A small spurt of drama arose at an otherwise straightforward Lowell City Council meeting Tuesday night. It came from something that wasn’t even on the agenda, the status of the Lupoli Companies project in the Hamilton Canal District. About 90 minutes into the 105-minute meeting, Councilor John Descoteaux spoke up and made a motion to suspend the rules. Another Councilor quickly seconded it. Descoteaux began to speak but Mayor Rourke (understandably) interrupted to ask what it was about.
It sounds like the councilors opposed to repurposing the Smith Baker Center because of parking concerns are insuating that the developer of the recently approved housing project, with no parking, at the corner of Suffolk and Market St is an idiot. They, of course, would deny this and trip over themselves trying to explain why a project without parking a quarter mile up the street might work but not at the SBC. We all know that ANY housing, with or without parking, sells in a NY minute. The councilors with "parking concerns" are just showing their biases and are using it as an excuse to try and control what happens there. IMO that's the underlying story of why the building has been neglected for years. Putting out an RFP without restrictions could've saved the building years ago but for many in Lowell government that's considered insanity. Which frigging sucks.
Sad that they aren’t optimistic about saving it, it’s stunning. https://adrienbisson.com/blog/2016/12/19/the-smith-baker-center-before-photographs
It sounds like the councilors opposed to repurposing the Smith Baker Center because of parking concerns are insuating that the developer of the recently approved housing project, with no parking, at the corner of Suffolk and Market St is an idiot. They, of course, would deny this and trip over themselves trying to explain why a project without parking a quarter mile up the street might work but not at the SBC. We all know that ANY housing, with or without parking, sells in a NY minute. The councilors with "parking concerns" are just showing their biases and are using it as an excuse to try and control what happens there. IMO that's the underlying story of why the building has been neglected for years. Putting out an RFP without restrictions could've saved the building years ago but for many in Lowell government that's considered insanity. Which frigging sucks.