January the committee will craft its recommendations before submitting the list to the City Council for final funding determination in time for the city’s budget discussion in May.