State Agency Provides $500,000 Loan for Harbor Place Site Cleanup

WHAV News Staff By |

Harbor Place, Merrimack Street, replaced the former F.W. Woolworth building. (WHAV News photograph.)

The recent construction of the first phase of Harbor Place at White’s Corner benefited from a $500,000 loan to cleanup industrial contaminants at the site.

MassDevelopment provided a loan from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund to support the downtown Haverhill redevelopment project. The loan help pay for cleanup of a portion of the site that had residual soil contamination from past industrial use.

Harbor Place was developed by the Planning Office for Urban Affairs and the Greater Haverhill Foundation. The project redeveloped the former Woolworth building in Haverhill’s Transformative Development Initiative District into a $70 million mixed-use space with 110 housing units and retail and commercial space. The project also introduced a waterfront boardwalk, pedestrian pathways and a promenade to the Merrimack River. Since designating Haverhill’s TDI District in 2014, MassDevelopment has dedicated targeted resources and assistance to projects to aid in economic revitalization in the city, including launching a Commonwealth Places campaign to help develop the Cogswell ArtsSpace and providing a loan to redevelop the former Surplus Office Supply building at 37 Washington St.

“The redevelopment of Harbor Place represents an excellent opportunity to catalyze sustainable economic growth in downtown Haverhill,” said MassDevelopment Executive Vice President of Finance Programs Laura Canter. “We are pleased these brownfields dollars will expand access to the Merrimack, attract residents and businesses, and advance the new urban renaissance in this Gateway City.”

“Through this development, with the support of our lenders and partners, POUA and GHF have transformed vacant, underutilized buildings into a new lifestyle development that brings affordable, workforce and mixed-income housing, businesses, educational, recreational and cultural activity to the downtown Haverhill area,” said POUA President Lisa B. Alberghini.

3 thoughts on “State Agency Provides $500,000 Loan for Harbor Place Site Cleanup”

  1. Disgusting…..$500,000 LOAN (which means…guess who is paying it back YOU ARE! Yes, while the colleges, retail organizations and section 8’ers enjoy the new building, you “common folk” who pay the bills get stuck with this loan.

    Ain’t life grand?

  2. More money form the public trough for a private enterprise. Amazing. Where can I get all this money so I can build my own project ? Answer : Faaahhhhhget about it !