Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | July 24, 2017 | wbjournal.com WinnDevelopment, creator of the Voke Lofts and Canal Lofts in Worcester, has taken its talents to a former Fitchburg textile mill A $24M development, 111 years in the making Cirrus Apartments Ashland Northbrook Village Berlin Sunbanke Village Boylston Fitchburg Place Fitchburg Sitkowski School Apartments Webster Canal Lofts Worcester Voke Lofts Worcester Coes Pond Village Worcester Wellington Community Worcester Notable Winn properties in Central Massachusetts Source: WinnDevelopment T he brick mill building at the edge of the Nashua River in Fitchburg was once one of a series of textile makers in the city and said to be the first mill to make spun rayon. Now, the 111-year-old building will have a very different but important task: bringing more residents back down- BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal Digital Editor town to energize an area just over a mile from the MBTA commuter rail stop and Fitchburg State University. "They've just transformed that whole area, and we couldn't be happier," Fitchburg Mayor Stephen DiNatale said. "It's just a magnificent building." After a $24-mil- lion renovation over a year and a half, Yarn Works at 1428 Main St. is now open with 96 units of mixed- income housing. It stands in a stretch of downtown Fitchburg near Caldwell and Gateway parks, and half a mile from the Fitchburg Art Museum. The Yarn Works project, by Boston- based WinnDevelopment, the develop- ment arm of WinnCompanies, was completed with help from $3 million in state funding to improve street infra- structure in the area, particularly remaking Main and River streets. The Massachusetts Housing Partnership provided a $2.8-million long-term loan, and the project relied on a mix of federal and state historic tax credits and low-income housing tax credits. The building, which opened in June, is about 50-percent leased. Mill building revitalizations Yarn Works joins several other for- mer mill buildings in Fitchburg con- verted into housing, including the 187- unit Riverside Commons at 245 River St. and the 86-unit Anwelt Heritage Apartments senior development off Oak Hill Road. "We're repurposing a number of our old mill buildings, and that was a prominent one," DiNatale said of Yarn Works. The mayor has also directed the city to spend $1.5 million on demolish- ing blighted buildings in the neighbor- Larry Curtis, president, WinnDevelopment The old Fitchburg Yarn building (top) on the Nashua River has been reborn with 96 apartments, with a sample unit (bottom). P H O T O S / C O U R T E S Y W I N N D E V E L O P M E N T

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