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Date: 12/21/2021
LUDLOW- On Dec. 14 Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy were in Ludlow, where they awarded Westmass Area Development corporation with a grant for their work redeveloping the Ludlow Mills.
Westmass previously received an $80,000 Site Readiness grant during Fiscal Year 2020 for marketing and preparing for the redevelopment at the Ludlow Mills.
Earlier this year Westmass also received a $250,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Underutilized Properties Program.
Along with Westmass, eight other communities received grants including Avon, Brockton, Douglas, Erving, Fitchburg, Lawrence, Lynn and Medway Redevelopment Authority.
With this round of funding, Politio said the nine cities and towns that were awarded grants will be able to fund redevelopment projects that will benefit the region.
“This is increasing the development potential of nearly 665 acres across Massachusetts – that is huge – and as we come out of the pandemic and know the expansions in e-commerce, we know we need sites to service warehouse and distribution and the movement of goods through the New England area,” she said.
For Westmass’s grant, Polito said the funds will go toward several different parts of the redevelopment project at the Ludlow Mills.
“You will be receiving $650,000 from the Site Readiness Grant to design the new access road for a vacant 40-acre parcel on the property and it will help your surveys and assess the pump stations. It will also fund the design of a new water and sewer line, parking areas and electrical systems for the historic stock houses at the mills,” she said.
Westmass’s $650,000 grant was the second highest award in this round of Site Readiness grants.
Kennealy said he is always happy to give out grants for this type of program.
“One of my great joys in doing this work is seeing what people’s visions are for a site or building or a place, and what they can turn it into. You think about the Ludlow Mills and so many places around the commonwealth, it starts with a building and this idea you can create something special out of it, and we get to fund that,” he said.
Kennealy said the program provides the opportunity for towns and municipalities to get started on the foundation for larger projects.
“The Site Readiness program helps get the very basic building blocks to get projects started. If you look at the projects we are funding this year and over the life of the program, there is just an incredible diversity of needs and opportunities around the state. It speaks to our ability to strengthen our local economies, to invest in our people and to invest in our places,” he said.
State Rep. Jacob Oliveira said he was happy to see the money going to the Ludlow Mills, where his family worked when they first immigrated from Portugal and Poland.
“To see the investment the state is making and not just the state but private investors, the federal government and right here in the town of Ludlow. Those investments are breathing new life into these buildings. Because of investments from Mass Development, by our partners in the administration, we are able to turn these buildings into 21st Century redevelopment for housing, for retail, for shops and for further development,” he said.
Board of Selectmen Chair William Rosenblum said the mill project allows the town to generate tax revenue.
“With our proximity to the Massachusetts Turnpike and as a main pathway to other surrounding communities, we have attracted new tax contributing businesses and continuing to attract commercial projects should be a priority for years to come,” he said. “The Ludlow Mills offers our town the unique opportunity to align with the goals of the Site Readiness program, a program aimed at converting abandoned sites and obsolete facilities into clean, actively used tax generating properties.”
He added the redevelopment stands to benefit residents and visitors alike.
“Repurposing this space also helps the prosperity of our current tenants. We embrace the opportunity to make the Ludlow Mills a commercial multi-use haven as well as housing for seniors and residents that not only benefits visitors but our residents by providing more services, cultural assets and benefiting them where it counts most, in their wallets,” Rosenblum said.