Economic Development & Industrrial Corporation of Lynn

EDIC plans $1.7M for Lynn lofts

May 16, 2012
By Amber Parcher/The Daily Item

Lynn’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation plans to spend $1.7 million to renovate a boarded-up downtown building into a five-story artist loft and workspace.

Members of the EDIC board of directors reviewed the numbers Tuesday at a meeting with an Allston-based architect they’ve hired to design the abandoned brick building at 33 Central St. in downtown Lynn.

The building was once home to Arnold’s Stationery, but two years later it sits between an insurance company and RawArts, a youth art nonprofit, with red X’s spray painted on what were once its windows.

The closed down storefront at 33 Central St. in Lynn is shown. Lynn’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation plans to spend $1.7 million to renovate the boarded-up downtown building into a five-story artist loft and workspace. (Item Photo / Owen O'Rourke)

The EDIC purchased the building for $140,000 in September with plans to renovate what EDIC director James Cowdell called “a complete rehab” into eight lofts for artists to live and work in.

Cowdell said the EDIC isn’t deterred by the hefty price tag, which David Pollak of ABACUS Architects presented Tuesday.

“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “But it’s an investment. We’re taking a blighted building and we’re turning it into something everybody’s going to be proud of.”

According to Pollak’s renderings, the first floor of the building will feature a 960 square-foot commercial space that opens with wide windows onto Central Street. The remaining four floors will be carved into eight units ranging from 390-square-feet to 590-square-feet to 800-square-feet.

“Housing is organized to provide a variety of units,” Pollak told the EDIC board.

Each unit will have a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, according to Pollak. At least three will be split into two stories, and many will have decks or small balconies hovering over Central Street. The roof could be a terrace and community space, Pollak said.

Cowdell said the size of some units are smaller than the average apartment but that it fits the idea of what they believe an artist could use as a workspace.

“This is really the right size,” he said.

The emphasis on art at 33 Central St. fits right into downtown Lynn’s budding art community, Cowdell said. RawArts borders the building, and down the road on Exchange Street sits community art gallery, Lynn Arts. The newly renovated Lynn Museum is a block away on Washington Street. And in March the state recognized downtown Lynn as a cultural designation.

Cowdell said the money for the project will come from EDIC’s funds, which is mostly bankrolled by renting out the building at 20 Wheeler St. and the Harbor Loft apartments on Liberty Square.

He said the price tag for this project is much less than the $6 million EDIC spent a year-and-a-half ago to move power lines on Lynn’s waterfront across the Lynnway to make way for redevelopment there. And EDIC expects to spend $4 million for a commuter ferry in the same area.

Cowdell said the waterfront and downtown are two of the EDIC’s top priorities, hence the amount of money spent to renovate the struggling areas.

“At the end of the day, we’ll be very proud of it,” he said of the 33 Central St. project.

EDIC expects to put the project to bid in the next three months. Cowdell said there is already high demand among construction companies — a sign that the economy is weak and companies are looking for work, he said.

“We get calls at least every week,” he said. “They’re hungry for business.”

Amber Parcher can be reached at aparcher@itemlive.com.

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