Efforts to repurpose a massive, former mill complex in Ludlow, Massachusetts have reached another milestone. The latest leg includes restoration work on one of the town’s biggest structures - and biggest icon.
Following over a year of work off of State Street, another former chunk of the historic Ludlow Mills complex is back online – complete with new housing and restoration of a three-story clock tower that dates to the late 1800s.
The tower features prominently in the town seal, as does part of what’s known as Mill 8 – a 220,000-square-foot site that once produced twine and jute yarns, but now hosts a mixed-income community made up of 95 apartments.
That’s according to developer WinnCompanies and the Westmass Area Development Corporation.
“It's been a long road for Westmass, here at the historic Ludlow Mills, after purchasing the blighted complex in 2011 with a vision to return it back to Ludlow as the economic driver it once was,” said Westmass Chair Andrew “AJ” Crane ahead of a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday. “Here we stand, 13 years later, and a major piece of that puzzle is complete.”
Completion of work on Mill 8 was celebrated Monday with both groups and other officials gathered on the mill grounds, which spans 130 acres and around 50 mill buildings, according to Westmass.
Work on Mill 8 – one of the largest buildings on the grounds, found at the intersection of State and East streets – totaled an estimated $43.2 million, according to the developers.
The work benefited from a slew of tax credits, grants, and other sources. Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal of the 1st district says included at least $8.2 million in federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits and almost $11.5 million in Federal Historic Tax Credits.
State Housing Secretary Ed Augustus says the Commonwealth was also responsible for $11.7 million in LIHTCs, as well as $12.5 million in direct subsidies. $3.5 million in state MassWorks grants also supported the work.
“It saves an historic building that's part of the identity of this community, and to restore it to its glory - something that is critically important, I think, to the community and its identity,” Augustus said of the project. “Secondly, [it creates] much needed housing at different income levels for our seniors. We know the fastest part of our homelessness population that's growing are senior citizens. How horrific, as you get into your golden years, to find yourself housing insecure or unhoused."
Work on the clock tower - which involved replacing rotten wood, restoring four massive clock faces and installing new pieces of clock tech - made use of a grant from MassDevelopment.
“It was originally a mechanical tower clock that somebody would actually go up there, maybe once every seven days, and have to wind it, and it was a big deal to wind this thing - there are heavy weights that make it do that” said Thomas Erb, president of the Medfield-based Electric Time Company, which took on the project. “We put in a brand new electronic mechanism. There's actually a GPS receiver that downloads the time across the satellites, so the time is absolutely perfect.”
As for what’s inside the building – officials got a look when they toured Mill 8 and its spacious halls.
The apartments are for adults 55 and older - 59 of the them are one-bedroom units with dens, while 27 are simple one-bedroom units. Five of the apartments are solely two-bedroom units, while four two-bedroom units also come with dens.
When it comes to affordability, 43 of the units are classified as affordable, with rent at 60 percent Area Median Income. Another 40 units are market rate, while 12 are designated as “extremely low-income units” for those with income at or below 30 percent AMI.
According to the developers, all of the units have been leased and will be fully-occupied by Dec. 1.
The units also neighbor another rehab project that produced 75 similarly-age-restricted units in Mill #10 – completed by WinnDevelopment in 2017.
The developer played a similar role in Mill #8’s housing. Westmass itself is overseeing commercial development and leasing on part of the building’s first floor – a space of about 48,000 square feet.
Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester State Senator Jake Oliveira says there’s still plenty of redevelopment to be done on the 1.1 million square feet of develop-able space managed by Westmass.
That includes an estimated $5 million plan to demolish a nearby structure that can’t be redeveloped and open up further space, as well ongoing work on a commercial space found right next to the ribbon-cutting.
“It's exciting that 95 units are coming in, retail space is coming in - we have a building right behind us over here that's going to be housing Tandem Bagel over the next few months and they're renovating that building … it's truly transforming the town of Ludlow,” the senator told reporters.
Both Oliveira and 7th Hampden Representative Aaron Saunders have advocated for the restoration work on Beacon Hill.
That includes a $3.5 million earmark in a state economic development bill intended for Westmass and its efforts to “support the redevelopment and expansion of properties and expenses associated with carbon neutral developments to support the residents and businesses of Ludlow Mills."
The bill is expected to be signed by Governor Maura Healey in the near-future.
