By Amanda MAher
ICIC
Long before the cities in the Midwest became industrial powerhouses, Northeastern manufacturing centers like Lowell, Providence and Manchester, NH, were driving the country’s growth. Some of these cities fared well even as manufacturing made its way west. But as industry declined in the U.S., many of these cities faced a similar fate. Left behind were behemoth industrial complexes that developers have struggled to give an identity.
Lawrence, Mass., is one of these cities. Nicknamed the “Immigrant City” and once a leading producer of textiles, Lawrence struggled to fill the abandoned mills that dotted the Merrimack River. By 2000, poverty in Lawrence was more than double the statewide average. But in 2003, entrepreneur Salvatore “Sal” Lupoli, who was looking for a commissary for his successful pizza franchise, saw the potential in the Worsted Mill Complex – now known as Riverwalk Properties. With the support of allies at the state and local levels, Lupoli purchased the complex and has since steadily transformed the 3.6 million square feet site into a thriving “live-work-play” complex. When others gave up on Lawrence, Sal doubled down by strategically targeting small businesses, offering affordable space at the Riverwalk. Given the size of the mill complex, Sal could be nimble with tenants; as companies like Solectria Renewables, a solar panel manufacturer, grew, Sal was able to accommodate them with larger – but still affordable – space. Today, Solectria has 125,000 square feet of space at the Riverwalk. There are now more than 200 businesses located at Riverwalk Properties, and the housing units are almost 100 percent occupied. What was once an eyesore is now one of the city’s most treasured assets.
Like many mill cities, Franklin, N.H., also sits along the confluence of two rivers – bodies of water that were critical to power the mill during the Industrial Revolution. But today, the mills sitting along the Winnipesaukee and Pemigewasset Rivers are starving for investment. There was an uptick in excitement when a Montreal developer purchased one of the mills in the 1990s; realizing the rents would be too low for the project to be financially feasible, he sold it a few years later. Various big ideas had been planned – including redeveloping the mills, demolishing them, or offering heavy tax incentives to draw new commercial users – but none has led to fruition.
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