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UMass Lowell’s Innovation Hub in downtown Haverhill Tuesday notified tenants that the iHub’s operations in Haverhill will cease at the end of next month.
It was not immediately clear if UMass Lowell is ending all of its operations in Haverhill or what is to become of the second and third floors the university leases in the building. Tenants, including the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, were notified at a “town hall” and also by email Tuesday that they must leave the space by Oct. 31. They were also told only the entire space could be sublet rather than individual offices.
Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett told WHAV she is working to keep the space open as the large conference area is used by many organizations. “I’m hoping to find another way to keep that center open. It’s an active and important part of the community.”
The Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce moved into the space at the end of 2018. Then- Chamber President and CEO Dougan Sherwood told WHAV, “The iHub, when it is full, can be an incredible asset to the Haverhill community.”
Tenants—some who rent enclosed offices and others that rent desks—were advised they can tour the iHub in Lowell, which also offers “coworking, desk and office space, a prototyping lab with extensive 3D printing capabilities, as well as event space and meeting rooms.”
UMass Lowell’s satellite campus opened in 2017 at the new Harbor Place building at White’s Corner in Haverhill. In a December 2016 ceremony, then-UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney unveiled plans for the business incubator to provide technology startups a range of services including co-working and private office space, access to expertise of UMass Lowell faculty and conference space available to businesses and the community. She said at the time, “We’d love to see Haverhill become the next Cambridge and go-to-place.”
Calls to Thomas O’Donnell, UMass Lowell’s senior director, innovation initiatives, and Stephanie Guyotte, associate director of the Innovation Hub Haverhill, were not immediately returned.