160 affordable housing units for the North Canal complex
By Melanie Gilbert
LOWELL >> Another 160 affordable housing units are on the drawing board in the city’s Acre neighborhood, which has long been a hub of affordable housing development in Lowell.
Zoning Board Clerk Dennis McCarthy called the proposed plans of the two sites, located at 281 Moody St. and 463 Moody St., “amazing,” and praised the project team for its design.
“I don’t think affordable housing has ever looked this good or been done this well,” he said during the Monday night meeting. “It’s a milestone. It will put (Lowell) on the map, not only for the type of housing, but the way it’s been done.”
The board heard a parking variance petition from New North Canal LLC, in partnership with Coalition for a Better Acre, to convert 116 units of affordable housing into 160 units of new construction affordable housing. The proposal requires relief under Section 6.1 of the city’s zoning code for minimum parking requirements.
A parcel located at 150 Father Morissette Blvd. was not part of the application heard, but is a future and final build in the three-phased housing project that was presented in its entirety to the board for context.
Residents and supporters of the housing project packed both the chamber floor and the upper gallery of City Hall, including state Rep. Tara Hong, who said by text Wednesday that he attended the meeting to “show my support.”
The project seeks to modernize two aging affordable housing sites with energy-efficient construction, provide additional green space, a playground, community programming space and onsite supportive services, and create a more livable and accessible environment than the existing conditions.
The applicant’s attorney, Catherine Flood, of Flood Law Offices, said 463 Moody St. currently consists of eight buildings with 75 affordable housing units. In the first of a three-phased construction timeline, she said the complex will be converted to one four-story building consisting of 100 one-bedroom, senior-restricted units.
The minimum parking requirement for the senior housing location is 204 parking spaces, with the proposed plan requesting only 70 spaces.
“Given the population this property intends to serve, this application has a hardship to support its request for a variance,” Flood said. “The applicant currently houses 95 senior residents with a total of 55 vehicles. The said demographic does not have many vehicles.”
Phase 2 at 281 Moody St. currently consists of 41 affordable housing units and will be redeveloped into one five-story building with 60 affordable housing units and garage parking under the building. The building will consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom units and will house income-restricted families.
Flood told the board that the minimum parking requirement for the project is 122 spaces, but as the subject property sits within the Urban Neighborhood Multifamily zoning district, the proposed plans show a total parking count of “47 spaces, requiring 76 spaces of relief.”
She also noted that public transportation services are provided in the area via a bus route on Merrimack Street a block away. Not only is street parking available in the neighborhood, but public parking at the Tsongas Center garage is “located within a five-minute walk of the site (and) is sufficient for the proposed use and occupancy.”
“The relief sought by the applicant can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good,” Flood said.
CBA Real Estate Project Manager Brendan Conley said the UMF (for Phases 1 and 2) and the MBTA Communities zoning overlays (for Phase 3) would allow the project to build 1,000 units on the sites without parking, but “we’re expecting 400 to 450 units on that site with more than 200 parking spaces.”
The North Canal properties were constructed in the 1960s during urban renewal. Conley said that although CBA and its property management company, Maloney Properties, have worked to maintain the complex, they “were built with poor design and materials and have not stood the test of time, limiting what we can achieve for residents’ quality of life.”
In the 1980s, residents at North Canal learned that a developer planned to demolish the property, forcing them from their homes to make way for new construction.
Instead of accepting displacement, the residents, with the support from community organizer and CBA founder Charlie Gargiulo, fought for control of the property. In 1989, they closed on the property, preserving 267 units of affordable housing.
“It was the first time in history that residents purchased an expiring (Housing and Urban Development) property, setting a precedent for resident-led preservation across the country,” Conley said.
Massachusetts has one of the highest affordability-homeownership gaps in the nation, with the average median sale price for a single-family home at more than $600,000. Economic reports indicate that Massachusetts needs to create 200,000 new housing units to keep up with demand to ensure that people can stay and work in the state.
“We bring this proposal forward at a time when Massachusetts has set ambitious goals to address the housing shortage, goals that the city shares,” Conley said. “Adding critically needed affordable housing while preserving and improving an existing community that residents have built and protected for decades.”
The project is finalizing financing applications. Conley said CBA hopes to have shovels in the ground for the Phase 1 senior housing development by 2028
He anticipated a five-year construction timeline for the first two phases.
Zoning Board member Tim Hovey said the area needs a “facelift and this project provides that.”
The board unanimously voted approval of the variance request with the condition that the traffic engineer’s comments are incorporated into the design.
Because the development is located within the Downtown Historic District, the building, materials and color palette will need the review and approval of the Historic Commission, and the site plan requires approval from the Planning Board for the creation of a residential development with more than three residential units.
When complete, the North Canal development will join the newly opened 733-735 Broadway St., the under-construction project at Suffolk Place, and the Lowell Housing Authority’s proposed Merrimack Corridor Development, among other projects bringing affordable housing to the Acre for low-income families, seniors and veterans.